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SAN ISIDR O, Philippines/ CUNILAN, Indonesia: When Ms. Gina Fabiano first considered leaving her wooden house in Rodriguez City, Philippines, to work as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia, 7,000 kilometers away, her children begged her not to go.
They had never been apart before, let alone for so long, and they said they didn’t know how to live without her.
But at the time, the now 43-year-old mother of five — who ended up working in the Middle East for three years between 2016 and 2019 — felt she had no choice.
Her family’s farmland has become increasingly infertile since the government decided in 2002 to open a landfill nearby.
Like other families whose farmland was destroyed, Ms. Fabiano and her husband work as scavengers, sifting through the waste from The Greater Manila area, about an hour away, searches for metals, plastics and other valuables to sell to recycling plants.
The family’s income has always been unstable. Ms. Fabiano and her husband earn only 1,000 to 2,000 pesos ($17.10 to $34.20) a month. This is barely enough for her to buy food and pay for her children’s school fees..
In 2016, her mother died and Ms. Fabiano, the second oldest of 14 siblings, had to take on the role of matriarch to her siblings, while some of her children were still in school.
“When my mother was sick, we had no money to take her to the hospital. At the time, I thought that if I had gone abroad to work earlier, my mother might not have died,” Ms. Fabiano told CNA, stroking the cross around her neck with her thumb.
So when the opportunity arose that year to become a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia and earn $400 a month, She seized the opportunity.
According to the Philippines’ Department of Migrant Workers, 2.1 million Filipinos worked abroad in 2016. That number fell during the pandemic but rose to a record 2.3 million in 2023.
Most of them come from remote rural areas and poor urban communities, e.g. Rodriguez Job opportunities in the San Isidro district are scarce, especially for someone like Ms. Fabiano who has only a junior high school diploma.
Working overseas allows these Filipinos to earn at least twice the country’s $10 minimum wage per day., But it comes with some hefty costs.
For mothers like Ms. Fabiano, working abroad means missing out on watching their children grow up and celebrating special occasions like birthdays and Christmas, as well as important moments like the first day of school and graduation ceremonies.
For those who stayed, it meant the loss of a loved one, a guardian, a mentor, and someone they could rely on.
“The hardest thing was that I couldn’t take care of my only daughter,” Ms. Fabiano said of her youngest daughter, who was in kindergarten when she left.
“All I could do was call her and ask: ‘What are you doing now? Have you eaten? Are you going to school?’ That was it. But the girl I took care of in Saudi Arabia: I could braid her hair, feed her well, put her to bed.”
“I can take care of her, but I can’t take care of my own children.”
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