So It is Christmas

Christmas spirit in the Philippines comes earl...

Christmas is around the corner as they say. I cannot spot on the right corner though; I’ve been looking for four straight years now and it’s seems that I couldn’t really find it in here. Celebrating Christmas away from home, family and friends is the most difficult part of being an OFW. Yeah, I could party with friends, I could drink the night away, and I can dance for all I care but deep inside, there is an empty space. The longing for my family, laughs of my kids and the warm embrace of my wife. All I can do is be with the moment, convince myself that I am happy. Half-truth laughs can be handy as I hide my sadness.

Oh well, at least back home, they can celebrate Christmas and a call to them would lessen the pain of not being there. (I hope Telecommunication Networks will do great this year). Every Christmas and every New Year, I only have one wish “I hope next year I will celebrate the holidays with my family”.

Four years made me forget how it feels to celebrate the holidays. I’m not even familiar with the decorations anymore. Only when someone will mention about it that I’ll think of it or when I hear some Christmas Carols playing on somebody’s mobile phone. I know some of those who will read this may say I’m too melodramatic, well sorry for me; I am and couldn’t do something about it.

But even if holidays isn’t that a big deal here in the Middle East, what matters is we the OFWs will make sure that our families back home would have the best Christmas every year. And for us, a night with friends, singing and dining together will suffice as of the moment. Until then all we can do is hope and wish that next year will be different. Christmas with Family...that is all there is.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Comments

Mga Bagong Bayani (OFW) Ipagbunyi inyong Kadakilaan

Sa bawat daan na iyong tinahak Sa mga luha sa mata mo pumatak Sa katawan mong pagod at batak Sa pamilya mong muntik mawasak Sa bawat mga araw na lumilipas Sa yugto ng buhay mong nalalagas Sa damdamin mong nagagasgas Sa mga nagdaraang mga oras Saan ka kaya patutungo? Sino kaya ang sa luha magpapatuyo? May hahagod kaya sa katawang hapo? Manitili kayang pamilya mo ay buo? Araw na lumipas maibabalik ba? Makikita ba mga sandaling nawala? Kaya pa ba sa bigat ng iyong dala? Oras na nagdaan mapapalitan ba? Mga Bagong Bayani....Ipagbunyi inyong kadakilaan..

OFW Christmas Blues (Pasko na Naman)

I can smell the “Spirit of Christmas” but I cannot feel the joy it brings like it does when I am still back home in the Philippines. Christmas in the Middle East is just an ordinary working day unless it falls on a Friday. Unfortunately this year it falls on a Thursday and it only means that while almost all people around the world are celebrating CHRISTMAS we the “Middle Easterners” are in the office working and contemplating at the same time. Maybe I can treat myself with a piece of shawarma after office and walk along the corniche (Bay area) and probably order “milked tea” while trying to enjoy the cold breeze.

OFW Success Story (Eden Zaniega de Castro-Villa)

Eden Zaniega de Castro-Villa, who had worked in Hongkong as a household service worker (HSW) to earn dollars for her family in La Union, is now generating much bigger income from her handicraft business, which was expanded with the financial assistance from the Overseas Workers Welfare Association (OWWA). “After working overseas, I decided to go home and open a small school and office supplies and craft store ,” shared Eden, who also at the same time was engaged in silk farming. Source: Official Website of the Department of Labor and Employment For OFWs, this is the kind of story that keeps us motivated to dream. The story of Eden Zaniega re-invigorates my enthusiasm to go on. It gives me hope that someday I too can succeed on my future plans after retiring as an OFW (Overworked Filipino Worker) Oops! I mean Overseas Filipino Worker (smile). Being away from home just to provide for the family is not the life I have imagined of having when I got married. I wanted a simple yet comfo...

OFW Chronicles: Filipinos Abroad

Search This Blog