Buhay OFW or Buhay Migrante?

Una sa lahat, hindi ko na-experience maging OFW, kaya kung anumang mali na maisulat ko about OFWs I stand to be corrected. Bakit ko ba naisipang gawin to? Bored, walang magawa, papansin? Or dahil gusto ko lng mailabas kahit sa panulat ung nararamdaman ko that is about to explode anytime. And not only that, I also need to lessen the things that are running in my mind that might get me crazy! Lol.

What are the advantages of being OFW or an Immigrant?

1.       You earn big (compare to working at home). And it’s true, most of the regular employees, nakakaipon lng o nakakabili ng properties at lahat ng gusto nila once nakapag abroad.

2.       You experience to live in foreign country (which to most of the Filipinos is part of their bucket list kahit hindi nila kung ano meaning ng bucket list)

3.       You learn how to live the way the residents of that foreign country do. You experience four seasons and you learn na hindi pala masarap ang winter.

4.       You learn to communicate with different races around the world and you learn how to deal with them.

5.       Most of the time I guess, Filipinos learned to respect and follow rules and regulations because the truth is masakit man marinig, it has been a way of life sa Pilipinas na sumuway o hindi pansinin ang batas dahil corrupt lng din nman ang mga nasa gobyerno.

6.       Most of the time (not all the time dahil I know maraming OFW ang wala tlga sa mabuting kalagayan), you experience to live a decent life, to live in a decent community and with decent people around you. You experience to live in a cleaner environment with less pollution, less traffic, no garbage, no squatters and less crowd.

7.       You meet new people and create new friends along the way.

8.       Advantage of OFW over immigrant, you have a contract right away and just need to finish it. Kapag immigrant, you’ll start from scratch and it takes time (a very long time for me) to get a stable job. Advantage of immigrant over OFW, you have permanent residency status and a chance of citizenship.

Hmm, wala na akong madagdag so let’s leave that for the moment.

Now, what are the disadvantages?

1.       On top of the list of course, homesickness. Lahat ng OFWs or immgirants experience this in a different level. For some na kasama nila mga close friends nila, family nila, or kahit hindi close friends basta madami silang Pinoy sa work o sa community madali na nilang na-o-o-vercome to. Pero para sa mga tulad kong single at nakipagsapalaran mamuhay sa isang banyagang bansa na walang kakilala o kaibigan, this is the most difficult to overcome. Maybe I just get used to it or it becomes part of me already that once in a while bigla-bigla na lng darating ung lungkot pero hindi nman ako nababaliw.

2.       You missed all the Filipino food and delicacies. Well, of course not all the time. This is only applicable to like me who are in a country which is very strict when it comes to importing products. Unlike in Dubai, US or other Asian countries, madaming pinoy fast food at pinoy establishments dahil na rin napakalaking bilang ng mga OFWs…dito sa AU, may mga Filipino shops at mga Pinoy estadlishments but you’ll need to travel more than an hour to get there and it’s still not complete.

3.       Cost of living is so expensive. This is actually for me. I’m not sure in other countries but I guess one way or another there will always a part na expensive at meron din nmang cheaper. But of course compare back home mas mura pa din mamuhay sa Pilipinas.

4.       For most, living your children and not to be able to see every important aspects of their growing lives is painful. I am single, but I can understand kung gano kahirap sa mga magulang na iwan nila ang mga anak nila just to give them a good life and good future.

5.       For migrant family, sometimes nalilimutan ung mga Filipino values na dapat tinuturo sa mga anak.

6.       For OFW, paulit-ulit lng ung contract at minsan or most of the time walang chance of permanent residency or citizenship.

7.       For immigrant, (and this should be the 2^nd after homesickness) you have to start from scratch at dahil minsan walang wala ka na at desperate, you’ll just accept whatever job they are giving to you kahit hindi mo gusto at kahit nakakababa ng pagkatao mo.

8.       The saddest thing, kpag makaranas ka ng pang-aapi/ pang aabuso from your boss or even from a fellow kababayan at wala kang magawa kundi mag tiis dahil kailangan mong kumita.

Alin sa pagiging OFW at immigrant ang mas gugustuhin ng isang Pilipino if given a chance? Most of my friends or kahit mga acquaintaces will defeinitely choose a permanent residency status. But not me, if I just had that chance and would need to choose between the two, I will go for an OFW contract. Please don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t mean I am being ungrateful or complaining but let me give you some facts about me.

1.       An OFW has fixed contract. Sigurado na sya na may trabaho sya, at cgurado din sya na uuwi sya after the contract ended. Ang isang immigrant na tulad ko, palaging nakikipagsapalaran sa paghahanap ng trabaho. I need to get used to hundreds of rejections everytime I send my applications online. Makikipag-compete ka to thousands of immigrants coming from different countries plus the graduates and hundreds of professionals finishing their program every year. You need to have a local experience because ung experiences mo back home didn’t count and will not matter for most of the employers. Eto ung part na nakakabaliw dahil hindi mo alam kung san ka lulugar. When you apply for the lowest position, hindi ka pasado. When you apply for the level that you were into back home, hindi ka din pasado kc nga ung previous work experience back home doesn’t matter at all. So mas lalo nmang failed kung mag apply ka pa sa higher position d b? Hindi ka din makpag decide agad agad kung kelan ka makakauwi dahil una, kung wala ka pang work wala ka ding enough money pauwi. Pangalawa, kung part time, temporay/contract ung employment, parang nakakahinayang umuwi dahil wala kang paid annual leave, so parang mas practical na maghanap na lng ng iba pang part time job pampuno dun sa benefits sana na makukuha mo kung permanent employee ka. At kpag nakauwi ka, pagbalik mo di mo na sigurado kung may trabaho ka pa ulit or hahanap na ulit ng ibang trabaho. Homesickness plus frutrations plus self pity plus insecurity plus worry. Hindi ba nakakabaliw?

2.       Kapag OFW, more often than not, may mga kasama ka nang pinoy sa trabaho at sa titirahan mo. Unlike me, never pa akong may nakasamang pinoy sa trabaho (though 2 employers pa lng nman ako dito hehe). Imagine ang nosebleed everyday! Not only in the workplace, pati sa bahay na uuwian mo, nosebleed pa din! Kaya cguro nagiging sentimental ako sa mga OPM songs at pinoy radio stations na pinapakinggan ko. Sobrang nakaka-miss marinig at magsalita na ang kausap mo tagalog din ung salita. Mabuti na lang may online radio like 702 DZAS at PInoy connection. Well, of course case to case basis naman to. Meron din nmang pinoy community dito pero ewan ko nga ba kung bakit ang layo nila at ang layo ko din! At dahil nga wala nman kc akong close friend na pinoy dito, I just tend to live alone trying to learn how to live with other Asians.

3.       Kapag OFW, you don’t really need to embrace the culture and the way of living ng bansang pinagta-trabahuhan mo. You just need to learn and respect them. Kapag immigrant, alam ko dapat pinag aaralan ko na ung mga bagay at gawi that makes this country distinct. But until now I still can’t. Wala akong interes sa cricket at rugby. Wala din akong kilalang local actors and actresses bukod sa mga famous Hollywood actors na originally came from AU. Pinapanood ko pa din mga US Tv series, at pinoy tv shows. MasterChef lng ang bukod tanging Au show nan a-aapreciate ko. Mas naging selective ako sa food pagdating ko dito at most of the time, pinoy food pa din ang hanap ng panlasa ko. And most of all, I can’t copy the accent. Hindi nman cguro requirement na yakapin lahat-lahat but I can clearly say that I’m also not acting like an immigrant and most of the time, I only feel that I’m just an OFW and will go home eventually.

4.       At dahil single ako, most of the time hindi ko makita ung pwede kong maging reason or motivation to settle down here or to stay here for the rest of my life. Kaya siguro minsan I feel so lost. Minsan sumusunod na lng ako sa agos ng buhay at walang malinaw na direksyon. Dahil kung tutuusin, pwede akong umuwi at bumalik kung kelan ko gustuhin.

Pero, kahit alin pa sa dalawa, wala pa ding mas mabuting kalagayan kung nasa piling ka ng mahal mo sa buhay sa sariling bayan. The greatest learning I had as of the moment, mahal ko pala ang bansang Pilipinas kahit gaano pa ka-polluted, kahit gaano pa-corrupt ang mga government officials, kahit gaano pa ka-traffic at kahit gates of hell pa kung idescribe sa isang sikat na nobela; babalik at babalikan ko pa din.