Paula Chichioco Essay

Balita, Ma. Bernadette B.

2FM6

        Paula Chichioco is currently a second year student at the University of Santo Tomas taking up Financial Management in the College of Commerce and Business Administration. She has been a dear friend of mine ever since freshmen year whom I could relate to during the time when my mom was also working abroad. Her mother has been away, working as a math teacher in Indonesia for the past 6 years and the most recent visit she had here in the Philippines was last December to celebrate her daughter’s 18th and son’s 21st birthday despite it being at least half a year late. I guess you can never really blame a mother for wanting to be there as her children reaches a new milestone in their life to supplement the years she’s been away from her family.

              Being apart from her mother has really affected Paula’s life; she would probably have a different personality or be a different kind of person. According to her, having a mom who’s working abroad made her independent because there was no mother figure to teach her lessons in life. She also learned to be responsible and self-reliant because, in times that she may really need something for herself, no one would be there to help her out. Despite these circumstances, she maintains regular contact with her mother so that they could be updated with each other’s lives and still be in the loop of each other’s likes and interests. The distance between them also made her realize that being away from her mother was a way to make her love her mom more and, it opened her eyes to how important it is for a daughter to have her mother by her side.

When asked if she would still be the same person if, for some reason, her mom didn’t have to work abroad, she answered ‘no’. No because, according to her, she wouldn’t be able to discover things on her own. We all know that a mother will always be protective over her children. Paula was afraid that, if she grew up with her mom, she would be held back from all the experiences that made her grow in the past years because of how her mother would always help her in the things she’d be doing. Her life style and social life wouldn’t be different as well because, with her mother being able to track her activities, she wouldn’t be able to stay during late hours at UST to be with her friends and join different organizations that would lead her to meeting all the different people that she’s with now. She also said that her mother’s work abroad didn’t affect her in any way. It just really helped her a lot in her studies because her mother’s hard work served, and still serves as her inspiration.

I asked her about how she sees overseas Filipino workers as a whole and what she thinks about what they do. She sees their work as something that is best for their family because of how it would be giving more for their financial needs. According to her, it’s not like they want to be away from their family, it’s just that they have to. She sees OFWs as heroes in their own ways because of the strength they possess to endure the different cultures they encounter and the loneliness that they feel being miles away from their loved ones. As she approaches the time that she, herself, would have to work, she also considers working abroad just like her mother. She sees at as a big opportunity to help herself and her family in the future especially since career opportunities are far greater abroad.