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Wednesday, May 11, 2011

lenie and her resiliency..


lenie is a distant relative of mine. she is an ordinary girl with dreams of having a better life and eventually sharing the blessings she would achieve with her family.

it is in her deepest wanting to work abroad, maybe with the inspiration from her sister, who is an overseas filipino worker in hongkong, she is focused on ways to work abroad.

in her quest for greener pasture she became a victim. a victim of scam, specifically an illegal recruitment. it was once featured in "failon ngayon" an abs-cbn news and public affairs program regarding an agency who is enticing filipinos to work in london through a student visa. flowery words and eye-popping promises convinced her to sign on and try her luck. it costed her about 200 to 300 thousand of pesos of money paid directly to the agency. but after years of wait there was no sign of achieving her dreams of going to the united kingdom.

mas pinalala pa ang pag-alala nya ng isa isa nang magreklamo ang kanyang mga kasamahan na nag-aaply sa agency, mas lumiit ang pag-asa nya na matupad ang kanyang pangingibang bansa.

she was not one of those who complained to the agency, she just let them complained and she just observed, may niluluto pala siyang ibang plano....

she decided to go and try her luck in singapore. with her less work experience she is eager to find any job that will give her the opportunity to work. while her allowed stay in singapore is getting less she opted to try another employment agency based in singapore referred by a filipino and the agency itself is administered by filipinos. she paid another 2000 singapore dollars to the agency and she was given a job as a server in an indian restaurant.

after months of work, the establishment she is working was closed as ordered by the IRAS ( inland revenue authority of singapore), the employer is not paying sufficient taxes to the government.

lenie was jobless again. with her continued resilience to find another job, her efforts was outnumbered by her legal stay in singapore, she need to exit singapore or go back to the philippines.

she went back to the philippines and recharge herself with the motivation she needed in which she can only take from her family.

upon her request i secured him an invitation letter issued by the philippine embassy to those who are wanting to visit singapore, i was able to get her one and paid 42 singapore dollars just for a piece of document. even if they say that it is not a guarantee that they will let you come to singapore, i prompted to her request.

lenie was so scared to enter singapore as a tourist because of the many stories she have heard of being held and deported by the immigration both in the philippines and in singapore, but lenie tried....

february 27 could be the most traumatic and embarassing moment for lenie. dinanas nya ang kanyang kinatatakutan, she was held by the immigration in the philippines. pinatay ng isang ahensya ng gobyerno ang mga pangarap ni lenie...natapatan ba sya o sadyang minalas....

ano na lang ang pakiramdam ng mga magulang ni lenie, ng kanyang mga kamag-anak at kaibigan...sinikil ang kanila ring pangarap...it was supressed by those inconsistent procedures and policies by the philippine immigration, wala kasing kapit si lenie, walang koneksyon...pangarap lang ang mayroon siya.

why does the philippine immigration and philippine embassy of singapore do not have consistency and alignment of policies...sana hindi na lang nagpakahirap kumuha ng invitation letter, na pinilahan at binayaran mo ng walang kulang, na hindi pala kasiguruhan na makakapasok ka sa singapore kahit may invitation letter ka, sana wala na lamang ganoong requirement.

sana ay hindi nauuna sa proseso ang pagbabayad ng travel tax terminal fee kaysa sa kung patutuluyin ka ng immigration o hindi. ang daming nasayang...sayang na pera, sayang na emosyon, sayang na pag-asa sa simula biglang nawalang parang bula....lalo at higit sayang na pangarap...

sa ngayon si lenie ay nasa piling ng kanyang pamilya, siguro ay nag-iipon muli ng lakas, motibasyon at maaaring literal na nag-iipon pambayad sa mga nautang o nag-iipon sa muli niyang pagsubok na abutin ang kanyang mga pangarap...

mabuhay ka lenie....sana ay hindi maubos ang iyong sigasig..( resilience)