Re: "US investigating complaints by Slovak summer workers", By Dewey Smolka, Volume 8 No. 34, September 9 - 15.
I was treated with disrespect. I was paid low wages. I used to teach English in Slovakia.
I feel that the Slovak summer workers deserved to suffer. Many of those summer workers were spoiled children of Slovak middle class families anyway. Perhaps now those people will no longer laugh at the Ukrainians, Angolans, Vietnamese and "western backpackers" who work under profound suffering within Slovakia.
This is the most beautiful article ever written! Many Slovaks laugh at their street sweepers and toilet attendants. Slovak people consider menial labour to be below them.
Often times, Ukrainians or Roma are forced to do such degrading jobs. Afterwards, the very same people are laughed at and denied wages.
I am so happy to see the "savvy Slovaks who suffered under both communism and Mečiar" treated so poorly. Many Slovaks consider Americans to be naive and rich! No greenbacks for the Slovak students? The Slovak summer students got their money's worth of education regarding the West! Secondly, many people in Washington D.C are unemployed due to the recession. Those Slovak students were stealing jobs from Americans. I feel no pity for the Slovaks.
Many foreigners come to Slovakia to teach English. The same foreigners are treated with cruelty and disrespect. So I feel no pity at all.
Secondly, Slovak people treat non-Slovaks very cruelly anyway. Why do the summer students complain so much? Those students can understand what it means to be excluded from a society and denied proper wages.
Smile, Slovaks, now you understand what foreigners go through when they are in Slovakia!
Nicole Frye
