this was in one of the most up scale neighborhoods in the sfan francisco bay area. i think this is just preposterous. shortly after the diplomat and his young family moved in, heidi couldn t help but notice the young girl. the thing that attracted my attention is that she was washing the car every day. she came out to wash this car from top to bottom every single day, whether it was raining or cold or warm. and we thought what a strange thing. why would some young girl have to come out and wash a car every single day. lily says washing and scrubbing the car at 6:00 a.m. was only a fraction of her responsibilities. every morning began with the care and feeding of twins, a
seven-year-old girl and boy who were not even allowed to carry their books to the car. in addition to all the chores, cooking and cleaning, her job included carrying the briefcase and being available all hours of the night to serve him. he would stay late at night and ask me to make tea at like 1:00. it was like 24 hours. lily says they started controlling her right away from the very moment when they first arrived her at their house in the middle east. she was forced to travel with them to the u.s. they would lock her indoors whenever they left the house. even if they are inside the house, they would lock the door and hide the key. the problem is huge. human trafficking attorney cindy liou says there are
daily life. she had to work from morning until night for 18 hours of work, seven days a week, no holidays, no days off, no ability to go anywhere, visit her parents, nothing. after a while she told me she was never paid. and i thought what a strange thing. for many it s hard to understand why lily didn t just run away but it s important to see the situation from lily s perspective. in the beginning it doesn t register this is fishy. they think this is normal. this is what s expected. in fact, lily had a good experience previously working as an international nanny. at 15 she lived and worked for a diplomat in saudi arabia, the family treated her well, paying for her vacation time, taking her with them to europe and teaching her arabic and french. so when she received an offer
foreigners, they have little incentive to respect laws. lily finally worked up the nerve to speak to a friendly face. once in a while she would be there and she would see me standing getting my mail and she would come flying over and start talking to me. and she had this beaming expression on her face as if she were so happy to be talking to another human being. even though lily didn t initially convey any distress, heidi began to have concerns about the welfare of the women. it was always clear to me that she did not have much time to chat because she would say, oh, i have to go now. i must go. so she would run back. almost like she was afraid someone would see her. mine while lily began to confide in heidi one brief conversation at a time. heidi gradually pieced together the ugly realitity of lily s
heidi, who worked out of her home, would often see lily when she went to pick up the mail. once in a while, she would be there and she would see me standing there getting my mail. she would fly over and start talking to me. and she had this beaming expression on her face as if she were so happy to be talking to another human being. even though lily didn t initially convey any distress, heidi slowly began to have concerns about the welfare of the harried young woman. it was always clear to me she did not have much time to chat. because she would say, oh, i have to go now. i must go. so, she would run back, almost in a like she was afraid someone would see her. meanwhile, lily began to confide in heidi, one brief conversation at a time. heidi gradually pieced together the ugly and unrelenting reality of lily s daily life. she had to work from morning till night, midnight till 1:00 in the morning, 2:00 in the morning, 18 hours of work, seven