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

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Comfort Woman
His wife did not know about me. My
mother herself was very ashamed to show her
face to Doña Saring, who had been very kind
to her and treated her as one of her children
when she was working in their house as a
maid.
As a young girl, I earned money by teaching
my classmates embroidery and knitting.
During the break, I sat down with them, and
they paid me three to fi ve centavos for each
kind of stitch that I taught them. I used the
money to buy some thread and cloth to make
handkerchiefs.
On Saturdays and Sundays, I worked
with our neighbor who was a dressmaker. I
hemmed the dresses and sewed on the buttons
and clasps and got paid fi ve centavos for
every dress I fi nished. I did about fi ve dresses
in a day and saved the money to buy things I
needed in school.
I enjoyed sewing. I loved to watch our
neighbor make dresses. Later she showed me
how to cut dresses and sew them. Until now,
I like to sew and make dresses. But my child-
My Catholic-school
uniform. As a young
girl I dreamed of
becoming a doctor.
hood dream was to become a doctor. I had hoped that my father could
afford to pay for my studies. I worked hard in school and aimed to
become the class valedictorian when I graduated.
My dream to become a doctor began when I was in the fourth
grade. I was inspired by our family doctor whose daughter, Lourdes,
went to the same school as I. The doctor knew that I was the illegitimate
daughter of a landlord. He also he knew that I was one of the
brightest in my class.
One day the doctor asked me, “What do you like to be when you
fi nish high school?”
“I want to be a doctor, like you,” I answered.