Maintaining a long distance relationship

I really miss my Lola from abroad, I really do. She is currently in Toronto, Canada where it is so cold as ice. We used to write letters to each other when I was still a kid but as time goes by, that relationship began to melt slowly. I just can't forgive the days that went by without greeting her if she was fine over there and stuff. But then again I'm still waiting for the day she finally comes back and give her a very heart-warming hug. In this blog, I will show you how an OFW struggles with their families without breaking their long-distance relationships.






According to the article "How can OFW Maintain a Healthy Relationship"by MK Caquinquin, he gave us some ways on how should overseas workers maintain this relationship. First is Set Specific Time for Regular Appointments, just be relax and feel your new environment. give time to adjust with it but remember to stick to your plans. Second, Keep the line of communications open, It is very important that you communicate with your loved ones. They are giving you hopes to keep on hustling and thrive to the deepest obstacles you will encounter in abroad. Third, Plan a time to meet each other. Go and have an interesting conversation with your workmates or friends you have met while you are in abroad. That way, you can still have a healthy socialization if your loved ones aren't aorund from time to time. Fourth, Trust your partner. Sometimes, a partner needs some space for privacy and personal actions. Give him some time to adjust and of course some chance of trust so you could earn his/hers too. The lack of trust is why most long-distance relationships ended quickly. Lastly, Do something out of usual, sometimes in a long-distance relationships, you weren't giving each other some physical satisfactions like gifts, flowers and stuff. Nothing can replace a heart if it came from you.


"Absence makes the heart go wander but the long ditance relationship only survives when there is respect for the other person, and that only if one will always looked at the sacrifice of the other."






I myself am pleased with this recent article. Surely it will help some of our overseas workers upon dealing with their struggle in abroad. But the main focus here is romance. So we need to deal with it more.

To others, long distance relationship is very hard to handle. As the saying goes... Öut of sight, out of mind". There are several relationships that did not worth more and ended up to parting way. On the other hand there's also a saying that "Absence make the heart go fonder". Maybe because if they don't see each other more often, the tendency is they are going to miss each other so much.


Long distance relationship is effective to the people who maximize the use of social media such as facebook, yahoomail, messenger in order to have a constant communication. Always keep in mind that an open communication is necessary to make a long distance realtionship last forever.

OFW Problems: Illegal Recruitment

n  the condition of OFWs nowadays, many are tricked by fake recruitments because of money and of course, it's more cheaper than the actual legitimate recruiting process. These are happening because of the lack of awareness and education on how to evade these recruiters is the main problem or culprit why many OFWs fall for these scam by human traffickers and illegal recruiters.





 Accoring to the article "OFWs, You Have Been Warned Repeatedly" byAudrey Masangkay, Most OFws are decieved by these by using fake job positions as bait. They worked as low employee jobs like cashier, waitress or clerks just to reach the demands of their wishly income. These illegitimate recruiters not only exposed our Filipino workers to possible abuses of foreign hirers, but themselves as well to punishment to the Philippine government.



"OFWs are warned over and over again not to accept job offers abroad from recruiters who would give them work visa for jobs they didn't apply to.  They're also reminded not to sign a new contract upon arriving at their work destination abroad."







While some are using this illegal scams as their livelihood which is more likely now normal for them, Some are still being caught red-handedly or worse, some innocents are being used to do their dirty acts. According to the article "Singaporean, 13 Filipinos arrested for human trafficking; 36 women rescued" byJulio M. Aurelio, the authorities a fake recruitment agency in Las Pinas city which is suspected to be a center of human trafficking and have rescued 36 women at Friday night.
It stated that "The women were believed to be victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment after five of their companions managed to report their plight to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.".


The official added "The applicants also allegedly suffered some abuse since they were made to train beyond the prescribed number of hours. The firm offers training on baby sitting, care giving, and domestic help but without the POEA license."





Certainly, we must avoid these scams and illegitimate things to be well-awared of our actions and decisions towards this kind of situations we might encounter when wanting to be an OFW. Unfortunately, not all of the time, the government got our backs so we sometimes have to stand on our own fate. As we all know, if you wanted to dream big, there's always that one problem that will keep pulling you down that you must face. And as for these  guys, the encountered it too soon. Education towards these things is very useful for it may help you finding the most legitimate job you can get, just make sure it is actually legal and safe to work in.

The Life of an OFW Children

Since when our country became poor and full of despair, our countrymen began to seek new lives in other countries to provide some support for themselves and their children. I myself experienced this because for atleast one month, my mother travelled to US because she is needed for an engineering project under her company. At those days while she was gone, I felt lonely and desperate seeking for a mother's love. Yes, my father was still there but a mother's love is still different from his'.

According to the article "The problem of enstrangement among OFW children" by Dr. Violeta “Bolet” Bautista of the Care and Counsel Wholeness Center, a parent's duty is a must and without it, it will affect a big part of the child's growing personality. Therefore, at least after they work there, they must contact or find a way to communicate with their children because it will serve abig role in part of that child's life. They should fill-in the absences of each time they spend for more than they need. She also stated that "Long distance communication between parents and their children has produced superficial relationships."This is due to the lack of time and presence of the parent to the eye of the child to the point that he or she is beginning to doubt if her/his parents could care more or less. She also added "How heartbreaking it is for a parent who has made so many sacrifices to come home to estrangement."

"When asked, 'Why are you going abroad?', OFW parents will almost always say that it is for their children. But many OFW parents are now finding out that their working abroad has seriously damaged their relationship with the very people whose interests they have gone abroad to serve."

In this case, the child will be eomtional throughout his/her life due to this huge problem they had to face in their lifehood. It cannot be replace once they felt that pain in their heart upon the reality of their family's future. They just have to accept the fact that it was a big role in their life because it is their parent's struggle they are dealing with. According to the article "Kids of OFWs prone to emotional problems" by Gerard Naval, children of OFWs are very prone to a lot of human problems. This may lead to some serious bad problems like alcoholism, drug addiction and other bad habits they might experience and also because of the influence of bad socialization due to the lack of parental guidance and care towards them. 

"Migration of one parent or both is a very painful time for children and cause bad emotions to stir up." she said.

On my experience, bullies in my former school have cases like these. Almost all of them are either their parents broken up or their parents were in abroad. I myself am sometimes consider it as a "karma" but still I can't help to feel sorry for their lives. I know it sounds pathetic but in this situation, it is not an excuse. Being an OFW is really hard. It takes a lot of guts to just leave your child with your other family members or to other people while they grow up not knowingly your love for them. No matter what you do, you still have to show care and support on her/his journey in life even if you weren't there for him/her.

OFW Financing Their Future

"Money changes everything." as great philosophers and scholars stated.This "thing" could literally make us reach for everything we wanted in life. It shows our status in the society we live in and as for our Overseas Filipino Workers, one is just never enough. On this blog, I will tell you all the stories and life-changing situations that our OFWs experienced in the name of money.






According to the article "OFWs and their Financial Future" by Randell Tiongson, after his incredible journey going to different places just to speak to our Overseas Workers, he realized that not all OFWs are successful abroad and how some end up empty-handed going home from abroad.That is why he is there to handle and teach them how to deal with it with the help of financial education. And as of lately, because of him, more and more OFWs are investing and saving than before which is a very huge development for him and their future.



"The growth in the financial literacy for OFWs is largely because of the efforts of many OFWs who are financial educators themselves. My work is such a blessing because I get to have more and more OFW friends who are finance advocates themselves… they have become heroes amidst other heroes."

While reading some interesting blogs, I come to a very straight-forward article that really caught my eye upon why most OFWs are still financially bankrupt. According to the article "Why Do Filipino OFWs Remain Poor?" by Paul Farol, he compared our OFWs to sharks "In a certain ways, they’re on top of the food chain when it comes to the amount of money they earn and in certain instances, in terms of the professional advancement that they achieve abroad." which is a very good comparison of what our overseas workers are in reality. Most of the OFWs remain poor becuase when they go home, they spend all their earnings just to bring happiness to their families, they are expected to solve the financial problems of their friends and relatives. By the time they go back to their work abroad, they don't have anything left, and need to start saving all over again.

"This is a reason why a great number of our countrymen leave to work in foreign countries.  This is also the reason why OFW remittances account for a huge chunk of our country’s foreign currency earnings."

While still young, learn to save every single centavo of your earnings and invest it to stocks, time deposit, insurance, properties or business.  Learn to give importance to your hard-earned money so you have something to use in the future. As the saying goes "All days are not same. Save for a rainy day. When you don't work, savings will work for you."