SI NILDO, MULA nang nagpandemic di na nakita o planong makita agad ang mag-ina nya. Actually, 1 year bago mag lockdown, di na sya nakauwi sa kanilang bayan sa Samar dahil alanganin ang skedyul. Pero nagsisi sya dahil andami na nyang namiss sa mga milestone: honor recognition day, graduation, birthday, at kung anu ano pa. Pero kung umuwi naman sya kahit minsan, di na sya makakabalik sa New Zealand malamang. Malamang na malamang.
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So many bargains, so many sacrifices. You can have this, but you can’t have that. You can have this today, but not tomorrow. You can give comfort and convenience, but you deny yourself the simpler pleasures that can never be replaced, or experienced again. Because you can’t provide and be there always for loved ones during the special times. Such are the realities of being an OFW, in normal times but more so in The Time of Covid:
you can provide for so much, but you’re not around to see it enjoyed. Latest PlayStation for Bunso, high-powered and super hi-res laptop for Ate, and small business for Mama. Everyone loves it, now if you could only see them enjoy the fruits of your labor. Zoom and FaceTime are a big help, but nothing can take the place of you actually seeing your family use the things you worked hard for, helping them study, helping them work, and helping them meet Life’s challenges.
you improve your skills and your career, but not for the community and industry that needs and deserves it most. You grew up and went to school under the humblest of circumstances. Walked two hours to and from the mababang paaralan, got good enough grades to make it to a half-scholarship, and just scraped through the board exams. Now because you’re inspired, you earn the best wages and got the best technology behind you, a career full of potential.
Sadly though, the barrio that raised you, the extended family in the big city that took you in, and the first employer that gave you your first break, are as far away from you as a distant dream. Much as you want to show gratitude for all the chances given, you’ve got new respoinsibilities now, new challenges and yes, new dreams. one day you’ll show them how you, the bet they risked, paid off, just not now. One day.
you spend the best years of your life doing what you love and fulfilling your potential, just not in the country you love. The economy is run well. Wages are paid according to skill and demand. standard of living is improved. life is better for you and family, just not in the country of birth that you love forever.
you want to pay back, do your bit for family, community and country, but how to do it? you have a new life in your adopted country, committed to your job, kids in school, and established all sorts of roots in your new surroundings,
you dont see your paremts who in the twilight of their lives deserve to see more of their apo, and the old barkada are all long gone, flung to the 4 corners and 7 seas. you still see them, but only in dreams and memories.
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life is a trade off, an exchange of one choice for another. which in turn leads to numerous options traded for others. A way of life becomes vastly different from the one originally intended. Such is the life of living overseas, of the OFW and ultimately the migrant. Complicated further by the pandemic. And if you ask me, it’s lonely and exciting at the same time.
Thanks for reading, mabuhay!
