DAY 10: Favorite Superhero

Overseas Filipino Workers are often hailed in our country (Philippines) as Modern Day Heroes or Unsung Heroes because of our contribution to the Philippine Economy with our monthly dollar remittances. For a country which belongs to the Third World, scarcity of job opportunities forced us to go abroad and alleviate the standard of living of our family back home.

These OFWs are heroes who serve well their foreign employers as nurse, caregivers, domestic helpers, doctors and teachers but some of them experienced oppressive working conditions and human rights abuses abroad; thousands are stranded in different countries and some are in death rows. But they chose to stay abroad because it's even harder to be with your family and look at your children die in hunger or die in sickness because you cannot afford to bring them to the hospital.

So this is my Ate Cora (Ate is a respectful call of older sister or even for older female friends), she's been my bestfriend since I came here in Israel. She's 41 years old, never been married and been working abroad since she was 19 years old. She sacrificed her own life and happiness for her family back home. At 41, she's still here in Israel, working hard for her sisters and her sisters children to let them finish school and have a good life. In her more than 2 decades of working abroad, she developed hypertension and now on medications. She should be home and rest but she refused to go home because she still needs to save money for herself. Despite of this, she's happy and contented with her life. (In this picture she's reading a text message from her sister).

Ate Cora is just one of the thousand and thousands of Filipino workers abroad. Her story is just one of those untold stories of these superheroes who sacrificed their lives and some even died just to give their family a comfortable life. For me soldiers who fought in war and OFWs who fought for their lives abroad were the same. They are superheroes and I'm proud to be one of them.

One does not need to fight and win a war to become a hero. Each one of us is a hero as we toil hard, with all honesty and integrity for the betterment of lives, for the welfare of our country and our loved ones.

So if you will ask me who is my Favorite Superhero? I can say, It's Ate Cora, myself and those over millions Overseas Filipino Workers are my Superheroes. Superman, Batman, Spiderman, etc. etc. cannot match the strength that we have. They are heroes because they have powers literally. But us, we have special power called LOVE and PERSEVERANCE; and special strength called FAMILY. Nothing can beat that!


for Day 11: Something Red