When I was in graduate school, we used to discuss the psychological, sociological and economic impact of the OFWs and their families. It used to be this abstract thing that I hear and see. I stand in distance, unaffected by the lives that is (unknowingly) all around me.
I really salute all these group of people who have chosen to sacrifice and leave their family, their country, their safe haven, for a chance to better the lives of their families. When I leave for trips abroad, I would see groups of families outside the arrival hall, all tearfully hugging one another and I glance and look then move on, detached, full of admiration and awareness of their pain but detached.
All these feelings changed when the bestfriend of my daughter told us that their family would be leaving for Australia. “wait what?!?” i thought. Due to renewed circumstances, her single parent mom decided to seek better opporunities in Australia and that was that.
My daughter and N has been best buds for 10 years already, so our families are pretty close. Their last two nights in Manila we spent eating out. The first dinner, I treated N and her mom to the Circles buffet outlet at the Shangrila Makati. N loves eating and loves buffets. She jokes that her boyfriend is their house refrigerator! On their last night, we ate at this hole in the wall “ only if you are in the know” restaurant near Circuit City.
I was pretty excited to eat at this resto because it will be the first time i will eat a Boodle Fight Meal. The name of the restaurant is #Khimike’s Restaurant, a small 40 seater barely made it out as a carinderia category restaurant.
As we waited for the food to arrive, one can smell the sizzling going on at the back of the house as what they call the kitchen. Your senses will be filled with the smell of barbeque chicken and bagnet. After a good 15 mins, a huge 1×1 meter square wooden tray came out and was laid on our table. It was topped with banana leaves and probably java rice good for 8 pax. there was a good amount on spicy tahong, certainly not the 4-5pax it claims it is good for. 4 sticks of generous sized chicken barbeque, the ever so crispy bagnet, two pinaputok na tilapia,one huge bangus and one nilagang baka in a bowl right smack in the middle of all this deliciousness.
As we dug in using our fingers, I could feel our sense of oneness and solidarity. It went beyond sharing a meal in one huge banana leaf plate. I felt at peace that this family that we chose will remain to be so even when half of it is in another country; and I guess that is the intention of the boodle fight and why the military always has this in their celebrations. It was a nice way to “end” their journey with us in the Philippines but it made us all feel connected. The intimacy of having to eat on one plate and using your fingers to enjoy all the food in front of you is an experience that is worth more than all the buffets at the Shangrila. At the end of the day, it is not wealth but family and experiences that would make our lives rich.
As we hugged and said goodbyes, I could feel the tears threatening to spill. I quickly ride our car so as not to embarrass the besties. In the car, my tears freely flowed. It flowed for the loss of a kind of friendship for my daughter ( because no mater what, distance does matter), loss for their family who will be left behind, loss for our country for this incredibly talented and hardworking Chef who had to decide to seek better opportunities outside the country because she did not feel empowered enough and confident enough that our government can create a strong middle class anytime soon, loss for this young lady who is just at the cusp of blossoming and who has so much potential in so many things that Australia will be able to benefit from.
I cannot keep my safe distance nor can I detactch myself from this. It is now something very personal to me and the more it strengthens my advocacy to help my country in nation building, to keep the Filipinos in the Philippines, to retain as much talent in our country, to give equitable pay to all my staff, professionals who would otherwise be snapped up by Singapore, Guam, the United States, Canada, Germany and the other countries who welcome skilled immigrants like accountants, programmers, analysts, bankers and the like.
As I close this post, I give a salute and a bow to all OFWs scattered across the globe. I pray that all your sacrifices for your families will bear feuit and I will retain a atubborn glimmer of hope that you will all be able to come back home.
#OFW #bayaninngbayan #Khimike #BoodleFight #girlbossph
Girl Boss Ph 