Tomas said to his daughter Luisa that her plan to have fake documents was not good, that Luisa could go to jail because of it.
"Itay, (father) you don't have to worry. Many people have done it. Besides the fake documents is necessary for me to have the job and go abroad. Think about it, we are very poor, we could hardly eat but if I can go abroad and work, our life would be better, you do not have to roam the streets picking up empty plastic bottles for food. So, please, maybe you can find a way to produce money for my placement fee, for the fake documents, for my three months dance training." Luisa one for one exaggerated to her father the all possible expenses.
Listening to her daughter talking about the possible expenses Tomas was worried. Where would he take the money Luisa needed. His income of collecting empty plastic bottles was not enough even for their food.
"The placement fee you are talking about, how much is that?" it was Norma who asked Luisa about the placement fee.
"Twenty five thousand pesos!" Luisa replied. "Compared to other agency, it was the lowest."
"Twenty five thousand pesos? Where will we get such amount of money?" Tomas was shocked upon hearing from Luisa the amount she needed for the placement fee.
THAT night, the parents of Luisa could not sleep. They were talking about the big amount of money Luisa needed in order for her to go abroad to work as a Cultural Dancer.
"Where will we get the money Luisa need?" Twenty five thousand pesos was a lot of money, a very huge amount people of their stand in the society could only dreamed of.
"What I think is that if we cannot produce the money for Luisa's placement fee, our daughter could forget about working abroad. It means, we could also forget the chance, our chance to have a good life and of Luisa and of our other children." Norma said to her husband.
"It's a very big amount of money! I have headache thinking about it." Tomas said.
"The money Luisa needed for her three months dance training maybe I can borrow it from Mrs. David." the Mrs. David Norma was talking about was where she did laundry work. Everyday Norma went to Mrs. David to wash clothes for the whole family and also to clean the house. A maid actually. But Norma doubted if Mrs. David would still lend her money. Her pay of two hundred pesos per day she already had taken an advance of three months when one of their son, the youngest was hospitalized. "I doubt if Mrs. David will still lend me money. What we borrowed from her when our youngest was hospitalized I had not yet fully paid."
"We must do our best to have the money Luisa needed because if she really can go abroad to work, we also can breathe from the hardship of life. Luisa is a good girl, she will really helped us. I know that all who went abroad earned good money." Tomas said.
"It's true. Take Mrs. David, her husband worked abroad I think in Saudi Arabia. Her husband always sent big amount of money, that's why they have a comfortable life. They are rich!" Norma had taken her employer as example for having a good life.
"The husband of Mrs. David is an engineer. Of course he earned a lot. Besides Mrs. David also had a business, a lending business." Tomas argued a little about what Norma said of earning a lot of money when one was working abroad.
"I heard that even those who worked abroad as domestic helpers, built houses for their family, some acquired a residential lot." Norma although was talking about other people but in reality she was dreaming of what benefits their family would have if Luisa can go abroad to work.
"What I want to our daughter is that she will be a professional, a teacher. Luisa is intelligent. Really a waste that we cannot send her to finish school." Tomas had always dreamed for Luisa to be a teacher.
"We can do nothing, Tomas. We have seven children. We both were not educated. I am a maid, a laundry woman and you earned only by collecting empty plastic bottles. Luisa is our only hope. She had already a chance to work abroad. We must have the money for her placement fee! I am thinking to sell my gold earrings and necklace."
"The jewelleries you inherited from your mother? The jewellery had passed already many generations and it's also not enough for the money our daughter need." the jewelleries of Norma had stayed and never touched even with many trials that passed in their life. Now, Norma wanted to dispose it so that Luisa could go abroad.
"The jewelleries is for Luisa so that later she could pass it to her daughter too and so on to more coming generations but we need money now. I think my ancestors will not became angry if I will dispose the jewelleries for the good future of our children. Luisa has already the chance to go work abroad and it means a good future for her and to the rest of our children. We must find the way to have the money Luisa need. Luisa can help us for the education of her brothers and sisters. I don't like it that they would be like us uneducated. Everything in our life will change if our eldest can go work abroad. Luisa is our hope." Norma, the mother of Luisa, really wanted it that their young daughter could go abroad to work.
"Now, okay, you can try to talk to Mrs. David."
"I will do it tomorrow. I hope Mrs. David will help us!"
LUISA was very surprised. Her mother handed her an amount that could be enough for her three months training of cultural dances, for her possible expenses of the fake documents she needed, the birth certificate as prove that she was eighteen years old already and the fake high school diploma.
"Where did you got the money, Inay?" Luisa asked her mother.
"I sold my jewelleries to Mrs. David." Norma answered her daughter.
"The earrings and the necklace I suppose to have when I will be eighteen years old?" Luisa knew that the jewelleries was for her if she became eighteen years old. A tradition kept by her mother's family. From mother to daughter, from generation to generation.
"Yes, but you need the money." Norma heaved a sigh. It was also heavy to her letting go the jewelleries but if she did not then Luisa could not go abroad.
"The jewelleries were from the ancestors!" Luisa was saddened. She really was eager to have those ancestor's jewelleries, so that she would be part of a tradition as she too could later pass the jewelleries to her future daughter.
"Don't worry! I made an appointment with Mrs. David. We could buy back the jewelleries from her if we already have the money. I also talked with Mrs. David about the twenty five thousand pesos you need for placement fee." Norma told her daughter the possibility that Mrs. David would lend to them the twenty five thousand pesos.
"Mrs. David will let us borrow from her the twenty five thousand pesos?" Luisa hardly could not believed but was excited, because if Mrs. David indeed would lend the money then her going to abroad would be assured.
"First she doubted but then later agreed because it is for your going abroad. She was convinced that we could pay it back because in abroad you can earn good money." Norma assured Luisa that Mrs. David would lent them the money Luisa needed for the placement fee.
"Thank you, God!" Luisa was happy, now she really know that she can go abroad, to work as a cultural dancer. "Sure we have to pay interest?"
"That's for sure. It's her business money lending. The interest was a little high but we can do nothing." Norma replied.
"How much is the interest?" Luisa asked.
"Five percent per month!"
"How much is five percent of twenty five thousand?" Luisa asked her mother.
"You ask me? I am only grade two. And I am not good in arithmetic. But Mrs. David told me how much interest we have to pay every month. She said, one thousand two hundred fifty pesos." Norma answered Luisa.
"One thousand two hundred fifty pesos only for interest? It's a lot of money!" Luisa said and looked for a piece of paper and pencil. She sat with her one foot on the chair as she always did. Luisa wanted to count how much money would be left every month minus interest and other expenses. Norma quietly just observed her daughter that used her fingers to get the right answer to what she's trying to solve.
It take a while for Luisa to finished counting the imaginary money which was still floating on the air, divided to also imaginary expenses. ****to be continued**** Remedios Dorio