No Pinoy is an island: How OFWs connect with 'home'

“Baby, baby ooh!” A little girl sings her favorite song, earning her gleeful clapping from her mother, Ayie Marcos. Then she shows off her latest taekwondo kick and decides that she now wants to be an ice skater when she grows up. The mother laughs, then reminds her daughter to be a good girl and say her prayers before she sleeps. She blows a kiss to her daughter, and the little girl logs off. Marcos is in Abu Dhabi, video conferencing with her daughter in the Philippines.

“We have a once-a-week Skype session. At least one to hours na kwentuhan. Doon ko na sya pinapangaralan, kinukwentuhan, pati mga pagtuturo ng manners, pagbabasa, pagkanta – everything,” Marcos shares.

Marcos is one of the many Filipinos abroad who remain connected with their families thanks to the internet. Most, if not all, Pinoys residing in other countries have become dependent on the perks of the worldwide web to bridge the gap with families and friends they have left behind.

The internet has also become the medium for Filipinos to make and keep new friends once they step on foreign shores. Ana Lo, who has been in Guam for 10 years, sends and receives invitations to meet up with Filipino friends on Facebook. “We rarely use text,” Ana says. “Halos online naman na kaming lahat.”

Nalen Aguilar, who has been in Canada for four years, thinks Facebook, Twitter and her blog, Manilenya, allow her to be friends with Filipinos even outside of Canada and the Philippines.

Ayie’s hectic work schedule makes it difficult for her to meet regularly with fellow Filipinos in Abu Dhabi, so Facebook and YM have become indispensable in communicating with them. “Once na nagkahiwa-hiwalay, nagiging chatmates kami,” Ayie says.

In “Asian Culture Brief: Philippines,” Filipinos are described as collectivists, identifying strongly with families, regional affiliations, and peer groups. More often than not, Pinoys would be found in clusters in public places. To illustrate, OFWs in Hong Kong would congregate every Sunday at public parks to share stories, photos and meals.

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The internet has made it easier for Filipinos to form lasting relationships with their kababayan once they step on foreign lands while maintaining close ties with people from home. Thus, Filipinos are tagged as the world’s heaviest users of social media according to comScore, a US-based research firm. “Social networking is one of the most popular Web activities reaching nearly 90 percent of the entire Internet population,” says comScore executives.

Offline

While most Pinoys have come to rely on the internet to be connected, nothing still beats forging ties the old-fashioned way, offline and through face-to-face encounters. Marcos, who was overwhelmed with sadness over leaving her daughter in the Philippines to work in Abu Dhabi, found support in the company of her housemates. “We know each other’s stories about love, life, successes, and failures - marami,” she says.

She adds that she met some of her closest friends in church. “We meet regularly, and our friendship has been going strong for 10 years already. Masasabi kong sa kanila ang pinakamatatag na bond ko.”

Anton, a migrant in the US, met Filipino friends in the parish. “The parish priest is a Filipino. When we greet him after mass, halos lahat ng kumakausap sa kanya mga Pinoy din. Then we get introduced to each other,” he explains.

Ann Salazar, who is living in Khobar, Saudi Arabia for 17 years, agrees that Filipinos are sure to meet a number of kababayan in a prayer group, as she herself gravitated to one in her first few years in the land of sand. “Yun kasi ang unang hinahanap ng isang nalalayo sa pamilya,” she explains.

Ann and her husband Joel are also members of International Shutters Organization, a community of Filipino photography enthusiasts based in Saudi Arabia. Free workshops are given weekly for the benefit of newbie photographers, and these gatherings quickly progressed to regular lunch dates and monthly birthday celebrations. “Rent kami ng place, potluck sa food, instant party na,” Ann shares.

An all-Pinoy choir in Melbourne, Australia organized in 1993 and named “Himig Silangan” in 1996 does not only sing in Filipino mass but provides musical support to Pinoy cultural events as well, such as fiestas and Santacruzan processions. Gathered by Fr. Nestor Candado in 1993, the choir group has now embraced each other like family, always present in each member's important milestones like birthdays and anniversaries where “videoke” is party staple."Well, we have the microphones and we do love to sing. So people, whether you like it or not, we’re going to sing," a member announced on one occasion.

As it is in our culture to form strong ties, it is no wonder that a Filipino can survive living away from the land of his birth. The web of relationships they form wherever they are gives them a taste of home.

Photos by Ayie Marcos and Joel Salazar. Some rights reserved.

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