Fran came back from her 2nd, unpaid day of training full of news and enthusiasm for her new job. She said that she was one of the 12 applicants still standing after an initial group of 50 applicants had dwindled. After she described the situation, including that they were not allowed to eat or go to the bathroom for the 8-hour training (only the fittest would survive this day, and indeed 32 people left) I asked her to write down the name of the company and immediately looked it up on the web; "Grupo CELCA". The first several entries were detailing why it is a fraudulent business that is victimizing the young and the poor and the desperate for work in Oaxaca.
Needless to say we were stunned. We read and reread the information, and the three of us including Marisol talked about the situation until Fran was able to accept her disappointment and move on. She did not want to believe it because the shiny promises they made to her were so attractive.
But how fortunate that we caught the situation now. Tomorrow the plan was for everyone to turn over personal information to the Grupo including addresses and phone numbers. Members of the Grupo said they were going to visit each house to see if it was suitable to hold certain goods, like boxes of cellphones....etc. You can see where this might have lead.
Fran is taking a shower now, to wash off the day. She will study a few hours tonight, and start job hunting an hour a day until she finds what she needs. I told her if she is feeling afraid about having no pocket money, I can provide a little and not to worry. Her focus is back on her studies, though I imagine it will take a day or two for the shock to wear off.
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