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(Reaction Essay) Abroad life is't easy.
Living to foreign countries always excites and amazes everyone of us, who wouldn't? It's like going in a whole new free dimension. You get to enjoy and get what you always wanted to have: watch the magnificent scenes that everyone always dreamed of, own the 'green paper' the everyone lusted for and of course, live luxuriously. Well, that's what an innocent inexperienced person would always say and think about it. But try asking a Filipino who works 24/7 just to earn and send enough money to their families back home. It's not easy as it sounds. They face all sort of problems that they need to surpass alone by themselves for a long period of time. These problems are commonly about their work, health, shelter and most especially, their families.
Money, the very main reason why these Filipinos went abroad. They want to earn more money than they earn here in the Philippines to help their families. But even before they could earn them, they need to work hard for it, very hard. Abroad may sound great but working there is the complete opposite. Many of the Filipinos have been maltreated by their bosses, accused to mistakes they even haven't done, and worse, underestimated. They didn't go there for fun and pleasure. They went their to work, work and work just to earn enough money to sustain their left-behind families yet few of us aren't even happy and satisfied with it. Unfortunately, many of them in abroad are not working in their own field of education. They came there to work as a domestic helper, caregiver, waiter, house boy, dish washer, etc. So, why did they go there and sacrifice their degree and families? Many Filipinos abroad work beyond their limits and because of this, they end up taking care of themselves or even get admitted to the hospital for illnesses they haven't even familiarized with. Some of them tend to follow and observe the very famous "mañana" habit of Filipinos and still work just to earn money yet everything they give: stress, hunger, depression, etc. will just come back to them and end up to the worse, getting hospitalize which means more bills, less earning and more problems.
Let me ask you, have you tried spending time alone during major holidays? Christmas, birthdays, new years? Because they do. They experienced this. They have to live with this for the rest of their lives or maybe until their contracts are finally cut off, but either way, it's not easy. They have to celebrate all by themselves. The money they're earning can't even satisfy the loneliness in themselves for being alone and away from their families. Well in fact, some of them tried to give up, not just once but for every instance they are reminded of their family. But why do we keep on torturing themselves? Can they just stop? Well, they just can't simply say STOP and then go home to their own respective families.
Now, we can already observe a lot, not just thousands but millions of Filipinos are planning to go abroad in televisions, radio and even in the internet. Many of them are already busy saving up just to apply for a job outside. I even ask my small uneducated four-year-old cousin what he wants to be when he grows up, he just simply said; "I want to be a nurse abroad." You see, if an innocent young child has already thought of things like this who hasn't even know how poor our condition is, how much more to the unemployed Filipino who battles his way just to find a least convenient job? Everyone knows it's hard yet some of us still are trying because they all share and have one common purpose of doing all of these sacrifices... to live a better life. And I believe that everyone should think many times before they would even go abroad.
Let me ask you, have you tried spending time alone during major holidays? Christmas, birthdays, new years? Because they do. They experienced this. They have to live with this for the rest of their lives or maybe until their contracts are finally cut off, but either way, it's not easy. They have to celebrate all by themselves. The money they're earning can't even satisfy the loneliness in themselves for being alone and away from their families. Well in fact, some of them tried to give up, not just once but for every instance they are reminded of their family. But why do we keep on torturing themselves? Can they just stop? Well, they just can't simply say STOP and then go home to their own respective families.
Now, we can already observe a lot, not just thousands but millions of Filipinos are planning to go abroad in televisions, radio and even in the internet. Many of them are already busy saving up just to apply for a job outside. I even ask my small uneducated four-year-old cousin what he wants to be when he grows up, he just simply said; "I want to be a nurse abroad." You see, if an innocent young child has already thought of things like this who hasn't even know how poor our condition is, how much more to the unemployed Filipino who battles his way just to find a least convenient job? Everyone knows it's hard yet some of us still are trying because they all share and have one common purpose of doing all of these sacrifices... to live a better life. And I believe that everyone should think many times before they would even go abroad.
January 31, 2010 at 7:39 PM
I agree to what your wrote. Its really not easy to work abroad. But still, there are a lot of Filipinos who plans to work there withouth even considering the risks. But I also can't blame them, since the country itself is encouraging people to work abroad to earn a lot of money to help the "economy".
February 1, 2010 at 12:23 PM
Thumbs up for your essay. I do agree to what you wrote. Life if abroad isn't really easy because you're far from your family. If Philippines was a rich country, people wouldn't need to go abroad for work. Well, we can't blame them.....
February 1, 2010 at 1:31 PM
February 1, 2010 at 1:45 PM
Honestly, I don't agree to those Filipinos who went abroad to work. It really pains me inside to know that they are enslaving themselves just to have a better living. This is indeed a never ending suffering and sacrifices for us Filipinos.
Instead of contributing to the wealth of the long before rich countries, why not help our own country fight against poor progression?
February 4, 2010 at 2:44 PM
I agree with you. Many Filipinos thinks that working abroad is that easy but really it's not. To think of it, it's really hard to live in a country where you're the alien. That's why I really salute all OFWs because what they're doing is really hard.