Personal tidbits Life has become difficult nowadays. Marami ang umaangal sa hirap ng buhay. Noong una sapat na na ang ama lang ang nagtratrabaho. Now, the husband, wife and children have to work to make ends meet. Sa kahirapan ng buhay, lalo na sa Pilipinas, napipilitan ang karamihan sa atin na mag-abroad. Kasama kami riyan. I am currently in Jeddah with my family - my wife and our daughter. I decided to work here in Jeddah in 1999. Paanong hindi ka mag-aabroad eh kadalasan napuputulan kami ng telepono at hindi mo na madadala ang anak mo sa Jollybee dahil sa kakapusan ng pera. Although my wife and I were both working, I as editor at the now defunct Today newspaper in Makati and my wife as a nurse at Perpetual Help Medical Center in Las Pinas, kinakapos ang budget namin. Our combined net paycheck then was less than P20,000. Here in Jeddah, medyo nakakaluwag. We can set aside some small savings monthly and send a little amount to my wife’s sister to ease her finances. Although she is working, her monthly pay as a government employee is not enough. We understand that. Ang kainaman sa kumikita ka ng sobra sa daily needs mo ay nakakatulong ka – which gives you good feeling – without neglecting the needs of your family. We are able to send our only child to school here with ease, although her tuition is a bit expensive by Philippine standards – 500 Saudi riyals (SR) a month. If you convert it to peso, it would be more than P5,000 monthly. Hindi pang-exclusive schools yan. It’s for ordinary schools. Kaya ang biro rito ay pang-Ateneo ang tuition, pang-FEU and standard. We cannot afford here the tuition of exclusive schools, American and British mostly, which range from SR1,000 to P3,000 monthly. Ang advantage ng dumaan ka ng hirap ay you become aware of your finances. Kung dating waldas ka, ngayon natututo kang magtipid at mag-save. In our case, we have learned to save for our homecoming. Hindi naman kasi habambuhay na OFW ka. There will come a time when we OFWs have to go home for good, except for those who have opted and are lucky enough to migrate to other countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, kung saan hindi ka na OFW but a permanent resident. In our case, homecoming will be two years from now, at most. At this point, we are scouting for whatever business to go into, most likely franchising, aside from a store to keep us busy. In my case, I still want to be productive in old age, God willing or inshallah, as the Saudis would put it. It is for this reason that I have thought of setting up this page on Facebook. I want to keep myself busy in old age writing articles on networking, franchising and other businesses for people who do not have much capital. I will also be writing about helpful tips on money matters. Having been a journalist for more than 30 years, I still feel the joy of helping and connecting with people through my writings. It goes without saying that I will also use this page to promote my own business or businesses I may come up with in the future. In the meantime, I have joined a networking business whose link I am posting below. I will also entertain queries and suggestions from the readers - and that’s you. I have opened this page with my own story because I believe that personal or conversational articles will be better read and enjoyed than if I go into purely financial matters. I will be following this format all throughout unless I will find the need to change it. God bless.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 08:25:56 +0000
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