While Cyprus is trying to weather the storm of the eurozone crisis, others have worse storms to deal with.
Super typhoon Haiyan has plunged the Philippines into chaos,
forcing more than 100,000 people out of their homes. This, in the wake of the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that rocked the country last month, leaving more than 200 people dead, 1,000
injured, and 350,000 homeless.
Over the last 25 years or so, a sizeable Filipino community
has grown in Cyprus. Most are female migrant
workers in low-paid domestic service jobs:
live-in housemaids, full-time carers for the elderly, cooks,
cleaners, etc. Some are "lucky" to get factory jobs,
which afford a slightly better wage.
Some have been trafficked and forced into the sex industry. Some marry local men. Most send the little money they earn back to their families. Many have children in their home countries whom they haven't seen for years.
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| Would you want this for your family? |
Many migrant workers on this island are exploited by their tyrannical and ignorant Cypriot
employers, who treat them as little more than slaves. Long working hours, poor wages, harsh
conditions, deprivation of human rights such as denied internet or telephone access to their families back home, no normal time off, and no normal social life. In some cases they cannot practise their religion freely, e.g. if a Holy Day of Obligation falls on a working weekday, they still have to work. Some have to fend off unwanted sexual
advances from their male bosses. To
complain runs the risk of losing their job and livelihood, or possible deportation. It’s put up or shut up.
I knew one Filipino lady, in her 50s, who worked 17 hours a
day as a housekeeper in Larnaca, from 7 a.m. until midnight, 6 days a
week. I know because I saw her at work
in my neighbour’s house and garden. She would be
given pointless tasks such as sweeping leaves into a pile - not into a bin. So the leaves would blow away and
the chore would have to be repeated the next day, mindlessly. She was not allowed to eat until after the mistress
of the house had finished eating, and she always had to eat alone in her ‘maid’s
room’. She was not allowed to watch
television, or have her own tv or laptop in her room. She had one day off a week (Sundays). The grim set of her jaw and the suffering in
her eyes told her story. She had children
in the Philippines and she was a widow.
Thankfully, she eventually escaped from that monster house, and madam now has to sweep her yard herself,
hahaha.
I know of another Filipino girl in Larnaca whose Cypriot employer
allows her a couple of hours off on a Sunday morning to go to church, after
which she must return immediately to fix her boss his daily sandwich. If he doesn’t get his sandwich at noon, he
flies into a rage.
These are not isolated stories, but many migrants in Cyprus are
reluctant to speak about them for fear of reprisals. Add language barriers, cultural, religious and
social divides, and a possible mistrust of “rich” Europeans, and the plight
of migrant workers in Cyprus goes largely ignored, except among their own
communities.
As a young republic, Cyprus loves harping on about the struggle against colonialism and imperialism of old, especially in October, the
month of two nationalist holidays (snore).
The irony is Cypriots have become a new kind of imperialistic slave
trader themselves.
Nouveaux riches
Cypriot women love complaining that it’s “so tiresome” to have to train new housemaids
who “don’t know anything” or can’t cook Cypriot food properly (that world famous, well known cuisine...), and isn’t it scary that they might have their jewellery
stolen while they’re out playing conquian
and getting their nail art done? Life’s so
hard.
While middle class Cypriots are crying into their frappes over
EU austerity measures, salary cuts, and new taxes, they still take their foreign
labourers for granted and treat them like second-class citizens. They moan about migrants “changing the
culture of the island”, forgetting that if the entire migrant population of
Cyprus suddenly left, the service industries would collapse, the aged would sit in their own urine and faeces, and, there would certainly be no one to
sweep their yards. Perhaps Cyprus has forgotten the 1953 earthquake in Paphos which resulted in 63 deaths. Let's not mention the 1974 war... Heaven preserve us from national disasters, but let us help all those who do suffer them.
A good start would be for the Cyprus government to start
enforcing the law on migrant workers’ rights, crack down on
corrupt, exploitative employers, and step up on education and awareness of
ethnic diversity issues.
The whole Hellenic, “one nation” thing is an anachronistic dinosaur. If Cyprus is to continue receiving handouts from richer European countries, which it currently depends on, then that comes with a package. European funding means a European standard of living for all. Migration is a modern European reality that’s not
going to go away. It’s time Cyprus started treating all its labour force with equal respect.
KISA is a Nicosia-based NGO that focuses on migration,
asylum, racism, and discrimination issues and human trafficking in Cyprus. It operates a Migrant Refugee Centre that provides
free support, advocacy and mediation services. Tel. 22 878181 / 99 772743. E-mail: info@kisa.org.cy
Emergency Disaster Relief for the Philippines
Our Lady of Graces Catholic Church, Larnaca is collecting donations for the Philippines. Info from the parish office: tel. 24 642858. Or come to a Sunday Mass 9:30 a.m.
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