Filipinos in the Gulf
I am fortunate enough to have traveled to all the Gulf countries. I was able to visit
The Gulf is where overseas Filipino workers or OFWs are concentrated. They number by the millions so it was not really surprising to see “kababayans” everywhere in these countries. And they number by the millions because the Gulf was the first region of Filipino labor migration that started in the 1970’s and has continued until now. There, I met Filipinos who have worked there not for years but for decades.
It was also there that I met Filipinos who at least have a relative or two also working and living in the same country. For most of these Filipinos, they came to the Gulf with a family visit visa not just to visit a family member or relative but to eventually find work and have their visa converted into a work permit. In
A host of Filipino family members not only visit their spouses or parents in the Gulf but get to live with them there with a dependent visa. I remember grocery shopping with my mother in
I guess these OFWs who took their husbands or wives and children with them have resigned to the fact that their family’s future is in the Gulf so they have to continue working there indefinitely. And instead of being painfully away from their loved ones, they decided to bring them to a foreign country (a non-English speaking one at that!) in order to be together. I gathered that some spouses eventually found a job so their double-income family is like a typical one in the
And they are a typical double-income family indeed! In
For a first-time OFW in the Gulf, the adjustment period while working in these countries is probably the shortest given the existent support system around him (or her) – such as relatives who have been there longer so they know and can help her (or him) with the ropes, fellow Filipino colleagues who pass the time at work with an intermittent joke or two, and even the presence of TFC (The Filipino Channel) on satellite or cable TV to get their daily fix of Wowowee and up-to-the-minute “chismis” in Philippine showbiz. It is also very easy to meet and make friends among “kababayans” and should there be a fall-out (as with any other friendship), it is as easy to find new ones.
For a Filipino tourist in the Gulf, it is as if one has not traveled to the Gulf at all. As I wrote, Filipinos are everywhere so it is like he (or she) has not left the
The absence of a language barrier is a real advantage for a Filipino traveling to the Gulf. As for me, I never got lost in these countries. It was such a breeze to ask any “kababayan” for directions. Their local knowledge has also made me save money from not taking the taxi as I took buses and other forms of public transportation to get from place to place, as well as to and from the airport (as well as from not getting ripped-off by taxi drivers as they told me how much certain trips actually cost). I too got better service in restaurants, shops, and hotels from fellow Filipinos working there.
I guess the only disadvantage is not having as much time to go sightseeing. At least in my case as the talkative and inquisitive me tried and wanted to talk to as many Filipinos as possible. There were times when I had to stop smiling at “kababayans” I encountered on the streets, look straight, and miss out on a possible conversation so that I didn’t miss entering a museum before its closing time. And there were times when I had to ignore other “kababayans” around me as I was already talking to a Filipino at a particular place.
As a final note, Filipinos have been in the Gulf since the seventies and I can argue that the region’s rapid development has a lot to do with the presence of our “kababayans”. Their cheap labor (Westerners are paid much more than their Filipino counterparts) and their irreproachable work ethic have helped transform the economies of these countries to what they are today – with a host of business people investing and tourists flocking. If the locals, their employers, and the respective governments acknowledge and recognize this fact, then our “kababayans” should be paid higher and treated better as they rightly deserve.
I am fortunate enough to have traveled to all the Gulf countries – and even more fortunate to have met and talked to Filipinos there who have successfully created a better life for themselves and their families. There is no doubt that for most of these Filipinos, they are better off in the Gulf now than they were in the
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