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Vision contributor Bill Butler interviews Beatrice Fernando about her experience of being sold into servitude in Lebanon. See her story in the article Down to Slavery.
BB How are you adjusting to life since you are now free of the condition of slavery?
BF To answer that question I have to explain what I believe freedom is all about. We live our lives trapped in many prisons: physical, emotional and mental. One can be physically in prison and yet feel free, and another can be physically free and still live in an emotional prison. Throughout my life I have lived in all of these prisons.
When I worked for the Lebanese woman, she had me trapped only in a physical prison. She was unable to trap my spirit. That was the way I was able to survive her. My long and painful journey has taught me how to look at things differently. So, I’m adjusting to life now—trying to live an active life— living, learning to give more and expect nothing in return. I find that is the way to free my heart, soul and body and enjoy the life that I have.
Freedom is not in our circumstances. It is a condition of our heart—I’m trying to fill that condition.
BB How are your parents and family doing? Are you able to contribute to their support now?
BF Yes, I am now able to support my parents, but what I am doing for them is nothing compared to what they have done for me.
BB How is your recovery from the back injury?
BF Well, I never expected to completely recover from my back injury. My spine and muscles are weak, and I suffer pain throughout the day 24 hours, seven days a week. There is nothing I can do without experiencing pain. But, I have learned to accept my disabilities and live through my pain. For many years I have wasted much time being sorry for myself and wanting others to understand my pain. It only made me miserable and made me hurt more.
Now I have learned to live through my pain, acknowledging it and using it to help someone else’s pain.
I walk normally; one cannot guess that I have had a serious back injury or that I’m in pain. I know it can get worse in time.
BB What do you think was the most damaging thing to you personally about your experience in Lebanon?
BF For many years I thought it was the disability and the pain I suffered with my broken back, but I came to realize that the most damage was done to my son by my disappearance, and then when I returned he was forced to watch me during my recovery through the years of paralysis. He was affected the rest of his life. He is 29 years old.
BB Would you like to share anything else you have learned from your suffering?
BF There is a difference between knowledge and awareness. What you learn in school, books and information is knowledge. But awareness is what we gain from life’s experiences and those are the lessons that guide us and mold us to become what we are, so I have come to learn to rejoice in my pain. My suffering has given me hope and courage. I feel life is beautiful.
BB What do you think is the best way to help people who get caught up in situations like yours?
BF Educate people about the crime of trafficking and slavery. Make them aware of human rights and the value of human life. No one should be treated like a “nobody.” There needs to be a law that no human being can be traded like an animal. It has to be throughout the world.
Education would have kept me from taking this step. Also, if I had gotten a chance to meet someone like myself, it would have been enough to keep me from taking that step.
BB What would be your advice to young girls who might be vulnurable?
BF It is a difficult question to answer, because many of them are the ones suffering in extreme poverty. It is not easy to discourage them from taking such jobs without providing a way out. The only way to avoid my experience is not to take these type jobs. But, if they do, they should be sure they have a valid visa and passport and have the right contact information before they leave their country. Such information as the telephone number of their country’s embassy would be important.
What happened to me was not an unfortunate accident. It was a crime against humanity. Human trafficking has become one of the largest crimes in the world. It is our duty to come together to rise against it, to put an end to this dehumanizing trait. This is not one man or woman’s fight. Don’t blame the world for this, you are the world.
If you want to change the world you have to take the steps.
Beatrice Fernando wrote of her experience in Lebanon in her book In Contempt of Fate.
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