This video
entitled The Trials and Triumphs of the Children of OFWs portrays the
sacrifices of children growing up away from an OFW parent. A parent going abroad begins with high hopes
and dreams of alleviating their poverty and giving their children a better
future, but often becomes the very thing that breaks the family apart. The length of the separation, the confusing
change of roles and the pain of loneliness are not compensated by the money
being sent by an OFW parent. To navigate
this difficult emotional pain, children of OFWs need to be able to stay focused
on the goal for which their parent went abroad and endure a the pain and
loneliness, sacrificing their feelings for their family.
ABS-CBN
News of the Philippines produced this TAGALOG video entitled “Tragic OFW stories.” Kabayan Special Patrol reporter Noli De Castro documents
the tragic story of 2 OFWs: Maria Arlene Carbon fell to her death from the 43rd
story of her building in Hong Kong and her employers reported her death as
suicide, but her family questions their version of the events. Albert Bautista
worked as an engineer in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He was killed in an accident, but there are
conflicting details in the account of his death and they are still looking for his
Filipino who was with him to give his account of the story or to know what
happened to him. OFWs leave the
Philippines seeking good paying jobs, but there are hidden dangers and high
risks in many of these situations.
The
link above is a short paper written by Leo Urrutia that talks about risk
analysis for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW).
The author describes the work of the OFWs as “3D jobs,” meaning dirty,
difficult and/or dangerous. The nature of
their work, being out of their country and under the control of their employers
makes OFWs quite vulnerable to oppression, abuse, and sometimes even
death. The paper challenges the Filipino
notion that the OFW is a hero, and makes the reader wonder if many of them are
not victims.
For my students in Common Counseling Issue class, please read this post and the other article entitled Financial Considerations for Becoming an OFW and answer the following questions. Your written answer will be collected at the beginning of the class on Nov. 12, 2014.
ReplyDelete1. How does labor migration impact marriages?
2. How does labor migration impact children?
3. What is the psychological impact of being an OFW on the person going abroad?
4. In what ways might their relationship with their family change?
5. What are the key considerations in making the decision to go abroad?
6. Explain why you think it is worth it to be an OFW or why it is not worth it?