Thinking of Adobo When All You Can Get is Fish & Chips

I've written the entry below back in February 2004, while I was still living and working in England. Homesickness and boredom makes you rather melancholic.

~oOo~oOo~oOo~

I feel like a proper overseas Filipino worker now. I've just sent my first paycheck to Manila. There's a feeling of accomplishment for me, but there's a sad undertone to the whole situation.

Why would any right-minded Pinoy leave his own country? Because they want progress, a better quality of life, to secure their future.. in the end, it all boils down to money. If only Pinoys earn enough money to feed, clothe, shelter and educate the family, do you think they'd even consider going abroad?

Here in England, i've seen a lot of lazy people get government benefits, that's why poverty is probably not much of an issue. Families get allowances for each child, jobseekers' allowances if they're unemployed, free medication for sick people -- why can't Pinoys have these things?

Pinoys are smart and highly-skilled. But they won't stay in the country long enough to champion a lost cause. They're not martyrs, they want to survive. The government addresses the concern for the 'brain drain,' but in true Pinoy fashion, they forget all about it before the next foreign act concert or when a new sexy-and-willing-to-go-nude actress pops up.

Why would anybody want to leave a vibrant and cheerful place like Manila? Why would anybody prefer to be trapped in ice and snow instead of the white, sandy beaches of Boracay? Why would anybody want to leave the people he or she grew up with, loved and had been happy with?

All because they want a better life. But living abroad is not all that. Sure, you get the financial security you've been striving for, but living alone in a strange place will remind you of all the things you're missing back home. At the end of the day, working abroad won't help you live a better life, it will just give you a different one.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but once you move there, you'll realize that they were both the same kind of bermuda all along.