Have you ever seen a leaving parent with his/her child cries as if it will never stop?
These kind of drama is not unusual if you go to the departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Our OFWs can relate for they are the ones who usually experience these kind of scenes. For the OFWs and their families, they can never get used to it, especially their kids.
That's why I choose not to bring my children with me during my departure. I can't stand to look at them crying while they watch me leave. The goodbyes are not forever but their crying faces embedded with sadness will haunt you for years. With eyes soaked in tears looking at you like asking "If you love me, daddy/mommy, why would you leave and why wouldn't you bring me with you?"
Have you had the same feeling?
Government statistics said that there are average of 2,500 OFWs going out of the country everyday comprising the growing number of Filipino overseas workers deployed in different parts of the globe now reaching more than 10 million.
It is said that lack of adequate employment opportunities with good salary pushes Filipinos to work abroad. Moreover, citizens with ages over the accepted bracket to be hired locally is also being left with no choice but to find their luck overseas.
These kind of drama is not unusual if you go to the departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Our OFWs can relate for they are the ones who usually experience these kind of scenes. For the OFWs and their families, they can never get used to it, especially their kids.
That's why I choose not to bring my children with me during my departure. I can't stand to look at them crying while they watch me leave. The goodbyes are not forever but their crying faces embedded with sadness will haunt you for years. With eyes soaked in tears looking at you like asking "If you love me, daddy/mommy, why would you leave and why wouldn't you bring me with you?"
Have you had the same feeling?
Government statistics said that there are average of 2,500 OFWs going out of the country everyday comprising the growing number of Filipino overseas workers deployed in different parts of the globe now reaching more than 10 million.
It is said that lack of adequate employment opportunities with good salary pushes Filipinos to work abroad. Moreover, citizens with ages over the accepted bracket to be hired locally is also being left with no choice but to find their luck overseas.
Where did it all began?
Overseas migration absorbed a significant amount of Philippine labor. From the late 1940s through the 1970s, migrants were largely Filipino members of the United States armed services, professionals, and relatives of those who had previously migrated. After liberalization of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act in October 1965, the number of United States immigrant visas issued to Filipinos increased dramatically from approximately 2,500 in 1965 to more than 25,000 in 1970. Most of those migrating were professionals and their families. By 1990 Filipino-Americans numbered 1.4 million, making them the largest Asian community in the United States.
Overseas migration absorbed a significant amount of Philippine labor. From the late 1940s through the 1970s, migrants were largely Filipino members of the United States armed services, professionals, and relatives of those who had previously migrated. After liberalization of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act in October 1965, the number of United States immigrant visas issued to Filipinos increased dramatically from approximately 2,500 in 1965 to more than 25,000 in 1970. Most of those migrating were professionals and their families. By 1990 Filipino-Americans numbered 1.4 million, making them the largest Asian community in the United States.
In the 1970s and 1980s, a different flow of migration developed: most immigrants were workers engaged in contract work in the Middle East. Although some were professionals, the majority were production, construction, and transport and equipment workers or operators, as well as service workers. An increasing number also were merchant seamen. With bigger wages paid for overseas contract work have been a multiple of what Filipinos could earn at home, such employment opportunities have been in large demand. Government statistics show that overseas placements of land-based workers increased from 12,500 in 1975 to 385,000 in 1988, a growth rate of about 30 percent every year. The number of seamen also increased, from 23,500 in 1975, to almost 86,000 in 1988. The average stay abroad was 3.1 years for land-based workers and 6.3 years for seamen.
Out of more than 10 million OFWs in the world, most of the women are working as household service workers. Most of them are deployed in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, other neighboring Asian countries, Europe and in the Middle East, Particularly Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Kuwait where a significant number of cases of maltreatment and abuse could be read almost everyday.
Today, many OFW families suffer miscommunication in spite advanced technologies and the rise of internet and computers. Gaps between OFW and children and even their spouse has been on the rise. Family harmony is being sacrificed for the sake of a "better future". OFW children lacking guidance, marriage being destroyed, relationships getting colder and eventually die.
Filipinos are known for having close family ties and the Westerners admire us for being such. The trait that is being marred by migration.
President Rodrigo Duterte once said during his speech that he wants that the generation of the OFWs would end soon. That when Filipinos need to travel, it would be for leisure and not to work anymore.
If this will happen in the near future that no Filipinos would leave the country for work, it is going to be the best future that every OFWs dream about. Working at the comfort of your own country with your family around. No relationships will be broken, no children will go astray and no kids will cry at the airport doubting if their parents really love them or not.
Out of more than 10 million OFWs in the world, most of the women are working as household service workers. Most of them are deployed in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, other neighboring Asian countries, Europe and in the Middle East, Particularly Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Kuwait where a significant number of cases of maltreatment and abuse could be read almost everyday.
Today, many OFW families suffer miscommunication in spite advanced technologies and the rise of internet and computers. Gaps between OFW and children and even their spouse has been on the rise. Family harmony is being sacrificed for the sake of a "better future". OFW children lacking guidance, marriage being destroyed, relationships getting colder and eventually die.
Filipinos are known for having close family ties and the Westerners admire us for being such. The trait that is being marred by migration.
President Rodrigo Duterte once said during his speech that he wants that the generation of the OFWs would end soon. That when Filipinos need to travel, it would be for leisure and not to work anymore.
If this will happen in the near future that no Filipinos would leave the country for work, it is going to be the best future that every OFWs dream about. Working at the comfort of your own country with your family around. No relationships will be broken, no children will go astray and no kids will cry at the airport doubting if their parents really love them or not.
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