OFW ako Magazine ONLINE Edition Issue 001

OFW Ako Magazine - OnLINE Edition - 001

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OFW ako Magazine ONLINE Edition Issue 001
January 2012


INSIDE:

• OFWs bringing Christmas cheers for Lumad kids by Emmanuel C. Roldan p2-p5
• Health Corner: Eating Fruits p6-p7
• General Guidelines for a Filipino Forum in your Area by S. Z.Respicio, Jr. & PA Escalante p8-p9
• The Filipino Forum: the FILAM Experience by S. Z.Respicio, Jr. p10-p13
• Mga Bagong Bayani – “Nagsusumikap para sa sariling pamilya at upang makatulong sa kapwa.” by Marjorie C. Palma p14-p17
• The Event that Shook the Nation by Mark Shera C. Cruz p18-p19
• Hay …. Buhay Abroad Talaga p20-p22
• Ang Huling Pasko ng magkakaibigan by Melody Casem p23
• Makata si Juan at si Maria by Rein Eviota p24-p25
• Proud owners of OFW ako T-shirts p26
• Community Announcements p27

LINKS:

• @ Scribd.com --- http://www.scribd.com/doc/77086363/OFW-Ako-Magazine-OnLINE-Edition-001
• @ Wordpress.com --- http://ofwakomagazine.wordpress.com/
• @ Blogger.com --- http://ofwakomagazine.blogspot.com/
• @ Twitter.com --- http://twitter.com/ofwakomagazine/

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OFW ako Magazine ONLINE Edition is published by

OFW ako

61 Kamagong Road, Pilar Village, Las Pinas City

+63 949 776 9282 * ofwako.magazine@gmail.com

Editor-in-Chief: Dennis de Guzman

Contributors:

Kuwait: Marjorie C. Palma, Melody Casem

USA: Mark Shera C. Cruz,

UAE: Rein Eviota

Philippines: Emmanuel C. Roldan

Layout & Design: Dennis de Guzman

Articles, opinions, letters to the editor should be sent to ofwako.magazine@gmail.com

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About the AUTHORS

Marjorie C. Palma is an OFW based in Kuwait. She hailed from the province of Bohol and was born on February 5, 1976. She studied Bachelor in Political Science International Relations Major. She is now currently working as a Receptionist at the DAR AL SHIFA HOSPITAL. She is also a member of the OFW ako Community of Distributors (COD) in Kuwait.

S. Z.Respicio, Jr. is a Consulting Engineer of Mines, who moonlit as a Small Business Consultant while peddling used and new luxury cars, and join the Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce in San Diego County. He created the TOBY Awards of FACC, The Outstanding Business of the Year of FACC-SDC recognizing leaders in the Filipino American business, whether members to non-members of FACC-SDC.

Mark Shera C. Cruz is a native of Montalban, Rizal where he also served as a public school teacher until he left for USA in 2008, to join the Filipinos working overseas. Currently, he is a physics instructor at Garden City Sesnior High School, Kansas, USA and has been working for the district for three years. (e-mail: mark_admu@yahoo.com)

Rein Eviota is a graduate of Bachelor of Science & Industrial Technology major in Mechanical Technology at (SSCT) Surigao State College of Technology. He is currently an OFW working in UAE as a Procurement Officer.

Emmanuel Roldan is a Filipino, development worker, human rights defender, researcher and journalist. He worked with various non-government organizations helping the poor, deprived and oppressed Filipinos in the homeland in the field of organizational development, projects management, advocacy and communications. He is a columnist of two daily newspapers in Mindanao and vice president of Pangdaigdigang Alyansa ng Pilipino, Inc. (PAPI)-an affiliate of the Worldwide Filipino Alliance (WFA).

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SUMMARIES

OFWs bringing Christmas cheers for Lumad kids
by Emmanuel C. Roldan (Philippines)

DAVAO City—Christmas is gift-giving. As children, we are taught in our basic catechesis that Christmas is the birthday of the Lord Jesus who was sent by the Father to redeem the world. He is the biggest gift God has given to the world as beautifully written in the Holy Book, “He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”. As God was the first giver of gift we are told to respond in our little ways.

HEALTH Corner: Eating Fruits

We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It’s not so easy as you think. It’s important to know how and when to eat.

What is the correct way of eating fruits?

• IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS!
• FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.

If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

General Guidelines for a Filipino Forum in your Area
by Saturnino Z. Respicio, Jr. & P.A. Escalante

1. The Filipino Forum (FilForum) is not a formal organization or association. It is designed to allow participants from diverse backgrounds to meet with other Filipinos, other nationalities and friends, eat a Filipino style breakfast and to discuss issues that concern the Filipino community in a certain area or to touch on topics that are important to the Philippines.

How The Filipino Forum came about: the FILAM Experience
by Saturnino Z. Respicio, Jr.

December 1985 – the Filipino-American Community in San Diego County, California was under siege from bad publicity in the American mainstream press, due to some financial hocus focus by a certain individual(s) of a then Executive Director of the Council of Pilipino-American Organizations of San Diego County; a group of four mulled over how to overcome the situation.

The four: Cecilio Remotigue of Cebu, Oscar Benoya of Cavite, Pat Ambrosio of Sampaloc, Manila, and “Sam” Respicio of Singalong, Manila and Baguio City.

Mga Bagong Bayani – “Nagsusumikap para sa sariling pamilya at upang makatulon g sa kapwa.”by Marjorie C. Palma

Pangunahin sa ating mga layunin kaya nag-aabroad ay upang matustusan ang pangangailangan ng ating mga sariling pamilya na naiwan sa Pilipinas. Ang ilan ay nagsisimula sa mababang sahod at mahirap na trabaho. Pinipilit malampasan ang anumang unos para lamang maisalba ang naghihirap na pamilya. Nagtatrabaho ng higit pa sa 8 oras, ang ilan naman ay nagpa-part time pa kahit pa ito ay ipinagbabawal ng batas sa ilang lugar, katulad na lang dito sa Kuwait. May mga nakausap akong guro at accountant na naging “kasambahay” o “kadama”. Marami nang naisulat tungkol dito. Lahat ay may kanya-kanyang istorya. Nakakalungkot pero kung mapapansin ay puno ng pag-asa.

The Event that Shook the Nation
by Mark Shera Cruz, USA

Ten days after the great flood that claimed the lives of almost a-thousand residents of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City many are still searching for their relatives and loved ones having high hopes to be reunited with them. The moment I saw the pictures on the internet I felt I was stabbed on my heart and broke out into tears as if I lost my loved ones too. A death caused by an illness or a terminal disease might be easier to accept, but a death which could have been prevented is more painful and hard to accept. Seeing your loved ones being washed away by the turbulent flood is a morbid situation.

Hay .... Buhay Abroad Talaga
An OFW going by the name “Maeng Ni” expressed his views about life of an OFW abroad.
Akala ng mga tao na nasa Pilipinas kapag nasa DUBAI ka akala nila madami ka ng pera ng langis. Ang totoo, madami kang utang, dahil credit card lahat ang gamit mo sa pagbili mo ng mga gamit mo. Kailangan mo gumamit ng credit card Kasi naubus na ang cash pinadala sa pinas, kase pag hindi ka nagpadala, iisipin nila nakalimutan mo na sila. Akala nila mayaman ka at marami kang pera kasi buwan-buwan libolibo padala mo walang palya at kapag pumalya iisipin nila baka nagbisyo ka na o may sinusustentuhang iba. Hindi nila alam food allowance na lang ang natitira sayo at pag kinulang pa umuutang pa at lista muna sa malapit na bakala.

Ang Huling Pasko ng Magkakaibigan ‘08
by Melody Casem

‘07. july ng dumating ako ng kuwait. 1st time ako @ sobrang homesick dahil malayo sa pamilya. mahirap ang trabaho @ mababa ang sahod. dahil me day off ako me mga nakikilala akong mga kaibigan, mga kapwa ko dh na katulong ng kapatid ng amo ko. sa dios, anak, pamilya @ kaibigan ako kumukuha ng lakas sa araw araw. masaya akong nakakatulong @ ganun din sila sa akin. marami akong naging kaibigan iba’t ibang lahi.

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Dreams Can Take You Up a Rocky Mountain

The dreams I am talking here are not about those successions of images, ideas, emotions and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. They are about the expression and visualizing of solid thoughts, emotions, and ideas that signal about what you want and what you need for your physical life. They need physical works and efforts. They are there to help you mould your future. Dreams give you strength to face the natural world of your choice to reach success in life.
Thirty-Seven years ago, I visualized becoming an accountant and a writer. But the problem was – how to make them happen. I knew my parents could not afford to send me to school to finish those courses I had wished. However, I did not give up dreaming. In 1976, I was sixteen year old at that time and had just finished my elementary; I decided to leave my parents.
Contrary to the will of my parents I still left them and lived the way I can. Living away from them was not easy and productive. I had slept under pine trees, robustly standing around our town plaza. I had used scrap cardboards and old newspapers as my gasket and beddings. Sometimes I slept on the height of the tower of our town church, inside waiting shades and fish market along with other deserted children. I had become immune from the mosquitoes bites, salty smells and the freezing darkness. There were nights I was weeping, remembering my family but the homesickness for them did not change my decision.
I made friendship with those children who were also at my age. I mingled and associated with them like one family with the same fate. Thus, it became easier for me to be with them. The fish market was our source of living. Lifting of goods of market vendors in exchange of some money to be divided equally among us were exciting and memorable experience. We really enjoyed for doing it.
Until I labored to a construction group, located in front of Felipe Abrigo National Memorial School of Arts and Trades (FANMSAT) now known the Southern Samar National School of Arts and Trades (SSNSAT) in the town of Guiuan, Eastern Samar. At first I felt intense pain on my body, prickly fingers and feet but despite heavy and hard works I was happy to receive the 15 pesos for a day work.
There were nights I was anxious. I could not sleep in the barracks due to chronic fatigue and pain in my whole body. I wept and I wanted to go home but the advent of the future surpassed what I felt – especially when day time came - watching hundreds of young students entering the school gate, I pretended I was one of them carrying books and notebooks. The difficulty and fatigue from hard works eventually disappeared.
Six months later, the constructions of the five units of apartments were done. We moved to another project – a three-story building owned by a Chinese businessman. But before leaving the place, I stood up in front of FANMCAT with my promise that I shall return to study high school.
I was sixteen year old when I finished and received my Grade School Certificate, from Mayana Elementary School, Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Philippines in 1976. I started my high school in 1977 as self-supporting student and received my Secondary School Certificate from Southern Samar School of Arts and Trades, Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Philippines during the school year 1980-1981. Following that year, I took up One Year in Bachelor of Science in Industrial Education from Southern Samar School of Arts and Trades, Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Philippines during the school years 1981-1982. 
The following year I stopped my college education. I went to Manila to look for job but I was not lucky so I decided to go home to my home province, Samar. During the school year 1984 to 1985, I took up One Year in Bachelor of Science in Cooperative Management at the University of Eastern Philippines, Catarman, Northern Samar. Before the beginning of school years 1985-1986, I left Catarman with my school records and decided to study at Leyte Colleges, Tacloban City, Philippines. The college approved. All the units I had taken from the past years in college were credited. I was enrolled as a second year student in Bachelor of Science in Commerce Accounting. However, I did not finish my accountancy course. Just after the first semester I left for Manila again.
December 1986, I dreamed again to raise my own family. Marrying my wife was the best decision I ever made in my life. The love I felt for her was my strength. Now we have three children, all girls ages 22, 20 and 18 and we are now approaching our silver wedding anniversary. I married my wife with a ten peso bill on my wallet. I courted her for six days and on the 7th day, we were married. It happened in 1986. Mrs. Corazon C. Aquino was our new Philippine President.
On December 3, 1986, I started courting my wife. I visited her in the morning, lunchtime and in the evening for about six days. On December 8, 1986, I got her approval to marry me. Quickly as lightning, we scheduled our wedding the next day December 9, 1986. That same day, we brought our plan to her parents and it was approved. Also that same day, we contacted our chosen sponsors and we were advised to see them in the morning the next day at Trece, Martirez City Hall to get the marriage license and other documents needed for the civil wedding. On December 9, 1986 at around 9AM, all the necessary documents for the wedding were completed with the help of our sponsors. At around 10:30 AM we proceeded to the office of the judge located at the second floor of the Municipal City Hall.
The ceremony was simple and very fast. It only took less than ten minutes after the judge declared, “I pronounce you Paul and you Imelda as husband and wife”. Following his declaration were the wishes of congratulations and the signing of our signatures on the documents with his signature and the signatures of our godparents.
Early 1994, I again had dreamed to go abroad. I was lucky though because I did not experience much difficulty in acquiring an overseas job. My uncle-in-law who at that time was a chief accountant of the company Kawasaki Helicopter Saudi Arabia – Finance Department helped me get my current job by recommending me to the administrator of the company. A Philippine based recruitment agency, FB Allan processed my papers and I was able to go out of the country as a documented OFW.
When I arrived in my current location on March 23, 1994, I was first employed as a janitor/laborer. That will be my work position for two years and nine months. The management must have noticed my hard work because I was promoted to be a Facility Records Clerk. After some time I was again promoted to be an Analyst/Bookkeeper and this would be my job for nine years and three months.
The promotion did not stop there. On May 8, 2006, I was assigned as Secretary to the Vice President, then later as an Analyst. At present, the company I am working for assigned me to manage of a new showroom that sells antiques and other home accessories. From being a mere janitor, I had gone a long way and one can say that things just get better and better for me.
Aside from working, I also devote some time for my other interests. While employed, I took up a creative writing course by mail with the Writer’s Bureau in Manchester London during the years 1999-2000. In 2001, I took up Journalism and short story writing course with the ICS, PA, USA by mail.