Been six (6) months since I've left the Philippines to try my luck overseas. And so far, I am surviving. Yes, my term is surviving for because the last months been hard...so much like close to hell. (And yes I've been at hell once). Living here in Bahrain is so much different from the Philippines. Though this country is rich financially, it doesn't shelter my monetary needs and wants.
People back home thinks that am earning tons of money here but, seriously and with all honesty, they are wrong. What I am receiving nowadays is just enough to my day-to-day needs and most of the time, i need to do credit just to be satisfied. And the routine continues with expenses and borrowing and then paying and so on and so forth.
Whose to blame with all these? No one else than me, myself and I. I've signed to a position and to a contract that is lesser to what am supposed and capable to be. Why did I do what I did? Simple...I just want freedom. I want to test my waters without the shadow of my family and their influences. In here, no one can tell me to do this and be that nor to tell me to talk to this person to get this position and those works. Now I am independent...the real deal.
To be an OFW is hard. The fact that I am not in my own territory (country) is the first thing. Secondly, the professional ethics is so far different from ours. Third, their culture is ambiguous to me but am trying to learn and adjust. And most of all, I am away from home...my loved ones. The independence that I've wanted is equal to all these sacrifices.
Before (when am still not an OFW) I thought that what I saw in news and documentaries about OFWs are just exaggerations to touch the hearts of the audience. I was wrong. And now I've experienced it first hand. Whatever it is captured by the media is real: The hardships, the tears, the trying to be okay everyday is the reality of every Filipino leaving my country. It is not easy and if you are weak, you'll lose your mind (and am actually in the edge of losing it)
I don't have other responsibilities aside from myself unlike the other OFWs. And for those, or mostly of the OFWs who does, I salute them. I salute them for being strong not for themselves moreover, for the families they need to support and feed in the Philippines. Yes the term "Bagong Bayani" is rightfully to be given to them 'cause what they did and doing are more than a heroic act.
***to be continued
People back home thinks that am earning tons of money here but, seriously and with all honesty, they are wrong. What I am receiving nowadays is just enough to my day-to-day needs and most of the time, i need to do credit just to be satisfied. And the routine continues with expenses and borrowing and then paying and so on and so forth.
Whose to blame with all these? No one else than me, myself and I. I've signed to a position and to a contract that is lesser to what am supposed and capable to be. Why did I do what I did? Simple...I just want freedom. I want to test my waters without the shadow of my family and their influences. In here, no one can tell me to do this and be that nor to tell me to talk to this person to get this position and those works. Now I am independent...the real deal.
To be an OFW is hard. The fact that I am not in my own territory (country) is the first thing. Secondly, the professional ethics is so far different from ours. Third, their culture is ambiguous to me but am trying to learn and adjust. And most of all, I am away from home...my loved ones. The independence that I've wanted is equal to all these sacrifices.
Before (when am still not an OFW) I thought that what I saw in news and documentaries about OFWs are just exaggerations to touch the hearts of the audience. I was wrong. And now I've experienced it first hand. Whatever it is captured by the media is real: The hardships, the tears, the trying to be okay everyday is the reality of every Filipino leaving my country. It is not easy and if you are weak, you'll lose your mind (and am actually in the edge of losing it)
I don't have other responsibilities aside from myself unlike the other OFWs. And for those, or mostly of the OFWs who does, I salute them. I salute them for being strong not for themselves moreover, for the families they need to support and feed in the Philippines. Yes the term "Bagong Bayani" is rightfully to be given to them 'cause what they did and doing are more than a heroic act.
***to be continued
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