A dire situation for the Philippine family in Qatar

[Frozzy]

Well, the BBC is more of a worldwide organisation than many Canadian networks.... IIRC they have an extensive reporting base in Qatar, I think it is their base for most Middle East coverage, so you may be more likely to get a response.

[Lancer]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Lancer's problems illustrate what life outside the United States is really like. I don't mean to say all countries are like Qatar, but more are like them than are like the United States.
Thank Whomever before you go to sleep tonight that you're where you are.

Very true Sloww! It's amazing to me the attitude that some who got lucky in the lottery of birth location that somehow think themselves more worthy, better. The kind of people who actively fought against the Apolyton House on these forums...erg. I better forget about them. Instead, there were many who stepped up and did what was needed. God bless them, they are the one worth remebering!

[Lancer]

Go for it Frozzy. See if you can get them interested. If the BBC wants additionalinfo not found in this thread let me know.

[Frozzy]

Originally posted by Lancer
Go for it Frozzy. See if you can get them interested. If the BBC wants additionalinfo not found in this thread let me know.

I sent off a couple of emails via the website... hopefully they will find their way to the relevant persons. We shall see.

If nothing happens I will consider using telephone but I am not sure how easy this would be from New Zealand...

[Zkribbler]

Lancer --
Send me a bcc or some other copy of the e-mail you're sending to Qatar. I've got a list of almost 2 dozen "Fil-American" newspapers and another three in Canada. I don't have the e-mail addresses for them yet, but I should have them by Saturday.

[Colonâ„¢]

Have you considered Al Jazeera already? They operate from Quatar after all.

[Frozzy]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
Have you considered Al Jazeera already? They operate from Quatar after all.

Just my personal opinion, but I highly doubt this story would suit Al Jazeera's broadcasting agenda

[Colonâ„¢]

They have already run stories on Asian workers being mistreated in the Middle East.

[germanos]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
Have you considered Al Jazeera already? They operate from Quatar after all.

Deja vu

[Zkribbler]

I think posing the story to Al Jazeera now is premature. It would be viewed as criticizing how things are done in Qatar.

However, after Qatar officials act to stamp out this moral malignancy in their country, a story on what a great job they did in cleansing the nation of this blight would be appropriate.

Right now, the effort is to gather popular support within the Philippino community, so that Philippino officials act as quickly as possible to pass this information on to Qatar and encourage them to act.

The danger we're trying to avoid is this problem sitting on some bureaucrat's desk while the ladies continue to suffer.

[Lancer]

This is what Dolores sent:



Kumusta mga kababayan ko sa Qatar sana mabuti kayo dyan.

Nag-email ako dahil may pinsan ako ang pangalan Crispina , kararating lang sa Pilipinas.Ang sabi nya naka detain sya ng one week sa Agency doon sa Qatar pangalan Altauqet trading & services. Sya ay nakapodlock doon sa kwarto sa Agency 5th floor daw may kasama 8 pinay 2 Shrilankan at 4 Endonisian ,sila ay nakakulong doon ng mahigit isang buwan na. Habang doon sila kinulong kunti lang daw ang pinakain nila.Lahat sila ay hindi nakatiis sa trabaho dahil din inaabuso sa mga amo nila kaya gusto nilang umuwi.Sabi ng Agency makauwi sila kung magbabayad sila ng 1000 dolars.Sabi ni Crispina the agency force her to sign a paper pero hindi sya pumirma, tinakot pa sya na ipapakulong kun hindi sya pepirma.Pero nagulat nalang sya hinatid sya sa airport pero kinuha lahat ang pera niya sa agency 750 riyal at 250 pesos na nakatago sa pitaka nya. Siguro dahil hindi sya nagperma ng papeles doon kaya siya na released. Pero ang ibang mga pinay doon na nakakulong pa sabi ni Crispy. Meron isang pinay doon na nagbleeding ng 3 months payat na payat na daw pero they force her to go to another employer .So please take action as soon as possible. Ito ang address ng Agency. (Agency name & # deleted)Please help this poor women hindi nila akalain na mangyayari ito sa kanila. Gusto na nilang uuwi sa Pilipinas.

Ito ang mga pangalan na nakakulong pa doon before Crispina left.
Mildred Manabogon,Jamila Pangasate,Zandria Kasim,Virginia Sison,Elsie Eyo,Raida Bayao, Precy nakalimutan ni Crispy ang apilyedo, At Damdamin ang apilyedo pero nakalimutan niya ang pangalan.Hindi niya nakuha ang mga pangalan nga taga Endonisia at Shrilanka dahil hindi marunong mag English.

I will contact the International Organization for Migration , Philippine American communities in Los Angeles and Chicago.

The concerned ng kababaehan at KABABAYAN.

Thank you,
Doris

[Lancer]

This tells the story of Crispina as well as the ongoing plight of the other girls there including the really sick one. It informs the Phil embasy in Qatar that other organizations will be involved. It tells them the location and phone # of the agency and the names of the girls.

This important bit of news...Crispy was not hit. The Phil manager took the phone from Crispy when she was talking to Lucina about needing $1000 to be released. The manager demanded to know what Crispina had told Lucina and said she would slap her and hung up. That's where the physical abuse I mentioned came from. In fact Crispy was never slapped. I imagine it was meant to motivate Lucina to send the manager money, a way to underline the extortion attempt.

[chequita guevara]

The unfortunate thing is that this is exceedingly common. I've been reading about such things for years among the women's activist networks. And it doesn't just happen in foreign countries. This happens in the American territory of Guam as well, and also Micronesia, which is now a territory of the United States in some strange way that I don't quite understand.

It's kinda funny, Lancer. You're acting like a commie in spite of yourself.

[Lancer]

I think you're mistaking commies with decent human beings again Che.

[Kuciwalker]

Yeah, it's funny when he does that, since the two sets are disjoint