A Lesson from a Stranger

I was standing at the queue for ladies in Enjaz/Western Union branch in Umm Al Hammam when a woman came towards me, smiling. She asked, “kabayan?”. I nodded and smiled back. She stood behind me as we both patiently wait for our turn.

As I was holding the form that I filled up in order to send the remittance to Philippines, the woman behind me read the name on my form loudly. I knew she wanted to start a conversation, so I just replied politely. She asked me several questions like from where I was in the Philippines, and she started telling me stuff about her too.

She told me that she came to Saudi Arabia last year as a household service worker and she regrets it. She said that her “madam” (female sponsor) is kind but she is not good. I could not comprehend what she meant by being ”kind” but not “good” (in tagalog- mabait pero hindi mabuti). Then she explained to me by giving a lot of examples. She said that she thinks that her madam (boss) is a kind woman because she is giving her salary on time. However, she shouts at her and humiliates her in front of her friends and relatives. She also told me that the madam keeps the food in a locked room and she was neither given any food for free nor invited to taste any food for the Arab family. She went on and on, telling me stories about her madam and I realized that I had to agree that she was right.

From then on, I started thinking about people around me and those who I’ve met and some of whom I thought were my friends.  Before I met that woman, I never thought of how a person could be kind but not good. It is often hard to judge a person without knowing his/her intentions. Boy I was glad to learn something significant from a stranger so unexpectedly.

I wished I could have asked for her name or her number. But would that be really important?