A lot of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have to deal with loneliness and homesickness, among many problems they have to face while working abroad.
Different people have different ways of dealing with these problems, of course. Some make sure to always make video calls to their families while others find other options, such as playing online games.
For Samra, a 23-year-old domestic helper from Maguindanao, escaping her problems in Saudi Arabia might be physically difficult to do but she found another ‘escape’ in the form of role-playing games.
She enjoyed role-playing games (RPGs) and loved it so much that she ended up playing hard for long hours, sometimes foregoing sleep just so she could have a good time in the games. With that, she was able to ‘escape’ her troubles.
But fun wasn’t the only thing she found in the RPGs. She defeated a professional gamer named Triston Wallin from Las Vegas. He was so shocked at getting defeated by a woman in his many years of gaming that he was quite intrigued to get to know her better.
This would lead to a blossoming romance for the two in the RPG world. It took some time before Samra would give him her real name and Facebook account but even in the online world, he was already madly in love with her.
When they finally ‘met’ on Facebook, Triston was head over heels in love with Samra, but she thought he was just 15 years old! In reality, Triston was already 19 while Samra was 21 at the time but he just looks boyish.
At first, Samra thought he was not serious but after weeks of courting her, she finally agreed to become his girlfriend as he celebrated his birthday. Proving he was really serious about her, Triston proposed to Samra on her birthday!
Then, in December 2018, he flew all the way to the Philippines to marry her. Samra had just gotten home after her contract in Saudi Arabia ended. The two would marry both in a traditional Muslim ceremony after Triston converted to Islam and in a modern ceremony.
The young man is set to go back to the US in February but he’s doing his best to learn the language and culture of Maguindanao. He’s also planning on coming back this summer after petitioning Samra in the US, so that they could both live there.
A lot of netizens just could not believe that gaming could actually lead to something as beautiful as this love story…
