“As of the year 2004, the women of Saudi Arabia are still not free to pursue their dreams... Many young girls still endure the horror of arranged marriages with men double or triple their age... women are dominated completely by men, who by the grace of God, are deemed superior” — “Princess,” the true life story of Princess Sultana AL Saud

II is not only during Ramadan that domestic help working in Arab lands go hungry with only one meal a day for 40 days, or so-called “cultural” dancers and entertainers who are being brutalized by their managers and custodians.

The tragic saga of our less fortunate overseas workers, who are exposed to all kinds of harassment, loss of liberty, cruelty, and deprivation in hostile environment, must be told.

While the monetary authorities trumpet their success in accumulating US$16 billion or more of overseas workers’ remittances, which has kept the economy buoyant and recession resistant, the price of their diaspora has been earned in blood, tragedy, untold suffering, humiliation, and loss of human dignity owing to the cruelty and barbarism of many of their employers.

The irony of it all is that, while the master and mistress of the house take turns maltreating and starving their domestic help, whether they be Filipino, Sri Lankan, or Indian, the Arab women themselves continue to be deprived of their individual freedom and mobility.

First, while Arab men have absolute dominance over their docile and submissive wives and women, and who discriminate against those who cannot bear male sons, their cruelty extends, in the privacy of their homes, to foreign female domestic helpers who are not only fed meagerly but who are also subjected to maltreatment, house arrest, as it were, and in many cases, sexual assaults.

Hence, while monitoring the whereabouts of our OFWs, especially Filipino women, it is equally important to recognize the bizarre culture and idiosyncrasies of Middle East mores towards women in general, including Arab women themselves.

For these reasons, there have been a growing number of Arab women writers, such as author Nedjma, “The Almond” whose protest novel took the form of an erotic and sexual odyssey.

Thus, going hungry in an Arab household, not only during the Ramadan, is the lesser ordeal compared to being raped, or molested, or being beaten up, or being confined to quarters during the duration of their contract, unless they come up with P100,000 or more for their earlier release from the contract.

Second, while the nation and the rest of the people look upon the OFWs as the new heroes who have saved the economy from extremist and recession, the price has been high and the pain has been deep for which not enough have been done to secure their safety, their dignity, their welfare and their future.

Luckily for the Philippines, with the opening of the vast global market for foreign labor in years past due to new found wealth from oil, worldwide economic growth, zero birth rate in developed economies and their aging population, general prosperity in Asia, and boom in America and Western Europe, the Philippines, with its rapid population growth and sizeable work force, promptly filled up the vacuum.

The exodus provided the timely escape valve that would have burst the Pinatubo-like population pressure had it not been for the opening of the international market for foreign labor which would have induced inside the country a crescendo of social unrests and civil chaos.

When all is said and done, there is more than meets the eye in the continuous outflow of Filipino émigrés and workers whose horror stories and travails must be told and mitigated, and their welfare, future, and safety assured.

You be the judge. (For comments and views, please e-mail: chaff_fromthegrain@yahoo.com.ph)