Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sacrifice being away from their families to provide them with a better life, a better future. Sadly, this could greatly affect family relationships – and many parents know nothing about their kids and aren’t close to their own children because they lived too far apart for too long.
What’s worse is that a lot of mommies have to leave their own children to care for other people’s kids, making their children feel jealous of the stronger bond their moms have with the kids they are caring for.
In a video by Joy Philippines, a mother who works as nanny in Hawaii comes home for Christmas.
Just like other OFWs, she had boxes of ‘pasalubong’ for her family. But the happy moment of opening the gifts turned into a sad one because the things she bought as presents for her son weren’t the ones he liked, mostly because she really doesn’t know anything about her own children.
She bought a nice t-shirt for her son but it was the wrong color because he changed his favorite color a long time ago; she didn’t know that. Then, she got him basketball shoes, knowing he loves to play the sport but didn’t know he no longer likes to play basketball but was more into video games.
As they ate dinner, the OFW proudly talked about the kid she was taking care of in Hawaii but didn’t realize that she was hurting her son in the process. He gets angry when she said the kid’s favorite food was the same as her son’s favorite, fried chicken – not knowing he’s also changed that as well!
This is a sad reality that many OFWs are facing, even with easy connections via the internet. While they might be updated with their children’s lives, many are not close to their kids.
Is there still a chance they could be close again? So sad…
Joy celebrates the self-sacrificing love that Filipino parents have for their children. This is especially true in the case of OFW parents who constantly struggle with having to spend most of their time away from their loved ones – in the hopes of giving them a better future.In this film we show how the most meaningful moments between family members can sometimes happen while doing the most mundane of chores, like dishwashing – a perfect space for quiet, intimate bonding and healing. When dinner time conversations end, real ones can begin.Embrace every precious moment spent with family and #ShareAMomentOfJoy
Posted by Joy Philippines on Sunday, November 18, 2018
