Published September/2017 in Colorlines
Filipina nanny Edith Mendoza moved to the U.S. to care for a German diplomat's family. She ended up working 100-hour weeks for $4 an hour and becoming seriously ill.
Published September/2017 in Colorlines
Filipina nanny Edith Mendoza moved to the U.S. to care for a German diplomat's family. She ended up working 100-hour weeks for $4 an hour and becoming seriously ill.
After a chance meeting in a Manhattan park with Sherile Pahagas, another domestic worker who had been employed by the of the Koehler family, the two women joined forces. They are now suing the Koehlers. The complaint alleges breach of contract, unpaid wages and labor violations.
The suffering [Sherile and I] are facing now is that it’s hard to get job. I don’t have reference. Sometimes [employers] will use that to pay you less. It’s hard to talk to my family about what is going on. It’s really something that keeps me depressed. If I stayed in Qatar, maybe I’d have paid all the loans that I have in the Philippines and my house and my kids [wouldn’t] suffer. So it’s also pride for me to live without telling my family or my previous employer because I’ve been good to them and they were good also to me. It’s very hard to go back to what is past. It seems that I am fighting a wall. Will I break it and reach there? It is very hard to break that wall.”
Edith Mendoza, 51, cleans offices in Manhattan, NY three times a week.
After November 2015, it was too long to do this hard work. I would start my day before 6 a.m. and end after midnight. It seemed like I had been in a tournament of boxing or a marathon. I only feel rest on Sunday when I express myself to God and pray, ‘Help me Lord please give me rest I’m so tired.’ So what can I do? Just do the work because this my job. I don’t want to lose my job because I need money."