
Fleeing Jeddah

Recent posts on younger Filipinas with older guys and how to meet your special someone on Cherry Blossoms has prompted me to write today’s article. Don’t know why I’ve never devoted a whole piece to this topic before, but a recent FHM Philippines video, posted at the end of this article, inspired me.
Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. says he isn't a racist. He has a lot of white guys working for him. Remember Floyd? He's the guy going to jail for beating up his girlfriend in Vegas. A real man, huh? But it looks like the guy doesn't like Asians despite his recent statement about a few white-skinned employees. He's called Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao "that little yellow chump" in the past and recently posted this message on his Twitter blogging site: “Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.”
Our world was rocked by a major earthquake this past Monday while my asawa was shopping for bed sheets on the third floor of SM City in Iloilo. Thanks to the exceptional handling of the evacuation by SM management and security, my asawa and I, along with hundreds and other customers and employees were led swiftly out of the building without injury or mishap. Now we just had to get back to our home in a subdivision two jeepney rides away. That proved to be extremely difficult.
Filipina maid Cherry Pie Antaban (love that name) wants to work as a domestic helper in Singapore. My own asawa spent years working in Singapore and Taiwan (see photo) as an Overseas Contract Worker, OCW. The current term for those having overseas jobs is Overseas Filipino Workers, OFWs. The government refers to them as "heroes." Indeed, without the sacrifice these over nine million Filipinos are making, spending years separated from their families in order to send remittances back to their loved ones in the Philippines, the economy of the PH would suffer a tremendous blow. But Cherry Pie is going to a "maid school," a month long government-mandated crash course in domestic duties, something my own spouse didn't have to do, and has to successfully complete her training before she can get a coveted job in a place like Singapore.
My sister-in-law, Marjorie, 44, is an OFW. Overseas Filipino Worker. She has worked in Kuwait as a domestic worker for a year. Marjorie has labored for three different employers since her arrival. Fortunately she has a good employment agency that allowed her to find a different family to work for when conditions became too difficult with a particular employer. The third family she is currently assigned to also has another Filipina employed by them so Marjorie has a co-worker for the first time since coming to Kuwait.