Fernando to Discuss Her Experience as Victim of Modern Slave Trade

Beatrice Fernando will give a talk titled "21st Century Slavery: Living Proof" on Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Hogan Suite B/C. The event is open to all members of the Holy Cross community.

Fernando is the author of In Contempt of Fate (Bearo Publishing, 2004), which chronicles her experience as the victim of a modern slave trade.

The memoir takes readers into her days growing up as the youngest of 13 children, in a conservative household of a strict community in a troubled nation. Fernando left her native Sri Lanka at age 23 in pursuit of a career that would provide for her young son. She contracted to be a housemaid in Lebanon for two years, leaving behind her son in hopes of providing him with a better life.

At the agency in Lebanon, Fernando was placed with a wealthy woman living in Beirut. However, instead of earning a promised 2000 Rupees a month - a decent sum to a Sri Lankan in 1980 - she was thrust into a slave trade where she was starved, received daily beatings and verbal abuse.

Fernando’s only option of escape was to risk her life by jumping from a four-story balcony. She was taken to the hospital and told she would never walk again. Against the odds, she overcame paralysis and rehabilitated herself.

Fernando is presently settled in a suburb of Boston where she obtained a bachelor of business administration. She and her family are involved in caring for the mentally handicapped. She has distinguished herself as a writer, poet and storyteller.

The event is sponsored by Amnesty International, Campus Activities Board, College Honors Program, Political Science, Women’s Studies.