A happy ending for lashed maid
What a lovely photo of a Filipino pop band:
They were featured on 5 March in a story on Pinoy Metodista, discussing a charity concert they gave last November. What’s interesting is that the lead singer is Sarah Balabagan, who, as a “14 year old woman”…
“…killed her employer in the Middle East in the mid 90s… She was sentenced to be beheaded but was spared through the intervention of the government. To be pardoned she need only pay blood money and receive 100 lashes. The blood money was paid through the help of government and private citizens. She endured the hundred lashes and was freed. She returned to the country with enough money and fame. Her life story was even made into a movie that starred Vina Morales as Sarah Balabagan…
When she returned home from her ordeal, she became a Christian. This became the turning point in her life above and beyond her ordeal in the Middle East. When she became a Christian she learned to forgive the two persons whom she said she so hated before: Her employer, and the person who lashed her 100 times…
Sarah is a picture of fulfilled womanhood. She has children. She is a face of calm and beauty. It’s a countenance one only gets from being with the Father. Her concert is filled with original songs and a real life story.
The 100 lashes she received left a deep emotional scar marked with hatred and strong resentment. But she sees her lashes as nothing compared to the lashes and beatings that Jesus took to bear the sins of the world. The brutality of the lashes she suffered remind her of our Savior’s love. While it took blood money and 100 lashes to free her from death by beheading, it took the Savior’s blood and more than 100 lashes to free her for a life of purpose.”
According to her entry on Wikipedia:
On October 30, at her third trial, her sentence was reduced to a year’s imprisonment and 100 strokes of the cane, along with payment of blood money, which was donated by a Filipino businessman. She was caned in 20 strokes at a time, over five days during January 30 – February 5 in 1996. Philippine Ambassador Roy Seneres said “Balabagan said it was bearable. Embassy officials visited her twice afterward, and there were no marks or bruises or reddening.” She returned to the Philippines on August 1, 1996 to a heroine’s welcome.
