“I came from Malaysia as part of a work-study program where I...

“I came from Malaysia as part of a work-study program where I worked as an au pair. The company assigns you to an American family, and you take care of the children and do ‘light housework’ in exchange for a place to live and $195 per week. My first year was with a family in Connecticut. They were very nice to me. But when they moved away I was assigned to a family outside of Boston. It was a very difficult year for me. I had no car, no friends, and no activities. I was supposed to have free time while the kids were at school, but the mother would always cut it short so I could do laundry or start cooking meals. She criticized everything I did. One time she asked me to wash winter coats during my free time, and then got mad when I didn’t do it right away—even though it was during the summer. She treated me like an employee, but then gave me extra chores because I was ‘part of the family.’ I even had to take care of the pets. I felt trapped because the company made it extremely difficult to get reassigned. My only other choice was to go back home. But I was lucky, I guess. A lot of my friends in the program had it worse.”