Surviving The Life As An OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker)

As an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) , the struggle is real . How will you survive as an OFW ? This question I asked myself before when I decided to work abroad for the first time , and even my family asking me if I can do it , if I can survive . And Yes , that was my answer , I was confident , I was determined to work far from them not because I wanted to leave them happily but because at that time I thought that's the only way I could help them financially . I was scared of course , but like what I've said , I was determined that time . I will just share some of my struggles being a worker who is far from the family , and I know most of these or maybe all are the same reasons as millions of OFW around the world .

Challenges as an OFW

1. Homesickness - this is my number one , and I guessed most of us (OFW) will agree that homesickness is our number one struggle , our enemy . Even those who work abroad for a long time like me , will still fight with this enemy . There were times that everything was just fine at work , but at the end of the day , you will just immediately feel the loneliness , the emptiness and that would be the reason sometimes we just cry for the reason that we miss them , our family . We feel that we are the most weak person in this world . I myself still and will be fighting this challenge until maybe I will go back home for good .

2. Language Barrier / Culture Differences - as I experienced working in the country that English is not the first language , that’s when I learned SIGN LANGUAGE , funny but true . And that’s how I survived and mostly my co-OFW will agree . In Culture differences , if we want to survive in their place , we must respect and follow theirs for us to stay longer . Some of them will also respect ours but mostly we as a foreign worker should adjust . We will adjust for them to survive .

3. Maltreatment / Mistreated / Unfair Treatment - raise your hand if you’ve been in this situation , and I’m gonna raise my two hands . Have you experienced being hungry because your employer didn’t provide proper foods ? Have you experienced sleeping in a room that any time they will get inside without knocking because your room is a stock room? Have you experienced eating curse words with some slapping everyday because they want perfect work ? Have you experienced asking your salary and reminding them 10x or more ? Well , I know these are just a minor compared to others who experienced cruel , inhuman maltreatment , and some maltreatment lead to the death of them . I hope protection for us will be more tight than the protection of the employers because of their powers .

4. Financial - when I was young , I had this thought that if I work abroad I will become rich ...and I must say now that it’s just a big MYTH (lol) ... I’m still poor until now but I’m fine , fine not because I’m poor but because I’m able to help my family back home , not as big as others but it’s from my blood , sweat and tears . I know this is the reason why , why and why we leave our family for us to help them financially . But sadly , others are still struggling including me and some are heavily in debt . It’s hard to say that we must save for ourselves but if we could I hope we still manage to do that little by little .

5. Don’t Be Sick / We Can’t Afford to Get Sick - if you will get sick , you will be back to number one , Homesickness … Yes , we can’t afford to get sick because no one or nobody will take care of us but only ourselves . You are sick , you will work ,most of the employers not all but most , they don’t care if you are sick , they care for your work , you are lucky if you have a boss that will understand your sickness , your situation . So , we must take care of ourselves since we are far from those people who will be able to take care of us instead.

6. Hiding The Real Situation - what you see on Facebook or in other social media platforms are not really the real situation, not all . You’ll never know what’s behind on that smile, you’ll never know what struggles they might be facing if you will just base it on what you see with their posts . I myself sometimes get annoyed with those nonsense posts of others but I will just understand that maybe it is their way to express themselves , it is their way to lessen the burden they have because of their work .

If I’m gonna ask myself now , how I survived working as an OFW , I must say , I cried so much tears , and still crying and will still cry . I feel that only when I cry I will feel to lessen the heaviness that I have inside of me that I can’t share to others and even to my family . And most of all , I pray . I’m not that religious one , but I still believe that prayer can really help you in any situation . It’s hard but we will survive . As they say “Being an OFW is a matter of Love and Sacrifice with happiness and sadness”.