PSU Magazine Spring 2006

Patrick Augustine, a Hewlett– Packard software engineer, is in PSU's Master of International Management program. Four million women from the Philip– pines and lndonesia-10 percent of the workforce-travel to other Asian countries and the Middle East for work. While some are better off for the experience, others suffer, sometimes brutally. Foreign maids, cooks, and nannies are routinely required to work 18-hour days with a day off every three months. Some domestic helpers are confined to their employers' homes– permitted to step outside only to set out the garbage. The 2005 Trafficking in People report by the U.S. State Department notes the virtual enslavement of maids. In some horrific cases, women are sex– ually or physically abused, even forced into prostitution. Some, in desperation, commit suicide. "Since 1999, over 100 maids have fallen from high-rise apartments in Singapore," says Patrick Augustine. Hearing such reports, he says, "1 was just compelled to do something. " Augustine, 39, is a software engi– neer with Hewlett-Packard and also a final-year student in the Master of lmernational Management (MlM) 22 PSU MAGAZINE SPRING 2006 program al Portland Stale. Last year, working with other students from the program, he started Guardian of Humanity, which seeks Lo improve the working conditions for domestic helpers in Asia and the Middle East. How does a software engineer wind up heading an international organiza– tion helping women in Southeast Asia7 Augustine's sLOry says a lot about the village-ization of the globe and one man's resolve Lo do something about a seemingly hopeless situation. Women from poor countries throughout the world increasingly travel to places where middle-class and wealthy families hire them to watch their children, cook their food , and clean their homes. Why? A col– lege graduate can earn up to five times as much working as a maid as she would earn in her home country as a teacher. That salary-$100 to $500 a month-can in turn be sent home to help her family achieve a better life . From Sri Lanka, 650,000 women travel primarily to the Middle East to work as maids and nannies. Globally, the numbers are hazy, perhaps unknowable, given the shadow labor force of women working illegally out– side their home countties. In Malaysia, for instance, 165,000 Indonesian maids were registered in 2003. But add the women working illegally in the country, and the numbers increase by an estimated 100,000. A ugustine's working-class back– ground, a history of looking out for others, and his international perspec– tive have helped him sympathize with these women's plights. His story starts outside of San Fran– cisco in the town of Vacaville. Augus– tine's father worked in a warehouse and his mother had her own business making leotards-first for his younger sister, a gymnast, then for gymnasts throughout northern California. He graduated from high school in 1984 and promptly followed his older brother into the U.S. Army, serving in the infantry and military police. Augustine was stationed in Hawaii and Texas, but was also deployed around the world-Lo Thailand, Japan, Korea , Panama , and Somalia. "As a combat M.P," says Augustine, "you're protecting not only military personnel and equipment, but also civilians-whomever you come in con– tact with. " It was a life that suited him-for a while. "1 was pretty much planning on a career in the military," he says. His toddler changed all that. "After my fifth year of service, my wife and l had a baby girl," says Augustine. "l was traveling so much-19 months on the road out of the last 24 1was in the ser– vice-that I was a stranger to my daughter. She would cry every time 1 tried to pick her up, and that really bothered me." Knowing little about what his future held, Augustine decided to find a career in the then newish field of com– puters. "I figured ," he says, "I'd try something 'easy."' Although he discovered that com– puter science wasn't easy, he loved the work. His enthusiasm and accomplish– ments landed him an internship at the Hewlett-Packard research and develop– ment facility in Vancouver, Wash. When he graduated from Chico State, a job was waiting for him. ~ e Vancouver R & D lab develops Hewlett-Packard's most successful product: state-of-the-art inkjet printers. The company produces those printers at facilities around the world. Augus– tine quickly moved up the corporate ranks to a position that required him Lo travel frequently to the company's far-flung production facilities and to launch contract facilities in Asia. When he traveled, he picked up local English-language papers. What he read convinced him he had to do more than just read. "Every time 1 went over there, I'd read a major story of abuse ," says Augustine. "It really opened my eyes as Lo what was happening overseas with domestic workers . . . Finally, 1just couldn't Lake it anymore. " By that Lime, Augustine had enrolled in Portland State's MIM pro– gram. The MlM degree is similar to an MBA, however courses are focused on