Filipino Culture and the Pinoys Abroad

A nice house, perhaps a car, children not going in public schools, and...working abroad. Its all part of the Filipino Dream. This article is not completely about seeing hope in the opportunities on other countries, but about what we bring there, what we lose and what we gain. A word of warning, these are collective observations of people and to our kababayans living and working abroad, nothing personal really.

Chances are, every Filipino family has relatives overseas. They could be immigrants, contract workers or overstaying tourists. A considerable percentage of a foreign workforce comprise Filipino men and women. Ever since the second half of the 20th century, our countrymen are the preferred choice when getting international manpower. We are affordable, efficient and worth the investment. Such is how we are being seen.

Open a Balikbayan Box

We are one of the world's largest exporter of human resources. The Philippines has been mass producing skilled workers, professionals and wives (yes being a wife is an occupation) for the world in the past few decades, and we're pretty good at it. Some come back here, some don't. But they funnel billions and billions of dollars here to the country so not too many are complaining. Ask a random person on the street, chances are, he or she has a close relative working abroad. Many see going overseas as the premiere destination for success because of limited opportunities here. And to those who get lucky and get overseas work, when they return, they bring their dollars and balikbayan boxes.

Its an unspoken rule. All returning Filipino men and women, upon their return here, they should be bringing huge boxes with almost everything in it. These are the balikbayan boxes. Open it up, you should find pretty interesting stuff which will make you wonder why on earth do they bring these all the way from where its from? Here are the common things you'd find on OFW boxes: