His friends call him Egay. He came to Italy in the year 2000 and now works as a gardener and maintenance man in Rome. This morning I saw him while he was mending a wooden table for his employer. We had a short chat and I learned from him that he holds a Geodetic engineering degree from a university in Manila. He said he has never done any carpentry work before leaving the Philippines.
What particularly caught my attention was the chisel and the brown tube that formed the image of a crucifix on Egay’s table. To Christians, the cross is always connected with the self-sacrifice Jesus willingly made to show us how much the Father loves us. The cross on Egay’s working table communicated to me the self-sacrifice many pinoy migrant workers make to show how much they love their families.
Leaving home to work abroad has not been a joy to many migrant workers but has brought them many sorrows and pains. The lack of proper laws and procedures for recruitment and employment often makes them vulnerable and subject to various forms of abuse. But they are willing to go through any ordeal and make all kinds of sacrifices because they are filled with hope that someday there will be a better life for them and for their loved ones. For they know there is no resurrection without crucifixion.
ALSO IN THIS SERIES
Easter Sunday
Holy Saturday
Good Friday
Maundy Thursday
Holy Wednesday – The Caged Jesus
Holy Monday – Brokenness
Palm Sunday – Pinoys in Rome
…over & over again,i heard these stories of co-Filipinos migrating for financial reasons…working abroad to earn more to sustain financially the family left behind in the Philippines…it is such a “heroic”(i dont know if it is a fitting word) deed,i believe.I also know a handful who really are graduates of medical school from the Philippines and ended up working as cleaners/dishwashers and all-around househelp here in the Nederlands…sometimes it breaks my heart and makes my blood boils with anger to hear their stories…it makes me want to shout…”THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG IN HERE..THERE IS THE NEED TO BE DONE TO CHANGE THE SITUATION”…on the other hand,there are cases where the “sacrifice” are not really that necessary…like when someone has to pay a gigantic sum of half a million pesos to get a passage to work abroad as a househelp & leave his/her broad behind…would it be better to use this passage money to start a business right there in the Phil?…i consider this example a misplaced sacrifice…and sometimes,it makes me wonder are we (Filipinos) really being “sacrificial” in the sense that we are willing to undergo through a lot of pains & hardships,not to mention humiliations just to earn more for others sake?…..or are we,Filipinos gradually becoming to be a “masochists”… obtaining happiness through pains…GOD, I HOPE NOT !…or are we just “sacrificing” to work abroad just for the sake of vanity ?…it is a common fact that when an overseas worker comes home,he/she gets a very festive/heroic welcome at home & from the extended families & he/she will be treated as such until its time for him/her to go away & search for more money…how sad…really sad…
Hi Stephen,
I really like your blog because of your perspective of being a pinoy in Rome, your honest statements concerning faith, and your views on technology. In fact, your last few tech posts are making me consider Ubuntu.
Have you ever considered helping Ubuntu translate their OS into Tagalog? (It is already translated into many languages, but I don’t see Tagalog or any other Filipino dialect!)
I’m sure a Filipino Ubuntu would ease the transition or remove some skepticism of those pinoys set in Microsoft’s ways. (I don’t even think MS has a Tagalog version of Windows.) “Ubuntu” even sounds a little Filipino doesn’t it?
I’m sure you realise the economic benefits that the RP would have by not having to be shackled to MS! And considering Filipinos’ technical savvy, what a great way to have a presence in the Linux world.
Richie d
Amiga, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Richie, thanks for appreciating my blog. Yes, I would want to translate a Linux OS to the Filipino language but it is utterly impossible for me at the moment considering my workload as a student and other commitments I have. I agree with you that Pinas will benefit a lot from dumping Windows and shifting to open source. But our country’s problem is more than economic. A nationwide shift in OS alone will not save us. What we need is systemic change.
Where did you find it? Interesting read