Separated from her husband and left with a daughter, she went to Singapore as a domestic helper in 1985. She says they expected her to clean all three homes. Lunch was her employers' leftovers and she was not allowed dinner until her 17-hour day was finished. She returned to the Philippines in April this year and was admitted to Sunrise Hill the same day, convinced that her employers had been trying to poison her. Last year, more than one out of every four cases handled by Sunrise Hill involved workers returning from Taiwan.
Some workers get into chronic debt, sometimes selling their homes to pay the fee.
The stress of paying it all back, with something left over for the family in the Philippines, can be too much. Once they leave Sunrise Hill, usually after a period ranging from just one day to two months, the broken heroes are lost to follow-up counseling. A pretty teenager whose passport falsely says she is 25 is back in Japan as an entertainer after being raped there in January last year. Even Maria Dolor, who discharged herself against medical advice, has put her torment in Kuwait behind her. She is planning to return overseas to take her chances with another family she has never met.