Final Ella update

SO SO much to share but long story really short (I’ll try), Ella and her lawyer, Hanan, and I bus-tripped 4 hrs south to Aqaba (city on the Red Sea where Ella worked before) last Saturday to meet with the police there.  It was the last step she had to take before being released to fly back to Manila on the 15th.  Once in the police station, though, Ella’s previous employer was notified and came to meet with us (the same man who raped her repeatedly, he AND his son) and it was decided that since Ella was a run-away and now illegal (work permit had expired) the law said she needed to be taken into custody until she could be returned to the Philippines.  Hanan fought it and fought it…Ella had one more week of work, hadn’t said goodbye to anyone, we weren’t prepared for this at all, I asked them to make me her guardian til the 15th promising to deliver her at risk of being deported myself…NO.  It was the law.  So Hanan and I went with her employer to the airline office to change her ticket to the following night…

Side note:  A big part of this process has been on Saturday mornings for the past few months Ella and I together choosing to extend forgiveness and blessing on her employer who wronged her so horribly, and asking God to bring healing to her heart/mind.  So initially when he showed up at the police station I was asking God to help me see him with HIS eyes, with his heart for him.  And felt so much compassion, just seeing his fear and brokenness.  But then watching this man get all chummy with the police and start bashing Ella in front of them all for taking advantage of he and his family, that he had been so good to her and look what she did, that he was such a good man for giving back her passport and letting her go home without charges, etc.  I couldn’t even look at him.  So angry.  Then once we got to the airlines office he waited for me since I was slow with my stuff and with Hanan ahead of us said “So are you the American girl I talked with on the phone last month?” Yes, no eye contact, walking up the stairs. “I can’t believe you believe this lady (Ella), she’s a bad woman and a liar.”  It was that delayed reaction of hearing it in Arabic and questioning if you really heard what you heard, but that’s exactly what he said.  I wanted to BLOW.  I try to talk with Jesus about things as they happen and I had been that day, asking what he’d do, what he wanted me to do/say but at that moment I just wanted to drop my bags and drop HIM to the ground.  SO ANGRY.  Ella told me later that as she was being led away to spend the night in jail, he looked at her right in the eye and smiled.  He WON.  At least for now.  The innocent, wronged one going to jail and the criminal walking out free.  I still think back to what I’d do if I could do it all over…what I’d say…feeling such this passion for justice which I know is God’s heart and from him!  But knowing many times it’s his to bring…in his way and time…and that returning violence for violence is just a dead end road…man alive so hard sometimes though.  And I wasn’t even the one who was wronged you know?

We had to leave Ella in Aqaba at the police station Saturday night.  They took everything from her and she spent the night in a jail cell (one of her biggest fears having heard so many stories about how Filipino women are treated in jail here).  I learned later that she was forced to clean the woman’s jail before she could go to bed.

On the way home in the bus the reality of what had happened just set in more and more…the emotions of her not just being someone out there I barely knew, one of the 1000′s of illegal Asian workers you hear about, but my dear friend and sister, and of feeling completely powerless to defend her or fight for her.  Of being a woman too and knowing our vulnerability and how often we are wronged.  And the guilt of being a privileged American woman who’s never known hunger like her and her family, or the fear of poverty or of the uncertainty of the future, or the anger and shame of being treated injustly/like less than a person just bc you’re Asian and female and poor.  We are both women, children of God, equal to Him in worth and beauty and loved the same, but the world’s system is so different.  And I hate it.  The tears started to come on the bus, then the sobs in the taxi home (could barely get out the directions to the poor driver) and then the floodgates broke once I got home.

The next morning Ella was transported by police car back to Amman and put in another jail for holding until her flight that night.  Sunday her community rallied here in Amman, one gal buying her a suitcase and chocolates to take to her family, another gal and I going to the gym and packing all her things, getting her last paycheck from her boss, etc.  That evening Ella’s mobile was returned to her on the way from the jail to the airport and she called me just crying…I could barely understand her…listened for a long time and finally felt prompted to say “Ella, I need you to stop.  I know this has been hard, I can’t imagine how hard or what you’ve seen.  But remember what God told you before you went to Aqaba?  He said he’d be with you.  And not to be afraid.  Have you been quiet and still thru all this long enough to remember that?  And to listen to what he’s saying to you right now?  What’s he saying to you?”  She flipped like a lightswitch and in this calm voice said “Ate, I think God took me to that jail (the one in Amman) for the other women there.”  And she told me how, after she got there, about 25 other Filipino ladies being held there, most with similiar stories, gathered around her as she shared about the love of God for them, and the hope available in him, even in the midst of their sufferings.  Most of them had been there a long time and had no hope of being released or going home.  Lots of them wrote letters for her to take home and mail to their families.  They sent Ella off with tears and hugs and thank yous.

The second thing we agreed on was that this wasn’t the ending we were expecting or hoping for, but it was GOD’s ending for her.  That in his grace and protection and love for her he’d allowed her to see the reality of what it is she had been delivered from.  And broke her heart for her sisters in prison so she can pray and take their stories back to Manila.  She was so so thankful to be going home…

So that night (Sunday), a friend rented a car and 6 of us piled in to head out to the airport to send Ella off.  We pulled up to the police station there, wish you could’ve seen it…ha!  Felt like the whole of the police force turned out to see these 6 hot (if I do say so) foreign women walk in.  These guys were really treating Ella well YAY, she was sitting waiting for us, we hugged and cried, and then the chief of police invited us all into his office.  We had a good talk, and he ended up giving Ella permission to check-in early so we could see her all the way off.  So we all piled back in the car and tailed the police van to the airport terminal where we made sure she got all checked in and was good to go, hugged again and cried and waved goodbye and that was it!  I got a call from her this morning from Manila, she put me on speaker phone and her whole family was gathered around to say thank you!!  Her oldest daughter said “Thank you for my mom!!” brought tears to my eyes.  Beautiful.

The future is hopeful too…with Ella’s permission I’ve contacted a few folks I know in Manila who love Jesus, and they’ll be calling her up in the coming days just to support her thru this transition.  We’ve raised over $1500 too (THANK YOU all who’ve given!!!) and more is still coming in (there’s still time!!) and Ella’s already opened a bank account there so I’ll be wiring the money over to her in the next week or so…and just bc of family/extended family pressure and the extreme poverty they live in she’s chosen to keep the account and the money a secret.  I’m so proud of her for that.  She SO wants to do her best to use it wisely and to make those who have given proud of her.  And she has plans to meet with two NGOs in Manila who do microcredit work, just to explore that possibility.  Her dream is still to stay in Manila with her family and to use the money to start a small business that would ensure a good income for them in the future.  But we’ll see.  She’s promised that if she ends up having to leave Manila for another job abroad she’ll leave the money in the bank under her two girls’ names so they’ll have it waiting for them once they’re ready to start university.

Phew, sorry for the book but really wanted to share the rest of the story with you all, it’s been BEAUTIFUL and such a privilege to be a part of along with you.  THANK YOU for praying and giving through all this…and please continue to as Ella transitions home and looks to the future.  I don’t have many pics of the two of us but now that she’s home safe and sound I wanted to share this one with you.  Two princesses of the King!  Gollee I miss and love that girl.

Love and hugs!