Value of education

I've lived in other countries where a significant number of people either aspire to migrate and work overseas or depend on other family members who have done this, however in the Philippines there is a whole industry built around this - at immigration there are three lines, one for Filipinos, one for foreigners and one for OFW Overseas Filipino Workers (Filipinos who work overseas).

Apparently almost 100,000 women head overseas from the Philippines to work as domestic workers each year, most from poorer backgrounds and many from rural areas. As a result the government has instituted a one month compulsory course called Domestic Duties 101 so that the women can be trained in the use of different types of vacuum cleaners, washing machines, how to clean air conditioning units and other tasks and cultural domestic norms and cuisines they may meet in their new jobs. The two most frequent destinations are Singapore and Hong Kong where they are likely to earn US$400 per month. As in many other parts of the world people are willing to work hard and live far from their family in order to send money home for their loved ones in a hope for a better life for them. As one women interviewed in the article I read in The Philippine Star said,

I want to help my mother and younger sister. They need me to support them adding that her mother had no work and her sister earned US$2.70 a day as a waitress.

 However the part of the article which really struck me was the 25-year old domestic worker trainee, Janet Quiron who had a college degree and was a trained teacher but had decided to apply as a domestic worker overseas as she only earned about US$120 a month as a teacher.

It is painful to have a college degree and then apply as a domestic helper. But I think about my family. I am the one sending my brother and sister to school.

How does the situation exist where it is better to be separated from loved ones to be a domestic worker overseas than to teach the young generation in your own country? Sadly this is not unique to the Philippines.

Having recently visited Hong Kong, even with my relatively untrained eye to the racial differences between Far East Asian countries, it was easy to spot the overwhelming number of Filipinas there. It was most obvious on Sunday when being such a sociable people they congregated in public areas for picnics and social time together on their one day off and with no home that they could invite people back to.

Day of rest for foreign workers, Hong Kong

Given the number of Filipinos in Hong Kong I was pleased to see that St John's Cathedral had services in Tagalog/Pilipino as well as English, Mandarin and Cantonese. I was also pleased but saddened to see that as part of the church's outreach to their community they run Helpers for Domestic Helpers and Mission for Migrant Workers to help the foreign domestic workers in cases of abuse to which they are open. Working abroad as a domestic worker does open some financial doors but at a great cost but it also incurs many risks and this is not just limited to work in Hong Kong and yet it seems the best option for one trained school teacher from the Philippines.