SAN ISIDRO, PHILIPPINES/KUNIRAN, INDONESIA: When Madam Gina Fabiano initially considered leaving her wooden house in the Philippines ‘ Rodriguez city to become a home contractor in Saudi Arabia 7, 000km aside, her children begged her not to go.  ,
They had never been separated, let alone been separated for such a long time due to their great length. Without her, they claimed, they may not be able to live their lives.  ,
But at the moment, the then 43 year-old mother of five- who gradually worked in the Middle East for three years between 2016 and 2019- felt that she did certainly had a choice.
Since the government decided to open a garbage near in 2002, her mother’s farmland has been losing steam.
Mdm Fabiano and her husband sifted through the thousands of tons of trash from the Metro Manila area, looking for metals, plastics, and other assets to market to recycling plants along with other families whose cropland were even destroyed.
The mother’s income was not stable. Mdm Fabiano and her husband would earn as little as 1, 000 to 2, 000 pesos ( US$ 17.10 to US$ 34.20 ) a month. The cost of her son’s education was hardly sufficient to cover the costs of meals.
Then her mother died in 2016 and Mdm Fabiano, as the next oldest of 14 relatives, had to play the role of mother for her brothers and sisters, some of whom were also in school at the time.
We did n’t have the money to take my mother to the hospital after she became ill. When I first started to worry about my mother passing away if I had worked worldwide sooner, I thought. Mdm Fabiano reached into her throat while caringssing the cross.  ,
But she jumped at the chance to work as a home worker in Saudi Arabia with a monthly salary of US$ 400.
According to statistics from the Philippines ‘ Department of Migrant Workers, 2.1 million Filipinos left their home country in search of work worldwide in 2016. This figure may decrease as a result of the pandemic before reaching a new history of 2.3 million in 2023.
The majority of them were from far-off places in remote areas and poor urban neighborhoods like Rodriguez’s San Isidro, where employment opportunities are limited, especially for those like Mdm Fabiano, who only has a junior high school certificate to her title.
Working abroad paid these Filipinos at least half the region’s minimum wage of US$ 10 per day, but it also came with some high costs.
Working abroad, for parents like Mdm Fabiano, meant missing out on significant events like the first weeks of class and graduations, as well as the chance to watch their kids grow up, commemorate special occasions like birthdays and Christmas, and watch their children grow up.
For those left behind, it meant losing someone they love, a caretaker, a coach and a shoulder to cry on.
The most challenging aspect was that I was unable to look after my only child, according to Mdm Fabiano, about her youngest baby, who was still in school when she left.
” What are you doing then?” was all I could do, so I dialed her on my phone and asked her. Did you eat? Are you going to college?’ That’s all. But the lady I took care of in Saudi: I may weave her hair, pull her correctly, tuck her to sleep”.
” I was able to take care of her, but I could n’t even take care of my own kids.”