in Diplomatic Incidents, Events

Events: Filipino Community Gathering in Sitiawan, Perak

Skipping some of the events I had to write about (I’m so late! Some of them happened weeks and weeks ago!) to write a shortie something about what happened just last Friday. Something very heart warming.

A good percentage of the Filipino population work abroad. Almost everyone in the Philippines has at least one relative who left the country for what they often call as ‘better opportunities’. Admittedly, our people have yet to feel the tangible effects of our growing economy and it makes me hopeful that this would be the start of Filipinos abroad going home without fear whether they will be earning enough for their families if they took a job in their home country.

It might take a couple of years more. But really, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve seen enough families torn apart by the diaspora. Children growing up without their mothers who had to go abroad to take care of the children of other people so she can earn money for her kids’ education back at home. I had a friend whose father never made it to any of her graduations as he was working as an engineer in the Middle East. They had money to send her all the way to college and to finish her Master’s Degree but alas, he was old when he got home and he died a few years later. The times they spent apart was something they can never bring back.

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