Left behind, Left out

Shakespeare caught me. He who said “It is a wise father that knows his own child” made me feel betrayed. I was kept hidden for a long time not knowing that my fate was brought into existence.

Born under the humorous month of July, he was never there. The cooling sound of the chimes whispered to my ears. I showered my soul with tears and cried out loud. If only he can hear me.

19 I am right now yet I still haven’t met that feeling of being loved by him. Is this a curse that I’d be living with for eternity? Because if it is, then I’m doomed. We used to be friends. But everything changed after he knew something – something that a FATHER’s mind could not fathom. I am BISEXUAL. This might not surprise you but let’s admit it; fathers never wanted them to subsist. My limelight, then, wasn’t applauding at all. He, whom I wanted to become proud of all my achievements, has turned his cards over and did what he’s best of doing – walking out of the scene.

I contemplated. I watched the hands of the clock go tick- tock. Yet nothing happened. It has been years that I’ve been living my life with deception. I even played basketball for his sake but I just really suck. Now that it came to an end, I wish he’d be able to decipher what I have become and not to treat me as a different person like what he is constantly doing to me NOW.

This is yet another one of those old stories triggered if any of your parents happened to be an OFW.

There are some 8 million Filipino migrant workers in more than 100 countries from Asia to the Middle East and Europe, toiling as nurses, teachers, construction workers, engineers, seafarers and domestic workers. Often, the parents come home and stay for only two months, then go back abroad to serve renewed contracts. Children are left behind and left out. They may be the reason why their parents leave, but they do not have any idea about what’s going on. CHILDREN of Filipino workers in their continuous exodus could be prone to emotional, behavioral and mental problems.

According to a defined research, OFW children tend to become insecure and drug dependents. They also become money-oriented because of lack of guidance. Migration of one parent or both is a very painful time for children and can cause bad emotions to stir up.In the case of an absentee father, boys develop gender identity problems which become more obvious when they grow old. On the other hand, there is the feminization of OFWs, or where more women are now working abroad, leaving the care of children to their husbands.

This is the truth that really bites and we hope that all children will not be part of the statistics. So one way of combating these problems is the utilization of an extended family in which relatives could act as surrogate parents.