STRUGGLES OF BEING AN OFW

             Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs are Filipino citizens working abroad in a more temporary status. The research shows that over eleven percent of the ninety-nine million people in the Philippines have flocked to all countries around the world. In the recent years, Filipinos going abroad have increased tremendously. Considering the sagging economy and worsening situation, many of us tried our luck overseas.

 We purposely left the country for one common reason, to seek for a greener pasture and live a better life. We had this reason hidden in the very core of our hearts. Not for ourselves alone but for our loved ones who were hoping that we could bring change. Armed full of hopes and courage, our journeys began as we started our lives away from home.

Working abroad has been a great opportunity to all Filipinos who have been given the chance. 8 out of 10 people may confess that it’s a dream come true. I considered myself as dreamer too because I was once an OFW for more than two years. With this scenario, I came to know lots of stories of OFWs along with their experiences, downfalls, struggles and triumphs.

Being an Overseas Filipino Worker is certainly not as easy as 123. It takes a higher level of maturity and emotional strength to tackle the many issues besetting the homes, relationships, financial needs, survival at the workplace and cultural differences. Filipinos who opt to work in a far away region are forced to surrender the direct and close supervision of the household, child-rearing, family affairs and family budgeting, among others; and go through the complicated adjustment process as we set foot in a foreign land. Although overseas workers should remain proud of respective ethnic origin and cultural heritage, we should also recognize that thriving in a foreign land requires understanding and respect for other cultures as well as opening our minds to learning and adapting to a few local customs and traditions. It is more complex for us, married people to work in another country. Fidelity is indeed a challenging vow and we can only survive long distance relationships by centering on commitment, communication and self-control. Being psychologically and emotionally aware of living independently and trying to combat homesickness is very crucial for most of us. The only reason that kept us holding on is keeping our focus on motivations of why we are working abroad- for our family.

The pressure of working abroad over a long period of time made it difficult for us to live to the high financial expectations among close relatives and friends. Some Filipinos believe that when you are working abroad, you have a lot of money. They looked at us with dollar signs in our faces not as a simple family member or a friend. Only few understand that we are earning dollars and we are spending them by dollars too. They are blinded with the conversions of a dollar is equivalent to forty-five pesos that flashes on their television screens. They stop on the knowledge of what we have is forty-five times what they have back home. With a minimum wage, the monthly telephone bills, apartment rents, insurance deductions, each end of the month remittances and basic needs could not suffice for the expenditures of a typical OFW. Sometimes, none of them back home know that we only survived the day by eating biscuits and drinking coffee the whole afternoon just to put more foods on their table. Sometimes, worst comes to worst, some of us are maltreated by our respective employers. Some instances of racial discrimination like giving the lowest position, not giving any opportunities for promotion, being left behind were experienced but these never lose our hopes to earn and give a better life. 

Our government considered us as the “new heroes” of our generation. They said that our contributions to the economy through remittances, buying properties and creating business had helped the sagging economy to recover. The sense of staying together as a family was set aside and became a remarkable heroic deed of every OFW who took the chance of working abroad away from their loved ones. Being fully motivated and determined made it happen. However, the government must not take this for granted; Philippines might be brain-drained in the next years to come if the economic situation does not change for the better. This is something that the administration must work on and look into or else even professionals and skilled workers will seek employment elsewhere.

For our homecoming, a pure appreciation can bring back the time lost when we are away. A simple “thank you” can fade all tiring workdays abroad. A warm welcome and a tight embrace from our families would definitely ease all the hardships of being distant, thus attesting that happiness will never be an option. It is a choice.