Comfort Woman : a Filipina's Story of Prostitution and Slavery Under ...

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Comfort Woman
her. Don Pepe had ten children, all of whom were already grown up.
The second to the youngest daughter was Julia’s age.
Don Pepe was a very religious man, and his wife was a kind woman
who treated Julia well. Twice everyday, at six in the morning and again
at dusk, the landlord and his wife went to the old church in Angeles
to pray and hear mass. Their children were also very religious. In every
corner of the big house there were statues of the Virgin Mary, Jesus
Christ and the saints.
One night, while Julia was fast asleep, she felt someone kiss her.
She wanted to scream, but she heard a voice whispering in her ear, “Do
not shout, nobody can hear you because only my wife and I are in the
house. All my children are not here.” Julia was scared, she could not
fi ght back because Don Pepe was stronger than she was. He raped her.
Julia felt great pain. When he was through, he told her not to tell her
parents about the incident. “Or else, I will kick out your father from
my land,” he said. Then he walked away from Julia’s room.
My mother was then only fi fteen years old and had just begun to
have her period. The next morning, she did her work obediently. She
set the table for breakfast and served
the landlord and his wife their meal.
Don Pepe glanced at Julia very often.
She kept quiet, but in her heart
she was very angry.
One day, Julia asked the landlord’s
wife for permission to visit her
parents. She went to the barrio and
stayed two days with her family. Her
mother and her brothers and sisters
were happy to see her. Before she
left, she talked to her parents and
told them what had happened. But
her parents refused to believe her.
“Don Pepe is a religious man, he
will not do that,” her father said.
Don Pepe, our landlord and my father.
But Alberto knew in his heart that