* cababarant *

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Freezing

I'm in London for business this week and it is blustery and cold. Why is it so cold?? Ugh, and I thought Holland was cold. Highs today are 17 celsius.

Overheard on the street:
Girl wearing parka: If this is what they call summer, they can kiss my ass.

posted by sheryl | 4:18 PM | comments (1)

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Disgrace to my race

So I'm sure no one outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin has been following the case (or outside of Manila, Philippines), but the Calimlims, a Filipino family I grew up, with has been on trial for something, as a fellow Filipino, I find completely dispicable: they kept a Filipina woman, Irma Martinez, as more or less a maid, but more like a prisoner, for almost 20 years. The woman came over as an illegal in 1985 and worked for them as a maid until 2004 when the feds found out about the situation. The details are what make the case stunning: no one, not even their close friends, knew they had a maid living with them for 19 years. They essentially kept her as an indentured servant, paying her, at the most, $4,800 a year, and not allowing her to leave the house without permission, nor to be seen in public with them.

That's not even the worst of it. According to the trial coverage, Elnora Calimlim would not let Irma see a doctor even when she was doubled over in pain from irregular menstruation, saying that without a social security number she could not go to the doctor. Say what? And then, when they had parties (a couple of which I had actually been at!) she would have to stay in her basement room, which did not have a bathroom, for up to 8 hours at a time.

Milwaukee has a small, affluent community of Filipinos, most of whom are physicians. The Calimlims were both physicians and wealthy; in fact, they lived in a million-dollar home. These are Filipinos who have definitely made it. So for their friends, this case has been that much more shocking. How can they have done this to a fellow Filipina? How were they able to keep her secret from everyone?

When I look back, I know of instances that we just dismissed as weird behavior. My siblings and I once in a while hung around with Jeff (the son who has also been on trial for harboring, as well as lying to a federal agent when they came to get Irma out). The guy would never, ever let us in the house-- he would just run in and close the door behind him. We would joke around sometimes like "oh, one of us needs to pretend to need to use the bathroom" so we could get into the house, but even with that, no dice: he would just open the door and say "I'll be out in a minute." Ridiculous! But now all of this explains that, and it's actually kind of sad. In a way, the kids were victims of their parents' behavior-- because of their parents, they too, had to keep this secret that their parents convinced them was crucial. That said, it's difficult to feel any sympathy anymore. The kids are now grown, yet continued with this crazy secrecy that has now gotten the whole family into a boatload of trouble. In fact, this only became public because the son Jack's ex-wife, Sherry, felt that Irma was essentially being imprisoned by the family and notified the authorities. Any normal and scrupulous person would have to agree with her.

My mom said that her friends in the Filipino community have been shocked and disgusted by the Calimlim's behavior. They wonder how they could have done this to any human being, and to them, it's twice as bad because it was a fellow Filipino. To them, forgetting your people and the place where you came from is a crime in itself.

The couple, Jefferson and Elnora Calimlim, and their son Jeff were just found guilty yesterday. The couple will do prison time and ultimately face deportation. The irony is that they will now learn what it's like to be a prisoner.

JSOnline: Trial begins in servant case, Couple accused of threatening maid with deportation
JSOnline: Servant was called an aunt, witness testifies, Son's ex-wife says she notified federal authorities over woman kept in secret
JSOnline: Couple convicted of harboring maid, They face up to 45 years in prison, deportation

posted by sheryl | 11:34 AM | comments (15)

Monday, May 22, 2006

Spring has sprung!

When we got back from Tunisia, we had a surprise in the Netherlands: spring had arrived! Although it's cooled off again in the past couple of days, we were still able to fully retire our winter clothes for the season (not always something you can do in these northern parts by May).

View from our window when we got back from vacation

More of those lovely blossoms (which a few days later were done blooming)

The kids enjoy a day at the beach (which is about 10 minutes away-- nice in the summer!)

posted by sheryl | 11:13 AM | comments (0)