Overseas Filipino Workers

Going abroad is maybe something that students look forward to as they advance their college careers, however not everyone shares the sentiment.

Growing up in the Philippines, going abroad had a much darker connotation than what I have encountered in the University of Richmond. There, going abroad or colloquially adapted mag-aabroad means moving to a foreign country to find work so that they can support their families and relatives back at home. This is a reality that many Filipinos live as they struggle to make ends meet in this industrializing country.

The Philippines, an archipelago in South East Asia, boasts pride and celebrates their Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) as modern heroes, yet their tales are far from heroic. According to the Philippine Statistic Authority, there were an estimated 2.4 million Filipinos working abroad between April and September of 2015. In my small town, I was exposed to young men and women that hope for a prospect of working abroad. The story is the same: they must work outside of the country to be able to get money and it is usually through an agency that seeks migrant laborers, but their visions of successes are quickly dimmed by the conditions that they find themselves. Stories of the agencies seizing their passports and forcing the workers into crammed and inhumane living conditions. However the stigma against working abroad is overcome by the ability to earn a living and so despite the various horror stories from those coming back, or the heartbreaking Facebook statuses that inundate my newsfeed, there is a draw for overseas work.

It is interesting how something that I had dismissed when I was growing up had found itself in my life once again in Jordan. My encounters with women working in the service industry in Jordan broke my heart. I had included a link to my blog that talks about more of my experience during my time in Jordan.

https://travelingbog.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/keeping-up-with-a-filam-in-amman/