A Filipina domestic helper in Saudi Arabia, who jumped off a building in 2015, is still fighting and hopes that there is hope as another year unfolds.
The Filipina was identified as Aida Rivas. Despite experiencing difficulty in walking, Rivas still chose to fight and continued to work in the foreign land.
Steel was attached to the spinal cord of Rivas and until now, she seldom feels pain because the bone in her left feet was shattered. She needs to undergo therapy but she had to stop it because of lack of budget. Her agency settled with her last 2016 but her employer is nowhere to be found.
She had to jump off the building to escape the son of her employer who tried to rape her. She was repatriated back to the Philippines and became a beneficiary of the “Balik-Pinas, BalikHanapbuhay” program of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). Unfortunately, her soap business got bankrupt.
Rivas is positive despite the struggles she had to face this year. This 2019, she plans to sue her neighbor who is allegedly the illegal recruiter that victimized her last 2015.
Rivas applied to become a beautician but she worked as a domestic helper in Jeddah. She just pursued being a domestic helper because she doesn’t want her child to stop from going to school and her husband has diabetes.
The year 2019 started well with Rivas mainly because her child already graduated and is now working in a huge company.
