Another try to make my dream come true

After my 2 years contract in Malaysia (from Dec. 11, 2007 - Dec. 11, 2009), I decided to go to Hong Kong. I once again go in my previous agency, the Greenfields International Manpower Services. Located at 5th Floor, Room 504 & 505, LBH Building 1413A, Mabini St., Ermita, Manila, Philippines. Even though I have a bad experience in Malaysia but I am still positive about the agency that they are not a fake recruiter since they already send me to Malaysia. I need to trust them especially that I don't know places and agencies in Manila.

The process is all the same like when I apply for the first time to work abroad. I attend a 3 days seminar in Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) about Language and Culture familiarization. I attend a Pre -departure Orientation Seminar (PEDOS), I undergo medical examination if I am fit to work. The only thing I did not do is to go for 3 weeks training in household course (NCll). I still use my training certificate from 2007 when I go to Malaysia because it will expired after 5 years. So many applicants that work in country and apply again in other agency still need to go in household training course and pay again. Because they don't know that they can use the training certificate until 5 years. So when they apply, but compare to going to Malaysia, the agency is collecting a very big amount of money from all their applicants. Without any receipt. The staff just write it down in the logbook and let us sign there.

When I go to Malaysia, I pay 6,000.00 PHP for my placement fee (not mentioning about my 6 months salary deduction when I arrive there). This time, the agency is asking from all the applicants bound to HongKong 85,000.00 PHP placement fee. I am ready for this since I really know about this from my sister in law and my best friend who was working in Hong Kong that time. I need to go in a lending company of the agency to borrow money so I can give them my placement fee in full before I fly to Hong Kong.

When I arrive in Hong Kong International Airport  (that was April 11, 2010). From the instruction given to me by my Philippine agency,  I need to call the Hong Kong agents office to let them know that I am already there. I need to wait for the staff of our Hong Kong agents to fetch me up. I meet 3 other Filipina there also waiting for the same staff. From Hong Kong International Airport we travel by bus and we go straight to the Immigrition office. There we need to fill up application form for the Hong Kong ID. We need to have this ID to work and stay in Hong Kong. After we are done in the Immigrition office, it is the time to go to our agents office. After we arrive in the agents office, we drop our luggage there and go straight to the clinic few steps away because we need to have a medical check up again. Urine, stool, chest xray and pregnancy test.

After that hectic on the first day in Hong Kong I have time to rest in my agents office while waiting for the time my employer will pick me up. And the time come,  April 11, 2010 around 6:00 P.M my employer arrive in my agents office to pick me up. Now the real life to become an OFW in Hong Kong will begin. So help me Lord... I need to gather all the courage and strength that I have. Mentally and emotionally. The next day April 12, 2010 my first official working days begin and it will last for 2 years.  I will be working in the family of  5 persons. 2 kids, the boy age 6 and girl is 8 years old, a couple and an elderly mother from my boss wife.

First day. Orientation... what to do inside the house from morning after I wake up until night time before I close my eyes to sleep. I need to wake up at 5:30 every morning to prepare all the things that the kid's need to go to school. Uniforms, socks and shoes. I need to cook foods for breakfast and lunch. I need to wake up the girl at 6:00 A.M. prepare her toothbrush and a glass of water inside the bathroom. Let her eat the breakfast while I am preparing her food for lunch in school in her lunch box. After she is done eating, I need to assist her to change into her school uniform, wear her socks and shoes for her. Comb and tie her hair and she is ready to go at 6:20 A.M. I need to go with her in the place where the school bus stop. And I need to be punctual and on time because the school bus will leave after 5 minutes. They will not wait for the late student. Then I need to be back home after the school bus left. After I arrive, I need to discipline myself, I need to wash my hand the moment I go inside the house... that is one of the most important rule. The next thing I need to do is to wake up the boy. Prepare his things in the bathroom (toothbrush with toothpaste and a glass of water), school uniform, socks and shoes and his breakfast. After he is done eating I need to help him to wear his school uniform, socks and shoes. And he is ready for the day. This time I am lucky because his father will be the one to go with the boy in his school.

After the kids are gone to school, I need to start my house chores. Starting from the rooms, tidy up their beds and clean the rooms. Then the living room and the kitchen area. NOTE: All the things inside the house must be gleaming and shining after I clean. Need that every corner of the house must be clean and shining too. And dust free. And I need to start the washing machine for the laundry then hang the clothes. At noon time, I need to cook for our lunch. And prepare food in a lunch box for the boy's lunch in school. At 11:30 I need to leave the house to bring the boy's food in school. After I come back in the house I will eat my lunch and prepare to leave again to fetch the girl from school bus stop. After we come back at around 4:00P.M I need to proceed for my house work. I need to clean up again the house so no dust is visible in their eyes. And also to keep myself busy because they told me that I am there to work and not to rest. If my laundry is dry, I need to iron it and some need only to be fold. At 6:00 In the evening I need to prepare our food for dinner. And while cooking, I need to assist the two kids to take a shower one by one and at 7:00 o'clock we need to eat. After dinner, I need to tidy up the table, clean the dishes and all the kitchen utensils that I use for cooking. Throw away the garbage and clean up the living/dinning room area. And after all, I need to clean up myself and get ready to sleep. And that is around 11:00 - 11:30 almost midnight. Every weekend I need to add in my daily routine is to wash two cars and all the windows. This is my daily and weekly routine since day one until I finish my two years contract with my first employer in Hong Kong. I am only lucky that I did not go to the market because the old woman whom we called ''Popo'' (grandma) is the one who do the marketing. And here in Hong Kong I have my once a week day off and after three months stay in my employer I avail also the statutory holiday. Statutory holiday means all public holidays in Hong Kong is also a holiday for domestic helper.

Even if I work nonstop everyday from the moment I open my eyes until the time I need to go to sleep again. And from Monday to Saturday, but here in Hong Kong I have a day off and the salary is really the total amount of what stated in my contract when I signed it. And from my salary, I send my 3 daughters in colleges. Slowly... I am reaching for my dreams.

My first experience working as a domestic helper abroad

September 2007

First timer, full of courage, full of dreams, full of hopes but so nervous. This is me, this is what I feel the first time that I am on my way to a local agency where I apply for work as domestic helper. When I arrive in the agency office, I give my bio data and the copy of my passport to the staff. She ask few more question from me after she read my bio data. She ask me which country I am planning to go and work. That time I really don't have money so I choose Malaysia since I know that the placement fee is more lower than in Hong Kong. I ask how much do I need to pay and she told me only 6,000.00 pesos. But that amount is for the agency only. I still need to pay for my medical examination and of course my training in household course I also ask how much is my monthly salary in Malaysia and she say it is equivalent to 400.00 US dollar and it is stated there in the contract. I ask if I still need to pay in the agency aside from 6,000.00 pesos. She said no that is all you need to pay. Then she let me sign the contract and she told me she will call me once I already have employer.

Last week of October, I receive a call from my agency that the employer sign my contract already and I need to report in the office to sign my job order and to undergo the medical and physical examination. After I done all the requirements needed, my agency send me to Manila. I am from the province and their main office is there. In Manila, they send me to take my 3 weeks training program in household training. I need the certificate from my training because that is one of the requirements of the agency. After training, I need to attend a 3 days free seminar about language and culture familiarization in OWWA. I also need to go in TESDA for my assessment test, followed with the pregnancy test and lastly I need to attend a half day seminar for pre- departure orientation.

December 11, 2007

This is it. This is the day I was waiting for, that all my dreams will come true. I can give a better life for my family, I can send my three girls in school, I can buy them foods and I also can give them some material things that I know I really cannot give if I only stay here in the Philippines. When I arrive in Malaysia, the staff from Malaysian agency is the one who pick up me and the other Filipina from the airport. Because it is around 8:00 in the evening already we go straight to the house of the owner of the agency and sleep there that night.

The next day, the two of us go in our agents office. From there the staff accompany us in a clinic for follow up medical examination. Then back in the agents office and wait for our employer to pick us up. That night, I meet the family that I will serve for two years. But the very next day, my employer talk to me that I don't have day off because my day off is paid already together with my salary. The next thing is my salary, my employer told me that for the first six months, I will receive half of my salary only because I need to pay my six months salary deduction from my agency. I ask, how come that I have a six months salary deduction that my Philippine agency did not told me about that? I ask them before and they told me, I need to pay 6,000.00 pesos that's all. I ask if I still need to pay again they say no. Another worst thing is, my salary. In my contract my one month salary is equivalent to 400.00 US dollar but I receive 850 Ringgit (Malaysian dollar) equivalent of 200 US dollar only every month.

I send all the 400RM (4,600.00 pesos) to my family. But that is not enough. My eldest is first year in college, my second and my youngest girls is already in high school. My husband is jobless. What will I do that time? I am so hopeless. I call my agency here in Manila and ask them why I have a six months salary deduction when I arrive in Malaysia that they never told me about that while I am still in the Philippines? They say it is the agent in Malaysia ask for that payment. I also ask why in my contract my salary there is equivalent in 400 US dollar but I only receiving now 850 Malaysian Ringgit or 200 US dollar? The answer??? Malaysia is a Muslim country and they did not follow on what is in that contract.

I am tied up in my contract. I don't know what to do. I don't have day off . I don't have a chance to see and talk to other Filipina and ask what should I need to do. No cellphone, no one is there to give advice on how to deal in that situation.That is really the time that I feel so alone and lonely in that country. So far away from my Homeland. Moments like this, I need to hold on to my dreams. I need to think properly, I need to survive, to be strong to finish my 2 years contract. I still need to reach for my dreams. I really learn a lot of important lessons from my first experience abroad.

That before we go we need to study and learn what is in our contract We really need to learn our rights even if we are only a domestic helper. We need to show that to our employer. So even if we are only a domestic helper, if they see, if they know that we know our rights, they will respect us.

I stayed in Malaysia for two years without day off even only one day. December 11, 2009 after 2 years, I go back in the Philippines. And in my mind, my next destination is Hong Kong.

To be an OFW?

What does the shortcut OFW mean?

Let me begin with the shortcut. It stands for "Oversea Filipino Worker" and it means a special type of person, who is working abroad. The normal way of life and to earn enough money to cover the daily expenses in the Philippines is not that easy. That is most of the time the reason for many women or men to try their luck by working in another country. Far away from their family, loved ones or growing kids. The step to go abroad is one of the most difficult decision someone can make for the sake of his family because you will stay far away from maybe your growing kids.  A normal contract will last two years before you are having a chance to come back home to visit your family. If you will be a lucky one and was re-contracted, you have to go back abroad after maybe 3 weeks... for another two years.

You will see your kids growing up only by pictures. Maybe you con contact your family once a week on your day off... if you are having a good employer. If you are not that lucky... you can be happy if you will not become the topic of a headline in the daily press. But this is another story and will be told later.

How to become an OFW?
There are several requirements before you can start into another country. It is necessary to have a passport to leave the country. At least you need to be 23 years old before you can apply for one. You need to have a dream for your family to give them a brighter future, you need to have a very strong determination to be away from home and you're family. You need to be prepared emotionally and you need to be aware that working abroad even as a domestic helper only is a very tough job.

Just like me, when I start to plan to go abroad. I need to gather all the courage and strength because all I want is to give my family, especially my kids, a bright future in the highest possible form of education. All I need to do is to focus on my dream, and even if it is hard to be away from them, I am holding the hope and courage in my heart that I can give them already the good life and after 2 years I will be back home and be together with them again. That was the dream...

The real process how to apply for a work abroad will follow in a later post.

Sharing experiences

Introduction
I am following several daily newspapers or internet services, spreading news and nearly every day I have to think by myself: I pity that guy. Why he/she did not know this? And then, I start to remember, when I was younger: I was also inexperienced and need to make a lot experiences to become that person, I am today.

And this is the initial idea why I decided to open this blog! I wanted to share my own experiences to help others. If I am able to help even only one person to find a good agency for work abroad... I am already happy.

When I can read about scam, torturing staff or bad experiences in Malaysia or other countries such like Hongkong or Saudi Arabia to name only few among where my fellow Filipinos are working, to serve their employer and sometimes in not really nice contract conditions... then it is time to do something against it. This blog should become a place to share experiences, blacklist bad agencies, wherever they are located, helping to find a good agency or a good work.