What pushes Filipino to go out of the Country to Work?

Most of the time I am asking myself “Why am I here in Qatar?” maybe most of the OFWs ask the same question over and over. It is not easy to be apart with your love ones especially when kids are too young and may not have any memories of you yet, and when you come home once in a year or two, you are a stranger with your own kids which is one of the worst consequences of working abroad.

Going back to my question, I for one don’t have any definitive answer but the main factor is very obvious “Money” but does it mean everything? I mean, how many families have been broken because of it? Temptations here in abroad is so enormous that even saints are having hard time walking away from it, and once caught by its web, escape is not easy, thus family relationships suffer, consequently family support that an average earner send to his family back in the Philippines will also decrease so as to support a new relationship. Then the battle of deception begins. Lying will become so common that it becomes a habit. Also the one that stayed back home will not be spared from it, there is "freedom" when a partner is miles away and there are opportunists out there that will try to bite the “cake”. Others succumb to it and even sustain a guy or a girl with financial gifts. Then in less than a year, a new married couple will join the list of separated couples. A broken home, dysfunctional family which once upon a time dreamt of having a prosperous life together, now ex-partners cursing one another.

I know also lots of families that weathered it all and become financially stable, being able to invest in real estates, some established businesses that directly help in making Philippine’s economy afloat, all their children finished their studies in a private school. Now my second question would be “Which path will I walk on?” the first or the second, maybe both, one after the other. I really don’t know, I am not a saint but I love my family so much too. Time will tell, and priorities will play a very important role in this journey or saga as an OFW.