If you buy from Grace Road Church (GRC), you’re supporting slavery.
These are the words of a Korean American national who escaped from GRC’s True Mart Navua last week, after spending nearly eight years with the church.
The woman, who has asked not to be named, said workers were treated like slaves and made to work under gruelling work conditions for 12 hours a day, seven days a week with no rest. She is asking the Government help in retrieving her children who she said were mainly raised by “aunties” during her stay in Fiji.
“I want to get this (information) out,” she said.
” I want Fijians to understand that when you go shopping at Grace Road, you’re supporting the slavery of 300 people.
“In the beginning it was six days a week because (Sunday) was church. This went for on for a couple of years. But even then, it was church then you pretty much go back to the field to work after church.
“I’ve worked on the farm, I’ve worked in the kitchen, I’ve worked a little bit in the bakery and that was hard work because that was 12 hours straight.
“When I was with my baby, I was working full time at the house. I was working, cleaning, and teaching and it really showed me, like we were pretty much living in slavery.”
She claimed that even the elderly were made to work in the farms, irrespective of their age and health status.
“They were not receiving any proper health care because we all have to work on the farm. No one is going to stay back (in the house) even if they’re sick.
“There’s an old woman who’s about 80 years old at the farm and they’ve made her do odd jobs in the kitchen. At first, they let her rest but then after awhile they made her work in kitchen,” the woman claimed.
In an interview published by The Fiji Times yesterday, the woman claimed families were separated as soon as they arrived in the country and visitations were seldom allowed. She said sometimes months passed before she could see her children and husband.
Her husband, who is still at the church, defended the actions of the church, saying “separation is normal”. He said the issue was a personal matter and should not involve the church.
Last year The Fiji Times reported an incident where two Korean nationals were found visibly unwell and kept in a locked-up room at the GRC farm in Navua.
The discovery was made by Immigration officials during the execution of the notice of detention of two persons of interest who were believed to be residing at the farm.
GRC has not responded to queries on the concerns raised by the woman.
