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The Philippines has a problem.
菲律宾人民遇到了一个难题。
On top of fighting the spread of coronavirus, hospitals are facing another crisis.
除了要抗击新冠病毒的传播，医院还面临着另一场危机：
They are more than 20,000 nurses short.
2万多个护士岗位无人接手。
But the thing is tens of thousands of nurses graduate every year in the Philippines.
问题是，菲律宾每年都有数万名护士毕业。
This 2010 oath-taking ceremony included more than 35,000 graduating nurses.
这是2010年的一场宣誓仪式，有3.5万多名护士毕业生参加。
And this is a graduating class from 2017.
这是2017年的一个护士毕业班。
And this one is from 2019.
这是2019年的一个护士毕业班。
So how can the Philippines have so many nurses and be dealing with a nurse shortage at the same time?
既然菲律宾有这么多护士，为何还会陷入护士短缺的境地呢？
This story starts in 1898, when the Philippines became a US colony.
故事还要从1898年说起，当时的菲律宾已经成了美国的一块殖民地。
Filipinos fought back but were ultimately conquered by American troops.
菲律宾人进行了反击，但还是被美国军队征服了。
More than 200,000 Filipinos died.
那场战争死了20多万菲律宾人。
As part of the colonization of the Philippines,
美国还制定了一项名为“亲善同化”，
the US created a policy called "Benevolent Assimilation" that claimed to protect Filipino rights and liberties.
宣称是为了保护菲律宾人的权利和自由的政策作为殖民菲律宾的一部分。
"They use this to justify the colonization of the Philippines by arguing that this was a different kind of colonialism and imperialism.
“他们还以这是另一种殖民，另一种帝国主义为由为殖民菲律宾的行为辩解。
This was a good kind of colonialism that would bring education, infrastructure and public health."
说什么这是善意的殖民，能够改善菲律宾当地的教育、基础设施和公共卫生。”
The US started taking over institutions and education.
随后，美国便开始接管了菲律宾的机构和教育。
And began developing a medical labor force in the Philippines.
还开始了在菲律宾培养医务人员。
They built more than ten nursing schools in less than a decade.
他们用了不到十年就建了十多所护理学校。
Filipino nursing students had to learn western medical practices from American teachers.
菲律宾的护理学生需跟美国老师学习西方的医学实践知识。
And they were forced to learn in English.
还被强迫着学英语。
Year after year new classes of American-trained, English-speaking Filipino nurses graduated from nursing schools.
年复一年，一批又一批接受美式培训，会说英语的菲律宾护士从护理学校走出来。
"What this did was that it inadvertently prepared Filipino nurses to work in the United States."
“结果就是无意中让菲律宾护士做好了赴美工作的准备。”
The nursing training system went on until the Philippines gained independence in 1946.
这种护理培训制度一直持续到1946年菲律宾独立才结束。
"The independence of the Philippines as a separate and self-governing nation."
“菲律宾作为一个独立自治的国家独立了。”
But even though the Philippines broke free, America soon found a way to bring Filipino nurses over.
菲律宾获得了自由，美国却很快就找到了往美国本土输送菲律宾护士的办法。
Starting in 1941, after the US entered WWII, millions of Americans joined the armed forces.
从1941年开始，也即美国加入二战后，数以百万计的美国人都参军了。
And thousands of nurses enlisted to treat injured soldiers in the field.
同时参军的还有成千上万的护士，为的是到战场上治疗受伤的士兵。
And American hospitals started emptying out.
于是，美国的医院就逐渐没有了人手。
So the government funded programs like the Cadet Nurse Corps to fill the gaps.
为了填补空缺，美国政府出资发起了护士预备队等项目。
They provided millions of dollars for a "lifetime education for free"
政府一边出资数百万美元为报名参加者提供“终身免费教育”，
and encouraged American women in particular to "enlist in a proud profession".
一边鼓励大家，尤其是鼓励美国的女性“投身这一光荣职业”。
As a result, nearly 200,000 American women became nurses for the army and civilian hospitals.
最后，有近20万名美国女性成为了军队或地方医院的护士。
"All working with the same purpose. To ease the pain of war. To help save lives."
“大家都朝着同一目标努力。这个目标就是减轻战争的痛苦，助力救死扶伤。”
But all that changed in 1945, when the war came to an end.
然而，1945年战争结束后一切都变了。
Once the fighting was over, there was less support for nurses.
战斗一结束，政府便减少了对护士的支持。
Government funding dried up and many women quit nursing.
政府资金枯竭，许多女性都放弃了护理工作。
Hospitals started seeing a rise in vacancies.
医院再次出现了人手日益空缺的问题。
And that meant America needed to find nurses to fill the void again.
这就意味着美国要再次寻找护士来填补这一空白。
Instead of improving pay and working conditions to encourage American nurses to return,
美国没有选择提高待遇，改善工作条件等方式鼓励本土护士重回往日的工作岗位，
the US looked beyond its borders to fill the jobs Americans wouldn’t take.
而是将目光转向了国外，意图让外国人来接手美国人自己不愿意做的工作。
It turned to a new temporary visitors program as a solution.
为此，他们启动了一个临时访客计划作为解决方案。
"U.S. hospitals started to use the Exchange Visitor Program in order to recruit Filipino nurses
“美国医院开始利用“交流访客计划”招聘菲律宾护士，
because they had Americanized nursing training already."
因为他们早就已经把菲律宾的护理培训美国化了。”
And it worked.
这个办法还真就奏效了。
Filipino nurses dominated the program.
菲律宾护士成了这个项目的中坚力量。
For about a decade, more than 10,000 Filipino nurses came to the US to work.
近十年时间里，前来美国工作的菲律宾护士足有1万多名。
But the real reason so many left their homes has to do with what was happening in the Philippines at the time.
不过，这么多人背井离乡的真正原因与菲律宾当时的局势也有不可分割的关系。
After centuries of oppressive colonial control and their own World War II battles,
在经历了几个世纪的殖民压迫和控制，又经历了他们自己的第二次世界大战之后，
the Philippines economy finally started to stabilize.
菲律宾的经济终于开始稳定下来了。
Cities were flourishing and tourism was booming,
城市蓬勃发展，旅游业也是一派欣欣向荣的景象，
but wages, particularly in rural areas, were still low for nearly everyone.
只不过，大家的工资，特别是农村地区的工资依然低得可怜。
And that included nurses, who despite having formal training were often paid less than janitors or messengers.
护士也不例外，尽管她们都是接受过正式培训的人，她们的工资往往连看门人或信使的工资都不如。
And that pushed many of them to go abroad in search of better opportunities.
于是，为了寻求更好的机会，很多人都选择了出国发展。
But when they came over to the US, many sponsoring hospitals just used them as inexpensive labor.
但当她们真的来到美国以后，不少赞助医院都只是把她们当廉价劳动力在用。
They assigned them extensive nurse work, and only paid them a minimal stipend.
给她们分配大量的护士工作，却只发给她们最少的津贴。
After their temporary placements ended, many Filipino nurses went back to the Philippines.
等她们的临时安置合同到期，不少菲律宾护士无奈之下只得返回菲律宾。
While many others managed to stay longer and build a life in the US, where they formed strong Filipino communities.
不过，也有很多人想办法留了下来，在美国过起了日子，他们还逐渐建立起了一个个颇为团结的菲律宾社区。
But the exchange visitor program wasn’t the end of America’s hold on Filipino nurses.
问题是，交流访客计划并不是美国操控菲律宾护士的结束，
It was just the beginning.
而是美国操控菲律宾护士的开始。
