More than Heroes: The Life and Experiences of Overseas Filipino Workers

• Main Authors: Atos, Larry Nicholas P., Cruz, Eliza M., Hong, Sarah, Kim, Steve, Soliven, Malkiel Josh
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Overseas Filipino Workers; experience; challenges; racial discrimination; goals; Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/conf_shsrescon/2022/paper_frs/4; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&context=conf_shsrescon
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Philippines has a scarce job market for its own workforce and so this manpower, mostly coming from the poorer sector of society, decides to become OFWs. This study pertains to the experiences the Filipino Overseas Workers have encountered with their personal goals and how they plan to achieve these. Four research questions were formulated to provide a context to the lived experiences of these modern heroes namely: "What are the most common challenges that Filipino overseas foreign workers confront?", "How do they cope with these challenges?", "What are the most common goals of Filipino overseas foreign workers moving forward?", and "How do they plan to accomplish these?". A thematic analysis approach was used in this phenomenological qualitative research. The results put to fore OFWs facing difficulties such as racial discrimination and loneliness. OFWs overcoming challenges were via video calls to their loved ones while working harder to overcome discrimination in their workplace. The most important goals they have are financial stability, investing their savings towards a business in the future, and permanent migration in the countries that they work in. To accomplish the goals that they have set for themselves, OFWs have decided to save money and work to the best of their abilities to achieve their dreams.