Once a migrant, always a migrant. This has been proven by many overseas Filipino workers who spend decades working overseas. Most of them never considered staying abroad for long.
They promised the family they left behind that they would just be away for a few years. They would work, save enough, and return home for good.
Unfortunately, very few manage to keep that promise. Often, the simple needs of their family become more complicated as the years go by. Or, they start feeling “at home” in their workplace and forget the promise.
But being migrants, it is inevitable that we will all go back home to our country. Many OFWs, no matter how much they miss their family, dread that day, especially when they are not yet financially ready or if there is no source of income waiting for them in the Philippines. In case of premature termination, most would apply again, even if it means spending hundreds of thousands of pesos more in placement fees. If leaving the country guarantees homesickness, being uprooted from one’s workplace could mean disaster for the whole family.
As a former OFW who worked and considered Hong Kong home for ten years, my sudden departure from “the city that never sleeps” affected me immensely—physically, emotionally, mentally, and of course, financially.
Living (again) in our country was a huge adjustment for me. Being away for a decade changed me so much that it felt like having a culture shock all over again. Though it may sound unpatriotic, I had felt that Hong Kong was my home.
Back in the Philippines, I was disturbed by what I saw around me, from having to take dilapidated public transport to the sight of indiscriminately thrown garbage to the able-bodied beggars who just depend on the compassion of others to feed themselves to the overall lack of discipline of my fellow Filipinos. They all made me wish I was back in Hong Kong.
Not to mention the fact that relationships are always badly hit when one of the spouses works overseas. They become emotionally distant, and worse, cheating will happen.
The hardest part for me, of course, was having no income. For ten years, I had a steady salary.
I learned to appreciate the things that I did not value when I was still working abroad. I regret sending most of my money and have nothing to show for it.
Driven by these circumstances, I made up my mind to go back abroad. I had several destinations on my list: Macau, South Korea, Europe, anywhere. When my former employer told me she wanted to hire me again, I knew that I had to go back to Hong Kong.
And yet, a part of me also wanted to try my luck in our country as well. I gave myself a month to look for a job, and if within that time I don’t find decent work, I would start processing my papers back to wherever my destiny will take me.
I searched the net for job openings and found it full of advertisements for call center jobs.
To cut the story short, I was hired in the BPO industry, and after a few years of working as a call center agent, I was able to transition to a backoffice job.
I know that being in the BPO industry is not the best job, but still, I am thankful that I have been given the chance to work in our country.
My advice to my fellow OFWs is to make their stay abroad worthwhile. Someday, you will all go home. And you might end up being jobless here. So I encourage my fellow migrants to fully utilize whatever potentials they may have while abroad. Skills or knowledge learned there will always prove useful, wherever one might end up.
My journey as an OFW might have ended for now, but I will always be grateful for the experience. I will always be an OFW by heart because the tools that I used to get this job were made possible by me being a migrant worker.