UAE and Filipino: Filipino in UAE

Wherever I go in any part of UAE I see Kabayans, more or less 450,000 Filipinos lived and work in UAE. That’s nearly Dh1.9 billion (US$530 million) remittances every year. This means, us as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) are helping not just our family back home but the Philippine Government because of our remittances. Truly Filipinos are skillful and talented.

Based on this counts where in Filipinos are all over UAE, the Philippine Government imposed to fix the minimum salary to US$400 a month, this decision leads the severe drop of employment demands for skilled and professional workers in UAE. Despite of this issue and regardless of the offer, we still accept the lower minimum wage which other company is offering, especially if you are a visit visa and running out of time because your papers are going to expire soon, you really in capable of not wasting the offer which is against your will.

Personally I know so many individuals not just Filipinos are suffering from a very little salary considering their hard works and efforts,  that was also my experience when I started working here in UAE.

I’ve been in UAE for 4years and I witness the boosts of numbers of  my Kabayans, some are permanently living here and some are come and go but mostly are visit visas and new OFW,

Leaving your country is not easy; saying goodbye to your family and love ones back home is really a heart full of distress. That warm hug of your parent, the tight embrace of your husband or wife, the frustrating cries of your daughter or your son, or even the peaceful smile of your girlfriend or a boyfriend or a fiancée…this scene will give you blues and sorrows. And at the end of the day this scenes are the reasons why you need to go somewhere like UAE.

Why do we need to go abroad where in our country is rich in everything? Why do we choose to be a nurse or teacher or engineer or even a construction worker in foreign country where in our country need us the most?  Why do others suffer from a maltreatment, verbal abuse, contract substitution, overwork, and lack of food, violation of contract and worse sexual harassment and even death? Thus our government thought of this?

 The MAJOR reason WHY? Because we need to earn… a salary that the Philippine Government can’t provide us, we suffer because we love our family, and we need to fight because many people rely on us, we don’t care about the emptiness we feel because we have a mission.  Every day we need to treasure every dirham we spend because our family back home needs it more that we do. Every time we eat we reminisce their presence, every time we go to bed we missed them to say sweet dreams and a good night kiss.

In the other picture, Filipinos always have an exit point when it comes to sadness and sorrows; we always find happiness and lights even in the darkest part of our life. We are born happy and tough. We are raised to be kind, polite and respectful. When it comes to hospitality and being joyful we Filipinos are always top of the chart.