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Mr. and Mrs. Hansen, a wealthy Danish couple, met Minnie in a small
island resort in the Visayas. They liked the teenage girl, and
offered to sponsor her nursing studies and invite her to stay with
them in Denmark. The couple, both holding extremely well-paying
jobs, lived in an old farm house in the province. The two enjoyed
raising various farm animals and producing their own food, but
hiring farm hands are expensive in Denmark. Since they had no
children the couple couldn’t qualify as a host family for an au
pair. But the brother of Mr. Hansen could. Minnie went to Denmark as
an au pair girl, officially to look after the children of Mr.
Hansen’s brother, but her actual work was to tend to chicken,
sheep and other farm animals. The Hansens got their cheap labor, and
Minnie, once back in the Philippines, got to take up nursing in the
city. She will look after us when we’re old, the couple said,
explaining why they wanted Minnie to take up nursing. Without the
Hansens, the island lass would never have been able to take up a
college degree or travel abroad. Laws might have been violated, but
there were no victims. Everybody was happy.
However, other au pairs from the Philippines
have been subjected to worse abuse. Revelations of such prompted the
Philippine government to ban its citizens from becoming au pairs in
Europe some ten years ago. Well, ban or no ban, Helle Stenum, a
Danish researcher, writes in the May 29 edition of Danish daily
Politiken that of 2,207 au pairs working in Denmark in 2007, 1,510
were Filipinos. The figures for Norway are 1,760 and 1,103,
respectively. There have been stories about forced prostitution,
about couples’ renting out their au pair, and making a sport out
of testing the limits of the girls by assigning them tasks that no
Danish employee would tolerate.
Au pair used to be a popular way for young
European girls to experience other cultures. An au pair girl isn’t
a yaya or household help, she becomes part of the family and is
treated as such. She doesn’t receive a salary but an allowance.
According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, au pair “comes
from the French term au pair, meaning “on a par” or “equal
to,” indicating that the relationship is intended to be one of
equals: the au pair is intended to become a member of the family,
albeit a temporary one, rather than a domestic servant.”
Stenum believes that the ban imposed by the
Philippine government actually puts the girls in even more
precarious situations. Since they are in Denmark illegally as far as
the Philippine government is concerned, they cannot expect any
assistance from their own embassy in case they get into trouble. Of
course, Denmark could follow the path of Sweden which respected the
Philippines ban by also not accepting au pair status as a ground for
granting a visa.
Poverty drives thousands of Filipinos to try out
greener, but unknown and dangerous, pastures in faraway lands. Shame
on unscrupulous individuals and families who take advantage of the
desperation of others.
Danish nurses and daycare workers have been on
strike for about two months on the demands of higher wages. These
groups of employees are poorly compensated compared to most other
sectors. Nurses and day cay workers employed by local government
units were granted an average wage increase of 13.4 period over a
3-year period. Others remain on strike.
In the 1960s, a time in Denmark ’s history
which just like today was characterized by full employment, men from
Turkey and Yugoslavia took the jobs that Danish workers then found
unattractive. Today, Denmark is recruiting doctors and nurses
abroad. According to local newspaper Sjællandske, lack of medical
doctors and nurses in some parts of Denmark has prompted the Danish
Embassy in Germany to organize a recruitment fair. Those who sign up
for a job in the Danish health care system will be provided language
training (proficiency in Danish is a must), assistance to the
accompanying spouse to find a job, and special support will be
extended to the children for easier integration into the Danish
school.
opinion@manilatimes.net
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