Why 10 million Filipinos endure hardship abroad as overseas workers

Families in the Philippines receive billions from the ‘new heroes’—nannies in Hong Kong, sailors in the Arctic, and domestic workers in the Middle East.

Returning overseas workers are often treated to a hero’s welcome. Each December, Manila’s airport is crowded with families greeting mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, on the generally rare occasions loved ones come home to celebrate Christmas.

Recuerdo Morco was 22 when he first saw snow. Wrapped in four layers of coveralls and parkas, he looked up into the swirling sky as huge flakes settled onto the deck of his cargo ship.

He carved his girlfriend’s name into the snow and circled it with a heart. Recuerdo had grown up in the Philippines on a tropical island rimmed with white sand and coconut palms. Standing on the cargo ship slicing through the icy waters near the Arctic Circle, snowflakes tickling his face, was a dream come true. “I’m really here,” he thought.

They pulled into the port of Kemi, Finland, in the wake of an icebreaker, jagged blocks of white peeling off the sides of their ship. Recuerdo stepped ashore and went on what he calls the “seaman’s mission”: find the nearest shop and buy a SIM card so you can call your mother.

Recuerdo Morco shares a beer with his shipmates in General Santos City after delivering a cargo of dried coconut from Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. For Morco the freedom and adventure of life at sea are laced with homesickness.

Now 33, Recuerdo has spent the past decade working as a merchant sailor on cargo vessels. He has called his mother, Jeannie, 66, from Finland, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, and nearly every country with a port between Sweden and Australia. Jeannie can’t keep track of where her son calls her from, but she’s always happy and relieved to hear from him. Hearing her voice, Recuerdo says, “takes away the boredom, homesickness, and sadness.” He adds, “She’s the most important person in my life.”

Recuerdo is one of an estimated 10 million Filipinos—roughly a tenth of the country’s population—who work overseas as a way of escaping unemployment, low wages, and limited opportunities at home. The money sent back by overseas Filipino workers (known as OFWs) amounts to $31 billion a year—about 10 percent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product. Filipinos are domestic workers in Angola and construction workers in Japan. They staff the oil fields of Libya and are nannies to families in Hong Kong. They sing on the stages of far-flung provinces in China and help run hotels in the Middle East. A quarter of the world’s seafarers are Filipino.

It’s a phenomenon that has reshaped the economy and the education system in the Philippines. Each year about 19,000 nurses, certified and fresh from language training, are deployed to hospitals around the world.

Meanwhile educational institutions and vocational schools in the Philippines funnel students into industries likeliest to get them a job abroad. Merchant marine academies, like nursing schools, churn out thousands of graduates yearly. Training centers for domestic workers school women in how to set a table according to different cultures’ standards, fold a sheet into tight hospital corners, and whisper a greeting in Arabic or Chinese. Government agencies were founded to deal with the migration of registered workers, negotiate international labor terms, and rescue workers when a diplomatic row flares up or a war breaks out—as when a delegation of government officials traveled to Syria to find domestic workers and ferry them to safety.

The steady stream of cash from Filipino workers abroad has helped edge poorer families out of poverty, and houses built with cash from migrant workers have sprouted up in the rice fields of backwater provinces.

In the Philippines, December is celebrated as the national month for overseas workers. Movies and television shows romanticize their hardships and dedication. Those who are part of the diaspora are called *bagong bayani—*the new heroes—for sacrificing themselves for the betterment of their families and the country.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/filipino-workers-return-from-overseas-philippines-celebrates