By Blue Rose on Monday, 7 of March , 2011 at 8:05 pm
When I was a child, I have a dream that is just simple as the others, have a family and live in a simple and happy way and to become a teacher.
I grew up in a religious and respectable family, lots of norms, lots of does and don’ts, maybe it’s all the same for a Filipino family. We have so many supersticious beliefs ever you can imagine, but i know living with it and following it is not really a big help in our everyday living.
My father was away working and ussual as other family, the mother is the one taking care of the house, we were taught how to do house hold choirs in early ages, cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, even selling food in houses every afternoon, we are not rich if you may think of that, we are just middle class people living in a simple way as we can.
Bad things happen, my father doesn’t have work anymore, he had a serious problem with his people in the construction company were he was working, instead of fighting he just went home without anything. We have to fix everything or else we will starve, my father is a very good cook, so he started cooking food every afternoon, me and my mom walk in every door step knocking, and sell our food, we do this everyday, luckily all food was sold in no time.
We were in elementary that time, my siblings and I have to study harder as we can to get a very good grades, in return for all the sacrifices that our parents did for us. Hard work are payed, every end of school year my brother and I always had an award, our parents are always very happy going up on the stage with us tieng the ribbon or putting the medal.
Things become much harder when we went to high school, there are times that we really don’t have anything to eat, I walk around at my grandmothers backyard and look for vegetables or rootcrops and cook them. Our grandparents has bigger house than us, they don’t starve, they don’t have problems with food, I remember my brother tried to borrow a cup of rice before, but what does he got, a bad and harsh words from our grandparents. From that moment, we become stronger, we realize that even our relatives are turning thier backs on us when we don’t have anything, but when we were not in that situation they are always smiling and asking for help.
Good year has arrived, our parents got a job at the same time, they earning quite enough for us to have good food and for other things we need. We started to have a black and white television, before we are just watching television at our grandparents house. We started to have extra money in going to school, before we just pack our lunch boxes and that’s it, no snacks during recess time, we just drink water and waited until lunch, eat our lunch that consist of rice and dried fish, or vegetables, sometimes when we really don’t have dried fish we just put rice and sugar or rice with soya sauce. We don’t feel regret in it at all, together with my classmates we walk from school to home and vice versa, rain and shine, storm and wind, we always say all things have a reason why it’s happening and good things will come in return.
Another year arrived, things going much better, we change our black and white television with colored, we can buy new clothes, we can have parties now during our birthdays, I remember I only had one birthday party from elementary to high school. I don’t really like parties, it’s just a waste of money, but I like the gifts, sure everybody does.
We were still doing very good in school, still consistent honor students and active in school organization. I still do sell some snacks or nuts at school, sometimes ice candies, milked flour, I do this everyday, for my extra allowance and projects, so I don’t need to ask from my parents. I became more independent and stronger, my dreams became more clearer. I want to succeed in life. I want to have a better future for my family and for my future family. I don’t want to be like this forever, I am determined to change my future, never again we will be mocked and hear bad words from anybody, I will never let sad things happen again, I will stand out and fight.
” Everything has a reason, in every darkness there is always a ray of light, just have faith and strength to find it and let it shine”
Next chapter will come soon…
By Blue Rose on Friday, 4 of March , 2011 at 6:00 am
On the invitation of Philippine Ambassador to Sweden Maria Zeneida Angara Collinson, the Swedish Minister for Integration Erik Ullenhag recently met with Filipino community representatives.
Present during the meeting were Fr. Gabriel Baldostamon (Saint Nicolai Parish in Linköping), Mr. Noli Buhay (Ugnayang Pilipino), Ms. Lendsy Theodorsson (Bayanihan), Ms. Hanna Stenbacka (Filipino-Swedish Youth), Ms. Karol Jennel and Ms. Vangie Jorquia (ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau correspondent).
Also present during the meeting were Ambassadors from the Association from Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and some members of the ASEAN community in Stockholm.
An initiative of Ambassador Collinson, the meeting was aimed at raising the profile of the growing Filipino community in Sweden by focusing on their successes in assimilating to Swedish life and culture.
Filipino community members actively engaged Minister Ullenhag on their proposals to strengthen the Swedish Government’s language program for immigrants, particularly in terms of enabling quicker employment.
They also asked the Minister on the administration’s response to the seemingly anti-immigrant sentiment, following the terrorist bomb attacks in Stockholm December of last year and the influence of the right-wing Sweden Democrats in the Swedish Parliament.
Minister Ullenhag enthusiastically received the ideas of the Filipino community representatives and acknowledged the important role the 13,000 strong Filipino community has played in contributing to the progress of Sweden.
He assured that his office would remain open to the Filipino community and to the community’s suggestions for a more effective policy for integration.
The Minister also reaffirmed the Swedish Government’s commitment to safeguard and promote the country’s open and tolerant views.
He was especially pleased to know that Filipinos in Sweden were peaceful and productive members of society.
Minister Ullenhag assumed his ministerial portfolio in October 2010 under the second mandate period of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s government.
He has the responsibility to ensure the speedier integration of newly arrived immigrants into Sweden’s working and social life.
ScandAsia.com
By My Blue Heart on Wednesday, 8 of December , 2010 at 3:54 pm
Filipino sailor Jesus Sumook was honoured as a hero in a ceremony at Lynnterm, Port of Vancouver in North Vancouver, B.C., October 5, 2010. In 2006 Sumook was helping to unload a ship full of B.C. wood pellets at a Swedish port when he saved the life of a worker who had fallen unconscious in the hold.
The ceremony took place aboard the Saga Tucano, which is now in the port of Vancouver. Sumook is working aboard the vessel, and the presentation was arranged after the foundation finally tracked him down.
Sumook, a father of two, said he refused to give up on the dockworker as long as he had a pulse.
He began to administer CPR.
“Then he began to gasp,” Sumook said, smiling as he recalled the moment back in November 2006 in the port of Helsingborg.
Asked Tuesday if he felt like a hero, Sumook laughed, shaking his head.
“But I am proud,” he said, adding that his daughters — aged 10 and 6 — have both told him they are proud of him too.
“That makes me very happy.”
Present to congratulate Sumook Tuesday were representatives of local labour groups, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents dockworkers like the man that Sumook saved.
The Carnegie Hero awards were established worldwide in the early 1900s as a way of recognizing civilian acts of bravery.
It took the Swedish organization more than two years to find Sumook as the sailor moved from port to port on his global schedule. Many of the ports had no Swedish representative, complicating the effort.
Tuesday, he received an inscribed gold watch, a certificate and a cheque. A lunch was also organized as part of the celebration.
“It is for heroism,” said Anders Neumuller, Sweden’s consul in Vancouver.
“It is a story that really needs to come out so that more people see what they can do in a situation like that.”
Capt. Clifford Faleiro, operations manager for Saga, added:“That he risked his own life to save someone else’s speaks volumes about what he did, and I think he rightly deserves all the praise and recognition he is getting.”
By Blue Rose on Sunday, 29 of August , 2010 at 1:48 pm
Ariana Ariz Carstensen awaits a 29-year-old woman from the Philippines at Bellevue Beach north of Copenhagen, but the appointment gets cancelled.
The 29 year old, who works as an au pair in a Danish family, says she has to babysit for the family and can’t make it.
Carstensen met her at the beach last week, when the woman contacted her to ask for help.
The woman said, she had worked for three weeks without a day off. Her workdays stretch from early morning to late evening, and she has no time off in the middle of the day either.
This is against the regulations for au pairs in Denmark, in which the young women are only allowed to work for five hours a day, six days a week, unless they get economical compensation.
Carstensen is used to hearing these kinds of stories. Every Sunday, she attends mass at the Pentecostal Church on Drejevej at Nørrebro, where she councils aupairs from the Philippines. Carstensen herself came to Denmark fromthe Philippines as a child in 1986, because her mother had married aDanish man. She speaks perfect Danish, English and two Philippinedialects.
One of the very first au pairs she spoke to, told her thatshe worked 24-7 and had never had a day off. She outlined some of herduties, which included polishing windows on the second floor of abuilding and cleaning the gutter.
Carstensen realized that the womanwas being abused, and wrote to the Danish Immigration Service.
She never heard back. She says that many au pairs have children at home, but decide not to tell their host families. Carstensen insists oncalling them “au pair-women” instead of the popular Danish term ”aupair-girls”.
http://avisen.dk/au-pair-worker-fights-the-abuse_129842.aspx
By Blue Rose on Thursday, 27 of August , 2009 at 12:38 pm
This is a true to life story of some young Filipina and Filipino, which are born a princess and prince, with golden spoon in their mouth, with beautiful and new things whenever they want to have, with servants and personal maids that always follow their command, and fly in every country where they wanted to go.
But then something changed their life, from riches to rags. How can they live? How can they cope up?
1st Story: Once Upon a Princess
Think haciendera with sugar, coffee plantations, farms, vast of lands with workers, and a mestiza class. Stephanie, though illegitimate, lived like a don’s daughter – born with a house in Forbes Park, multiple Cadillac’s, and a Brent – School education. “We had relatives in high places, and my dad was the one who took care of the clan’s much business.”
Unfortunately, her family’s business transactions with the government went awry. Her dad, a womanizer who partied hard, was also too lax with his family’s money, loaning huge amounts to cousins (which never got paid). “We are losing money, while our relatives got wealthier.”
“We had to move to a shabby, poorly constructed house. Suddenly, the maids were gone, the luxury trips disappeared, and only one old car was left in the garage.”
Stephanie passed the entrance exam at one of the top universities in the country, but couldn’t afford the tuition fee. She ended up in a junior college in the province, which also became too expensive. So she went back to Manila to continue her studies at a so-so college. Without a part-time job, he had to literally beg her older half-siblings in the US and her dad’s rich friends to lend her some money for school. “Kinain ko talaga pride ko (I really eat my pride). I had to sweat blood and work hard for the things I needed. Pahirapan’ ang paghingi ng pera (asking and begging for money become so hard).”
Stephanie recalls a loving and generous dad from his childhood. But he no longer has that now. Her dad would always remind him to study and work hard for the sake of her younger siblings. “I was scared of failure. I didn’t want to disappoint my dad. I’d often find myself crying whenever I’d do something that seemed to embarrass him, like not passing the entrance exam of one university. I did everything he wanted, but all I ever got from him were accusations of selfishness and scorn.”
“Once, I couldn’t take the humiliation anymore – people talking about what happened to our family, begging from relatives, the hard life – so I found myself in tears. Before, some people would snub me because I’m a bastard girl; now, they snub me because I’m a poor bastard. My life now is a far cry from my childhood. Back then, I had helpers who spoke English, a chopper that fetched me from Brent, and plans for a US college education.”
I try to cope by forgetting I was once wealthy. Even if I still try to keep that air of aristocracy, I don’t live beyond my means. I never get to pursue the course I wanted because the pressure to excel was so great – but the thought of my rich, smug relatives keeps me going. Actually, I’m really worrying about the future of my younger siblings that pushes me to not waste my time thinking about my old life.”
2nd Story: Poor Little Rich Kid
Andrew had no dad, but his highly successful, workaholic mom made up for it by giving him everything he asked for. In short, what Andrew wanted, Andrew got. “Ako ang boss dati (I’m the boss before).”
Two years ago, Andrew’s mom died in a plane crash. Unfortunately, Andrew would only have access to his trust fund when he turned 21. “I have access to some of the money, but these funds have been blocked by my aunt.”
Andrew rented a condo unit after his mom died, but couldn’t pay the rent. He also tried his hand at various types of business, but everything fell through. So he had to live with relatives. However, because of his bossy, “rich” attitude, he was turned away from every house he tried to stay in. the little money he had was wasted on drugs. “But I’ve stopped already.”
His cell phone, musical instruments, and computer were sold to make ends meet. Though he wasn’t made to pay the bills, he also couldn’t take the “poor lifestyle.” “I really tried to live a simple life, but having grown up with everything. I couldn’t help but feel frustrated with my life as a penniless guy.”
He had only one possession left – his car. Andrew put college on hold for two years. When he felt it was time to go back, he decided to sell his car to have money for tuition. “My car was like my home. But if I was to make something of myself until I got my trust fund, then I had to go back to school. The money from selling the car won’t see me through college. But I’ll handle that problem when it arises.”
“Even if I have girlfriends and relatives, I still feel alone. Before, it was my mom and me against the world. Now, it’s just me against everyone. I can’t say I’ve adjusted to having no money. I’m just so full of pain and anger. Kung buhay ang mommy ko, hindi mangyayari ‘to! (If my mom was alive, this will never happen!) Kapag nakikitira ka, its important na makisama ka. (If you’re not living in your own house, like relatives, it’s important that you get along with them.) I couldn’t hack it, so I moved out. Now, I’m living my life on my own.”
You can also share your story with us, it’s never a shame full move to tell people of what you are before, and instead you give them inspiration, people who had experiences like you, may get lots of lesson from your story.
By My Blue Heart on Wednesday, 29 of July , 2009 at 12:04 am
By Philip Tubeza
MANILA, Philippines—The exodus of Filipino teachers to other countries is expected to continue in the coming years, according to a labor group.
The Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK) said on Wednesday two places were the likely magnets for Filipino teachers—the United States, which would need two million teachers in the coming decade, and Arab countries, which would need at least 450,000 teachers.
The group said teacher shortages, growing populations, and expanding educational systems in many other countries coupled with the dismal work conditions and salaries at home could push local teachers to go abroad.
“Demand for teachers across the United States continues to remain high even if the North American country’s economy is in a deep recession,” said Annie Enriquez-Geron, PSLINK general secretary.
“There are estimates that the United States will need to employ an additional two million teachers in the coming decade to maintain its current educational standards and closer to three million if it strives to improve them in order to stay globally competitive,” she added.
Geron said more than 10,000 foreign teachers are recruited by the United States every year to fill its demand.
“There is also very high demand for new science and math teachers in the US with estimates by the Business-Higher Education Forum in Washington putting the figure at 200,000 at the least,” she added.
In the last 10 years, around 4,000 Filipino teachers—mostly math, science, English, and special education teachers—left the country. This figure included only new hires for teaching jobs and did not include those who left the country for work other than teaching, the paper said.
The top destinations were the United States, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, the paper added.
According to a UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco) study, Geron said, the Arab states will face “the greatest teacher shortage in the drive to provide every child with a primary education by 2015 as the region will need to raise the current stock by 26 percent and create another 450,000 teaching posts in less than a decade.”
“As more developed countries face a graying workforce, they are increasingly resorting to the recruitment of skilled teachers from less developed countries. This phenomenon had already been foreseen by (European) countries since the ’90s, warning that aging teaching forces may eventually lead to shortages,” Geron said.
“For instance, more than 60 percent of all primary teachers are over 40 years of age in Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands; and more than 40 percent are over 50 years old in Germany and Sweden,” she said.
Geron said another factor contributing to teacher shortages in more developed countries was the declining interest of their nationals in entering the teaching profession.
According to a survey conducted by the temporary staffing agency Manpower Inc., teaching is the second hardest job to fill in the US. Many of their nationals, the study said, would rather pursue other more financially rewarding careers than become a teacher. Low salary and unattractive working conditions were often cited as reasons not to enter the teaching profession, Geron said. (But for a teacher from a developing nation, salaries would still be significantly more than what they earn at home.)
“Unfortunately, instead of addressing employment conditions of the teaching sector, governments of more developed countries are finding it more convenient and economical to recruit migrant workers, many of whom are offered lower pay and contractual jobs that deprived them of their due benefits,” she added.
Geron said the dependence on migrant skilled teachers in developed countries was leading to aggressive recruitment strategies by their governments, recruitment agencies, and the private schools themselves.
“There have even been governments which have created special agencies just to recruit teachers from other countries. Private teacher recruitment agencies in the United Kingdom have mushroomed to more than 100 while there are more or less 70 in the United States,” she added.
