DUBAI: A 31-year-old overseas Filipina worker (OFW) in Sharjah, whose husband has returned to his home country before she gave birth to their child last year, is now picking up the pieces, planning to go back to the Philippines and raise her baby.
“Natatakot na akong magmahal na muli,” N. M. of Pikit, Cotabato said.
She shared that she met her husband, “Ali” on Facebook some three years ago. “Naging mag-dyowa kami. Dalawang taon din kaming nagsama,” she recalls.
She said her husband was asked by his family to return home and has not since been able to come back. “Pina-uwi sya ng pamilya nya. Sabi nya babalik sya pero hindi na sya nakabalik. Kung minsan nagme-message sya sa akin. Dahil daw sa COVID-19 hindi sya makakuha ng visa at wala ring trabaho sa bansa nila,” N.M says.
Left to raise their child by herself, N.M. said she took jobs, mostly as domestic help or hotel cleaner. “Kinakaya ko lang. Kahit malayo pinupuntahan ko. Basta mabuhay ko ang anak ko. Hanggang ngayon, hindi ako naghahanap ng ibang lalaki,” N.M said.
Her daughter, Aleha, was born on April 1, 2019. “Ali” left in March of the same year, N.M said. “Kahit isang dirham hindi sya nakapagpadala sa amin,” she said.
Having been jobless for the past four months due to the pandemic, mother and daughter have been surviving on dole-outs from civic groups and Good Samaritan OFWs.
“Since March, wala na akong trabaho kahit part time. May mga tumutulong sa amin na namimigay ng kaunting tulong. Yung mga kaibigan ko, binibilhan ng kaunting diapers at gatas ang baby ko,” N.M. said.
She said she has sought help from the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai. “Uuwi na kami ng anak ko,” she said, adding that she plans to personally go to the consulate “kapag may pamasahe na ako.”
N.M. lives in Sharjah, a neighboring emirate of Dubai’s – a roundtrip transportation can cause about Dh75 dirhams.
N.M. was not able to finish school. “Grade I lang ang inabot ko, pero nakarating ng abroad,” she said, laughing. She said she is fluent in Arabic, having studied the language before. She had also worked as domestic helper in Saudi Arabia in 2009. She arrived in Dubai 2013, went home and returned in 2017, around which time she met “Ali.”
The Daily Bread 