Introduction:
This is a follow up story of the first article I wrote about my journey of being an Overseas Filipino Worker way back the year 2005-2011. During the first few weeks of my stay in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, encountered some of the most common problems affecting OFWs, particularly those first-timers working abroad.
See Also: Journey of an OFW Turned Blogger
Being an Overseas Filipino Worker or an expat in a foreign country you have to deal with various problems including culture shocks, adapting to a normal life of being away from your family, longing to see your loved ones and most of all the language barriers with you co-workers.
Image Source: Brett Jordan from Pexels.com
Most Common Problems Affecting First-Time OFWs:
There are lots of problems affecting us OFWs when we first arrived in a foreign country but I will only list the most common ones or most OFWs experienced during their first stay working in a new environment.
Home Sick
Language Barrier
Adjusting with Fellow Foreign Workers
Modern machines and equipment
Anxiety
Adapting to stricter rules and regulations of the host country
The problems mentioned above are just the common situations affecting Overseas Filipino Workers, maybe you could add more or I missed some points but right now let's take a look of how I was able to solve those common problems affecting OFWs.
Home Sick:
As a first time OFW, the most common problems you encountered and should be prepared of is the adjustment of daily lives as what most Filipinos would call as "Home Sick," or the longing to see your family and close friends daily.
We are used to see our families day by bay but once you ventured into working abroad, no matter how brave you are, you will surely experience this kind of sickness or the longing to see your family.
Most OFWs promised to their families that they will be back home immediately after the first two years of contract because of home sick without knowing that once you started working overseas, your life will surely change due to the environment and the huge difference between the salary in the Philippines and your salary as an OFW.
Language Barrier:
Aside from being home sick, most Filipinos experienced the language barrier during the time when you started working particularly in the Middle East where you should learn what they called as "Carabao English."
Most Filipinos don't have difficulty in speaking the English Language, but in the Middle East, particularly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, you should learn the simplest form of English for you to be understand by your fellow workers mostly coming from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.
A little knowledge about basic Arabic is indeed very useful when you're working in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia. During weekends, I try to read books about the Arabic language and applied it during working time with my fellow workers. Having an English-Arabic or Tagalog-Arabic dictionary is very helpful in conversing with the locals and your fellow workers in Saudi Arabia.
Adjusting with fellow foreign workers:
In the Philippines we used to work with minimum supervision or as a machine operator once the mechanic-in-charge is not present or busy with other maintenance activities, machine operators should repair minor damages to the machines but in Saudi Arabia, everything should follow their set of rules and protocols.
Once a machine broke or having some problems all the operators were waiting for the mechanic to repair the damage without doing something in return, only waiting for the mechanic to finished his/her task.
Unlike most Filipinos who used to work with minimum supervision, we try to repair minor problems with our machine. This kind of working habits was later on corrected after our manager hired a Filipino engineer to supervised us.
Modern Machines and Equipment:
Working in a foreign country is indeed more challenging because we are using some modern equipment and machines when compared to the Philippines. The jobs of being a machine operator became easier compared to what we used to do during our early days in often dilapidated work environment as well as using machines even older compared to our parents age.
In Saudi Arabia, machine operators worked easily as we operate machines from Germany and other European countries, most of these machines were computerized unlike in country when we worked with machines manually.
Anxiety:
Feeling anxiety or fear of failures, during our early days as Overseas Filipino Workers, we felt anxious of everything we do, because we are not sure of what our managers and owners of the company would think about us.
We adjust also with our fellow workers who look at us Filipinos as more expert or knowledgeable with the machines we are working with because we were able to understand the manuals and other operating procedures to run the machine.
In terms of salary when compared to our fellow South Asian neighbors, Filipinos got some higher salaries, so we felt anxious, why we are ahead of them, even if we are newcomer and they have been working for the company for the past few years.
Adapting to stricter Rules and Regulations of a Host Country:
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, one of the most important papers you should be careful of is the identification card given to you once you arrived in the host country.
Upon arriving, the company will sent you to a government medical institution to undergo medical check-up and various procedures. After that you will be given a what they called as "Iqama" or foreign worker identification card.
You should bring your "Iqama" anywhere you go because it is the only document recognized by the Saudi government. From time to time there are police officers who will check your Iqama once you go outside of your residence.
This is just the beginning of my journey as an OFW. In the next few articles, I will share to you some of my interesting experience while working abroad.
Until my next OFW-Story.
At your service,
Phil Newsome
