http://blogs.aljazeera.net/asia/2010/10/18/philippines-love
>From the Philippines with love
By Marga Ortigas in on October 18th, 2010.
Photo from EPA
OFWs - the Overseas Filipino Workers. Seen in their home country as modern-day
heroes.
Soldiers in a battle against poverty. Wanting to win the war for their
families.
There is no other way to put it.
And like heroes all over the world, many ultimately have to pay for the
"honour" with their lives.
Sometimes words are nowhere near enough - so here, in moving images, is the
story of two families whose daughters sacrificed everything for a fractured
dream http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3nIuShFFYE
Every day some 3,000 more leave the to join the workforce abroad. Already
there are some 10 million Filipinos away from home. It's a nation exporting its
best resource to stay afloat. Some so desperate to earn dollars that they are
willing to take short-cuts to get placed in foreign jobs faster. They fork out
more money than legally required to "speed through" the red tape that the
government has put there for the workers' protection ... and end up in debt for
much of their lives, or they fall prey to unscrupulous employment agents who
dabble in nothing short of human trafficking.
Almost every week there is a new OFW horror story that hits the local news ...
nurses who are trapped into becoming domestic workers; domestics who end up in
prostitution; tales of abuse and violence - physical, sexual, emotional; etc
etc etc. The constant curtailment of their basic rights ... and most feel
powerless to do do anything about it. Thinking they have none in the first
place ... rights or power.
Thousands are considered "distressed" by the Philippine government and already
in the last few months alone, millions have been spent to repatriate such
classified OFWs ... and there isn't enough money to help them all, officials
cry.
But still they keep going, convinced they have nothing left to believe in at
home. That their only salvation lies beyond Philippine borders. That is the
true heartache of the whole situation as the video here shows
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bIpcTsb8SE
There are those who are calling for their modern-day heroes to come home ...
wanting them to place their bets in their own country, and gamble on a shared,
brighter future instead of taking a chance abroad.
But for many OFWs, that would take too much work - and the needs of the family
are more immediate. And so everyday the exodus continues - with 3,000 more
risking it all for love.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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