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Mabels Memoirs
On the Move
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User

In life some of us dream to come to America because we feel life is better in the big apple. So we
sacrifice our family, home, friends, and loved ones to make a life in the big apple.
But woe, no one told us that life in the big apple would be easy. The pain and sorrow that we
have to undergo to fulfill our dreams.
So one starts their long journey to fulfill their dreams without relatives to sponsor you, or
marriage to a citizen to obtain a green card; one thinks of working as a housekeeper for someone
with the intention to obtain a green card but one has no idea what one is letting themselves in for.
One starts with the intention that everything that is mentioned at an interview sounds
great, one thinking to themselves just what I am looking for. No one sees the hidden dangers
that are in store for them.
At first one is treated with a bit of respect and compassion, but as time goes by, one sees the
housekeeper as another form of slavery but in a humane way without the shackles and chains.
Housekeepers are not looked upon as an individual with a need. I dont know what the
sponsor sees the housekeeper as, because their actions and attitude towards us- the housekeepersare far from humane.
They, the sponsors see us as if we have no need in life but to come to their houses to take
care of their dirty laundry, their houses, and take care of their children.
They go about their business, some playing tennis, some running their errands and
visiting friends while we the housekeepers are stuck indoors twenty four hours a day, five or six
days a week doing their chores.
Some of us are not allowed to even go around the block for a walk. We are like prisoners
of these people afraid to even speak out for our rights because we are afraid if we speak out, our
future to obtain a green card may be jeopardized, so we the housekeeper suffer in silence, sorrow,
and pain with the hope that one day we will be out of it.
But as I know that as an individual I am a person who has a right and needs, to be treated
with respect. That is my reason for writing this.
I am not the only one who feels that way, but as I said, a lot of us are afraid to speak out.
I would like something done about the conditions of housekeeper sponsoring.
Because without something done about it, the conditions are not going to improve.
Some of us are willing to do the job but just ask that the condition that we have to work
under be improved. We are not knocking sponsoring because many of us like life in America and
without somebody sponsoring us many of us would not have the opportunity to fulfill our dream
by staying in such a great country.
Many of us dont have the right kind of food to eat coming from a different country, our
cultures are different and we are not asked what we would like to eat. We are given the type of
food that the sponsor is accustomed to and because our culture is different the food is strange to
us and no allowance is made that we can have what we want. If we try to do our own, the
sponsor turns their noses up at what we are doing. So again we suffer in silence because if we
speak out we know what it means.
We are treated with no respect, the children dont respect us, they see us as just the housekeeper
to clean up after them. When they make a mess the parents see us as just the person they employ

to clean up after them and do their dirty work that they are not willing to do. Some treat us like
children and we are also treated like inadequate human beings.
We are told to do things that at the time it makes you wonder- are we to pull the house
down, clean it and put it together again? These people dont want to see a speck of dirt in their
houses; for example, they will see a cobweb on the ceiling and they
expect you to get it
down sometimes from out of reach places they want you to clean. Sometimes I wonder what are
these people looking for: a human being or a robot?
Our work is never done, we start the day off with looking after the children by seeing to
them in the morning then follow on by doing the chores of the day, for example washing,
cleaning, cooking and ironing, then seeing to the children when they come from school. Then
when all that is done and its time to take a break, we have to watch the children while the
parents go out and come in at various hours. Some expect you to be up when they come home,
sometimes not even as much as an appreciation is shown. It is like this and that is what is
expected of you.
We are not allowed to talk freely on the telephone if the sponsor is in the house; our
conversation is listened to. We know that it is not our home so we do not abuse their property, we
have no privacy, the only time we are alone and have some privacy is when we are alone in our
room and sometimes that is not even private because, sometimes they come knocking on your
door at various hours and times. They dont see this as a job that you have a starting time and a
finishing time because you are working in their house they think they have the right to do as they
like.
No one knows what life a housekeeper sponsor goes through. We are paid a salary of
between $125 and $250. Some are paid more than what is quoted, but not a lot more because the
sponsor is not willing to pay more. I know the Labor Board has a guide line stating that the
housekeeper should get a set amount but that is never mentioned by the sponsor. The sponsor
pays what he or she feels they should pay for the job. Each of us sign a contract but that contract
and the rules are never mentioned. We are under the impression that what we are getting is what
is entitled to us. Holiday is never mentioned. We are given what the sponsor feels like giving.
Some of us never get a vacation. Some get only one week, some never get any. If we question
our right some are penalized by making life more difficult so what does one do?... nothing.
So sponsors come and sponsors go and the ones that endure it to the end never mention
what they had to endure to obtain a green card because after going through all the suffering and
pain one is too glad at the end of it to get their green card and glad to be out of it.
In terms of health: we are not supposed to be ill because if we are ill there is no one to do
the sponsor work and the sponsor doesnt want to hear that we are ill.
Also we, the housekeeper cannot be ill because without coming to work we have no
salary and cannot pay our way because we are here. We dont have a status so we are not entitled
to any benefit. So whether we are fit or ill we cannot afford to take time off. As for
appointments, if we have an appointment to go to a doctor or any business if we cannot do it in
our own time, time is not granted to us to do anything.
We get no benefit such as health insurance, if we are ill we have to cover our own
medical expenses and most of us cannot afford it. Many of us never see a doctor, we cannot
afford the doctors fee.
We work from Monday to Friday or Tuesday to Saturday night late, some of us have to
baby sit on a Saturday night and are not going home until one or two o clock in the morning

sometimes even later because when the sponsor goes out on a Saturday night they are in no hurry
to get back
As a child growing up in the West Indies, coming from two hard working parents I witnessed my
mother and father arguing a lot. My father came from a very
sort of upper class background while my mothers side was more of a middle class.
I saw a lot of class differences within my fathers side of the family. My grandmother, my
fathers mother was prejudiced against people of a darker complexion. Because of that reason she
was not too keen on my mother.
Also, my father was a womanizer and had many children because he was a fine looking
man. Because of the differences in our parents, as children we are affected. Today I have many
brothers and sister but only three of us belong to one woman.
My name is Mabel Sparkes and I was born in Jamaica, West Indies in the Parish of Portland. I
lived in a small town, which was called Bybrook in Portland; I went to school there until the age
of thirteen. My mother immigrated to England in 1960. After being in England for four years,
she decided to send for my sister, brother, and myself. I immigrated to England in 1964, arriving
in England was a whole new way of life everything was so different.
There I had to learn to adjust to the culture, the climate, and the people. I was amazed at how
different things were there.
I went to school until the age of sixteen. There I did O levels, English, Math, Science, Biology
and Chemistry. After gaining my leaving certificate, I went to college to do further studies. On
leaving college I started work straight away.
I met my husband at 16 and started having children. I had four children, two boys and two girls.
From then on life has been a struggle of trial and tribulation, but my strongest point that I have
about me is that I never gave up.
In 1986 I decided to come to America.
With the death of my father I decided to come to the funeral, arriving here I met two of my
sisters who lived here. They encouraged me to stay. I took their advice and decided to give it a
go.
I then went back to England to inform my family about my decision about going back to
America.
I came back to America, got into domestic work as a housekeeper taking care of other peoples
children. While doing this type of work I met a young lady who had two boys and wanted
someone to live in her house and take care of her two boys and perform household duties. She
decided to sponsor me for my green card.

Sponsoring me meant I had to remain with her until my green card came through. Unfortunately,
things dont always go the way we planned. I stayed with her for four and a half years. I
approached a lawyer who decided to take my case with the understanding that his fee was $2,000
dollars. I decided to go ahead with that agreement.
In the mean time things changed. I was approached by the lady that was sponsoring me that the
situation had changed.
She informed me that she would have to let me go. On that decision I went and enrolled in a
Nurses Aide program and gained my certificate as a certified Nurses Aide.
I started working as a Home Health Aide and the job that I was getting was okay. However, I
wanted to do something better for myself. I started doing my GED because without it I couldnt
go on to college to do what I wanted. I did well, got on the program took my test in June and
failed Math. Here I am once again, coming to classes trying to achieve my goal to gain my GED
so that I can go on to college to study to become a counselor so that I can help others in life.
I conclude with this: My experience in life has been full of ups and downs, trials and error, but
my answer to this is that life is an experience that we all have to face. Take each day for what it
is, deal with what faces you, be strong, dont hold on to things, deal with them, let go and move
on.
If I could wish for anything in life, my wish would be to go back in time to my teenage years.
My teenage years were not lived as a normal teenager. I started having children in my teenage
years which forced me into a lot of responsibility which was not very easy.
Being a teenage mother you have not developed who you are and what you want to do. Also, you
have not had fun in life by doing all the crazy things that is expected of a teenager, like going out
to parties, hang out with your friends, dating and just having a good old time.
That is why I would like to return back in time. I have two girls and my advice to them is dont
settle down in life too early go out do the things that they would like to do get an education,
travel, date, have fun before you take on responsibility because you can never turn back the clock
or go back in time. What you lose in your teenage years will never be returned to you.
Knowing what I know now teenage years are precious years. They should be viewed as moments
in our years that should be the happiest time of our life. A lot of us dont know until time teaches
us that some things in life are precious.

Commitment
Commitment is a measurable thing. It is not what I said I was going to do, or what I
planned to do, or what Id like to happen.
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Commitment is what I actually did. Commitment determines results, not the other way
around.
Look at what youre doing, what youre actually accomplishing, to determine what youre
committed to.
Your power comes from the willingness to involve yourself persistently with
whatever you wish to do or be.
And to keep working toward it until it happens. No matter what it takes.
You are never given a wish, without also being given the power to make that wish come
true.
You may have to work for it, however.

Problems
Every one of us gladly turns away from our problems, if possible, they must not be
mentioned, or better still, their existence is denied.
We wish to make our lives simple certain and smooth- and for that reasons problems are
taboo.
We choose to have certainties and no doubts- results and no experiments- without even
seeing that certainties can arise only through doubt, and results through experiment.
When we must deal with problems- we instinctively refuse to try the way that leads through
darkness and obscurity.
We wish to hear only of unequivocal results and completely forget that these results can
only be brought about when we have ventured into and emerged again from the darkness.
But to penetrate the darkness we must summon all the powers of enlightened thought
consciousness can offer.
We must even indulge in speculations.