Cempaka Belanda: Au pair work in the Netherlands? Proceed with caution!

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.
They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Au pair work in the Netherlands? Proceed with caution!

RNW, 21 June 2011, by Martijn van Tol

(Photo: radloff)

Every year, thousands of young Asian women find work as au pairs in the Netherlands. Dutch agencies make enormous profits recruiting and supplying them to families. The market has doubled in just 10 years. However, Dutch au pair agencies are coming under increased scrutiny due to reports of exploitation.

‘Live-in household and childcare help for just 340 euros a month plus room and board’: it’s music to the ears of working Dutch parents with children.

Cleaning instructions

An au pair takes care of the children, performs light cleaning duties, learns the Dutch language and about Dutch culture. The job description appealed to Catleya, a 23-year-old Philippine woman. The Smiling Faces au pair agency arranged for her to start working for a family in Amsterdam.

On her first night in the Netherlands, she could hardly sleep because she was so excited. The following day, she was given a list of cleaning instructions. On the second day, more tasks were added to her list, including cleaning the windows. This didn’t fall under the ‘light household cleaning’ clause in her contract but she was too scared to say anything.

“My host father was a perfectionist when it came to cleaning. If I did one tiny little thing wrong, he’d tell me over and over again. I used to cry. I thought to myself, have I exchanged my life in the Philippines for this? I hadn’t expected to be treated like a menial by the family. I slowly learned to accept the fact that if there was something dirty in the house, I was responsible for it.”

Salary rights

A week after she arrived, her host family had given her a cleaning roster: on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays, she had to dust and vacuum the entire house. On Tuesdays, she had to clean the kitchen from top to bottom and on Thursdays, she did the bathrooms and toilets. She made breakfast for the family every morning and cooked a hot meal every evening. And in between all that, she took care of two children.

Catleya’s story is far from unique according to Diane Oosterbeek, who runs Bayanihan, an organisation for Philippine women working in the Netherlands. Every week, the organisation gets complaints from au pairs who have to work far too hard.

“On paper, they’re au pairs, but in fact, they’re cleaners. They work long hours and don’t get any days off. They’re being used as cheap labour and they therefore have the right to a salary.”

Ms Oosterbeek has taken four host families to court to force them to pay their Philippine au pairs a salary. In all four cases, the judge ruled in favour of the au pairs.

Abuses

About 1,600 au pairs from outside the European Union work in the Netherlands. One-third of them come from the Philippines. Filipinas are popular because they speak good English, and have a reputation for being careful and obedient.

Abuses can be reported to the Immigration and Naturalisation Department (IND) but hardly anybody does this because the IND can rescind residence permits. Catleya did complain to the Smiling Faces agency but nothing was done about the situation.

Smiling Faces says it regrets that some au pairs are not satisfied with the service provided. The agency has undertaken to e-mail all former au pairs to find out whether others have had bad experiences.

Money

Cherry, a 21-year-old Chinese au pair, says she had no problems with her host family but that agencies shouldn’t just be interested in making money.

“They should talk to the host family about what it’s like to have an au pair. They shouldn’t just say that they’ll provide an au pair who’ll do lots of work and take the money for that.”

The Dutch government is monitoring seven of the 20 au pair agencies with which it works because of suspicions about abuses, including exploitation. One of the agencies has already been dropped. The IND says it will in future do its best to work only with au pair agencies which have been checked. It also plans to stop people from making contact with au pairs directly via the internet as they can do at the moment.

The names of the au pairs featured in this article have been changed to protect their identity.

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