Filipina Migrant Workers/Italy

In 1983 a group of Filipina domestic workers from two migrant workers' organizations in Rome, Italy joined together to work on making a slideshow about their situation. They received assistance from two support organizations: The Philippine Documentation Center and the Commission on Filipino Migrant Workers, who were able to get funding from the United Methodist Women in the USA for this initiative.

In a conversation with Marilee Karl, eight of the women working on the slideshow explained why they decided to make it and their process of working on it.

• How did you begin working on the slideshow production?

We began with many months of meeting together, discussion and consciousness raising about our situation as Filipina migrant workers here in Italy. We also talked about the reasons we left the Philippines to find work abroad, about our problems and about how we might be able to solve some of them. A couple of times we were even able to spend a weekend together outside of Rome in church conference centers. We were able to have some very good times and build up understanding and a good group spirit. We are only now actually working on making the slideshow itself.

• Have any of you had any experience in making audiovisuals before?

No, this is the first time. We are all beginning at the beginning. Right now we are taking a training course that an Italian development group is giving especially for us on how to make a slideshow. We are making our slideshow during this training. It's a five month course. We meet on our days off: Thursday afternoons, Saturday afternoons and Sundays.

We are all motivated in attending the sessions even though it is difficult for us. For many of us it means giving up almost all of our free time and our days off. We feel that we are going in the right direction in forming a team that can work together.

• Who are you making this audiovisual for and why are you making it?

For the Filipino migrant community and for the Italians, but mainly for the Filipinos. We want to show what our real situation is like and we want to use the slideshow for organizing other Filipino migrant workers.

I am a member of two organizations of Filipino migrant workers: Kampi and Malayan. This audiovisual will be very useful for our work. It will help us share our experiences with other members of these groups and with other migrant workers.

• There have been several studies made about the situation of Filipino migrant workers here in Italy. What makes your presentation of it unique and needed?

More than anybody else the Filipinas know their own reality. This is the first time we ourselves are telling how we see our own situation. All the other studies have been done by others. Even if these other presentations are good, it is not the same.

• How will you use this slideshow for organizing?

Part of the slideshow will probably show the migrant workers being organized and how joining the organization helped them. We hope to show this slideshow to other migrant workers, especially those who do not realize what their real situation is. It is a way of showing to them that there are groups that work for migrant workers.

Aside from producing this slideshow, we are getting knowledge which we can apply in other projects. Being a part of organizations, we can utilize what we have learned. The slideshow will also be very useful because there are no other slideshows on Filipina migrant workers in Italy. When we need information and materials, this slideshow will help us a lot. There is a lot to gain.

• What organizations are you from?

Some of us are from Malayan and some from Kampi. Malayan is a cultural organization, a theater group here in Rome. We make plays about the Philippine situation. It's a theater that breaks down barriers. We call it a people's theater. We have members from many of the different Philippine groups in Rome. We do not only do acting, but everyone can give their talents in the creative arts, like singing or dancing. It's been in existence for two years.

Kampi is a Filipino workers' organization, one of the organizations here in Rome. There are several. It deals with the economic, cultural and political aspects of the migrant workers' situation. One of the ambitious objectives of Kampi is to unite the Filipino migrant workers here in Rome.

• Are these groups women's groups?

No, but the active members are all women. It's because of the situation here in Rome. Most of the migrant workers from the Philippines here are women. It's also because women don't think the same way as men. When the men have free time they are looking for a good time, to go with other women, to have leisure. Instead women are more interested to give their free hours for what will be useful for their situation here. For example, if they have problems they will contact organizations in order to solve them and get support.

• What are your problems as women and as migrant workers here?

Well, there about 30,000 Filipino migrant workers here in Italy and most of us are women. Many of the workers are here illegally without proper papers or contracts so they can easily be exploited by the employers, with low pay, long work hours, not enough time off and so on.

But even the workers with contracts and good employers have problems. For instance, we feel isolated and marginalized here in Italy. We are looked down on because we do domestic work even though most of us had good education and training as teachers or nurses or secretaries. The problem is that in the Philippines the economic situation is so bad, either we can't get jobs or the pay is so low we can't support our families. So we come here where we can earn much more.

Then there is a big problem of loneliness and being away from our families. Many of us even had to leave our children back in the Philippines. Sometimes we have problems with unwanted attention from the male employers. It all causes big emotional and psychological stress. We don't know what our rights are and where we can turn for help.

• How do you think this slideshow is going to help other migrant workers understand their situation here better?

I think it will help a lot, especially for the new ones. We will use it in meetings of the migrant workers. I think that through slides you can really give the message of what the situation is like. The slideshow is not only the pictures. If the problems of the audience are being shown in the slideshow, it will help. Other migrant workers will be able to identify with what is being shown. When they see the situation projected they will come to realize that their own situation is not unusual. It is not an individual case. Other migrant workers suffer the same problems. It will help them find ways to solve these problems. It's not unusual to find a worker who thinks it’s all her fault, that it happens only to her. So this will help her discover that these are common problems.

• Is a slideshow more useful than other means to give this message?

I think so because with a slideshow you can really see it. It's really there. You can see it and you can hear also. Much better than just reading about it. Also because you can give more than one situation in the slideshow.

• What are you yourselves getting out of this experience?

I think that it will be a great achievement for us because I think that as women, in general, in the Philippines we are traditionally kept at home, relegated to household chores, keeping the family intact. We're never involved in any other activities. The fact that we are accomplishing something on our own is very important for us. I think that this is one of our greatest contributions in changing the attitudes of our co-Filipinos here in Italy.

I am laughing because for some of the married women here it's a real change because the husbands are home in the Philippines taking care of the children.

It is an experience that is adding to our knowledge, not only in learning how to make slides, but we are forced to really give all our efforts and to share our knowledge to others in a team work like this. The group cannot decide anything without thinking and sharing our ideas with each other. It's a learning experience hearing the problems of others; not just hearing but giving support and encouragement is also important. The experience of learning to work in a team is changing us.