My Fellow Filipinos
This afternoon, it broke my heart to watch a video reporting Filipino OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia go through dumpsters behind a supermarket in search of food. It was mentioned that they had lost their jobs and have no more money to support themselves.
To think many of them travel abroad in the hope of improving the lives of the family they left behind in the Philippines. I do hope that the Philippine Embassy where they are will soon come to their aid.
It is not just them who are in this difficult situation, I also saw another report, this time from Dubai where some Filipinos line up for free food that another unemployed Filipina worker prepares for them every single day. It was so heart warming to see this lady with a heart of gold share whatever she had left with our fellow countrymen who had less than her.
Then there are those Filipino seafarers who have lost their jobs on board cruise ships. Many have had to reluctantly return to the Philippines when their contracts were cut short by the Covid 19 pandemic. What's worse, many of them are not given a warm welcome when they return home. Many locals think that they are carriers of the virus even when they are not.
I can go on and on. I can only pray for all of my fellow kababayans who have lost their jobs and are struggling now.