“Strengthening OFW Families, Stronger Homes for Stronger Nation”

We all understand, I think, that by any measure Philippines today is a very different country from what it was 20 years ago. It is, in fact, well on the way to becoming an economic superpower. What that means, in real terms of course, is that hundreds of millions of people are now very much better off than they used to be.

I’ve been away from Philippines now for a longer period than ever before. Yes, it was 2 years and 4 months ago that I left my family, friends, and my country behind to start up across the globe.

This is an ever-present problem for some OFW’s abroad. First of all, being nostalgia is entirely natural. You are surrounded by the unfamiliar. You are away from everything and everyone you know. It’s only right to miss those things you know and love

My history employment will show that it was always busy here and there. I was never cooped up in a big house where absence of work is stressful rather than relaxing. If I had to work with others and vice-versa, it was not to hover or literally wait upon what I am about to finish.

I am my mother’s son. And there is no greater proof to that than what just transpired. Without bidding, my tears come and go. Some fat, some small, at times in torrent, at times in trickles.

And I began to wonder, if my mother is still up. Odd and unbelievable, but my mother and I share an amazing telepathy. If I wake up from a bad family-related dream, I go check my phone right away. With heart beating with dread, I open to read it, and my fear is confirmed. If something accidental or incidental has happened to me, I almost always get a message from her asking where I am, in minutes, sometimes hours after.

Suddenly, there’s the message. She is up. And she has been crying. And she is just inconsolable. My heart twisted, ached, longed to hold her. Many times it is my mother who comforts me when I weep. But today, I wanted to give her everything I’ve got in my tightest hug so she’d stop shuddering from her pain.

But I am here, and she is there: I feel so helpless hearing her sadness. The ocean spanning thousands of kilometers a damnation. The consequences of my decision momentarily a curse. I had stopped crying when my mother started her own. But to hear her describe short of how I was doing, again opened my deluge. It hurts, to be loved by my mother like that and not feeling her physical comfort to it. It hurt to be away from her, and it hurt that nothing could be done as a temporary salve.

While I went on and on of how I am coping in here, she listened and wept with me. She never spoke, just listened like she always does, and allowed me to heal on my own voice. When it was my turn to settle, we prayed together. And moved on to discuss the immediate. Then we laughed. And laughed so hard at the state of our spirits. At how we are so emotionally wired to one another. Of how we always feel each one’s pain. of how we are able to be there for each other, whether in silence or in crying. I will always be emotional, with a flair for sentimentality, but that’s how we love each other, and that’s how I will continue to be… loving.

I am getting harder on the patience virtue. Even as I write this I recall the morning scene, and the one about two hours after that. This is my life today. I am a clerk. I simply cannot do what I want to do. I am stifled. I must succumb to waiting. So I promise myself, as soon as I can, I will work thrice as hard as I am doing now. I shall not wait. The everything and the everywhere shall be the ones waiting for me. I am full of life back in the Philippines. Yet in Riyadh, where others see as another land of promise, I am lifeless.

It seems like every day brings fresh news stories of economic gloom and financial difficulty. There is frequently an underlying cynicism with news coverage and comment citing the greed of businesses and individuals whose only motivation is personal gain. This one dimensional view however it is not the full story that we experience at this moment.

We are also joined by ties of family. More than one million of Filipinos OFW’s enrich the life of our country, in every important area of national endeavor. We must find ways to have our “ Bagong Bayani ” understand the importance that religion holds for many, many people, to celebrate the diversity of spiritual beliefs in the same way we celebrate other differences between us and to foster an understanding of the history of religion in human society in every Filipino.

Find people around you who share your interests. This doesn’t necessarily mean other foreigners. Befriending local people will help you to understand the culture that give you a head start of your life.

Keeping in touch with family and friends is very important. Of course, you are living miles away from them. It changes the relationship. But knowing that you still have that bond is comforting.


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