Vantage Point

My journey home started on 27 October 2004, I woke up 7:00AM or should I say I got out of bed on that time since I didn’t sleep at all. It was a pissed off day (I officially declared that), the company deducted SR 1,500 on my vacation allowance, I was expecting to receive more than 4K Riyals instead I got 2,650.

That was the reason why I need to get up early, I need to go to our head office just to compain about that incident.

You might be asking, was I able to get that shit load of money? The answer is neither YES nor NO. Through the magical tongue & the hypnotic ability of our General Manager, I was persuaded to just accept the SR 500 and come back to Saudi Arabia to claim the remaining 1,000 Riyals. Whew!!! Looking back, I wasn’t sure how he got me into that.

OK it was not all magical power, I was given a raise, how much? Not enough but I can say that it is acceptable. The meeting lasted for about an hour add an estimated of 2 hours travel time & 1 hour waiting time, we got out of that office at around 12NN. No breakfast, no lunch! Yes! You read it right, it was Ramadan so all the resto & food shops are closed during day time.

We got to SABTCO bus terminal about 12:30PM, the bus going to Bahrain was originally scheduled at 4PM yet we were brought to Bahrain just minutes after we arrive. Dammam to Bahrain took about an hour & a half by bus. During that time I met 3 other Filipinos, we arrived in Bahrain shortly before 2PM. Bahrain is a nice country compared to Saudi Arabia, the law are little more linient.

The plane that will bring us to Doha (Qatar) leaves Bahrain at 5:45PM. At doha we stayed for another 6 hours. I had my dinner and did a little shopping, or did I? I just bought 3 packs of Marlboro lights for personal consumption only.

It was boring, all I did was sit, walk and smoke. Nothing much to do there, I can say that our airport is bigger than that. Well I did a little reading, I bought a book in Bahrain, the last juror by John Grisham, that kept me busy for a while, besides walking & smoking.

Something happened happened when we were about to board flight # SQ646 bound to Manila. There was a commotion at the boarding gate. As far as I can recall, I saw an Arab shouting to a fellow Arab, that’s all I saw.

The moment I boarded the airport bus, 2 ladies came in and 1 one of them was crying. There was murmuring around, I can hear the lady trying to comfort the other lady. Well I can’t understand their dialect, they are from the South.

When I was on my sit, I heard a large roar, it was the same lady who was crying on the bus. She was about 22 or 23 crying her heart out, then versions of the story came out.

I don’t know if the lady who sits near me has the right version or just maybe she had the loudest voice among the passengers.

According to her, the young lady was abused in Saudi Arabia, Jeddah in particular and the Arab that was shouting on the boarding gate was her employer. The woman was in shock, I can feel that. I stopped listening to the story, I just grabbed my mp3 player and bang the loud sound in my ear. I guess I want to be sedated for just a minute.

The story was not new to me, I’ve heard a lot of stories about Filipinas being raped by their Saudi employers. They were just sent home without the knowledge of our embassy, and the employer will be given a new helper, a new sex doll.

Yes! The embassy did not know about the incident and I doubt if they want to hear about it. The first person that I am expecting in that kind of situation is our representative, but they failed me, not just me but millions of Filipinos abroad. I guess they were all busy, on what ? That I don’t know.

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