OFW Mindset Perplexity
I had a chat with my Indian colleague on why India is
becoming an IT powerhouse... oops..Economic powerhouse
for that matter. Though its his opinion, i believe
that it is a fact... He said, "For us, we go to other
countries to do business and learn from the bigger
players, but the main goal is, to take those
businesses back to India. Thats why there are alot of
Indians in key positions and managers in big
companies,(waving his head)" Then i remembered, IBM
had open a technology hub somewhere in India and a
slew of other multinational corporations followed
suit, and these are manned by themselves, this is how
their minds work...I know, this can start a flurry of
reactions on why its not applicable for our country.
Political instability, corruption, our pessimism,
heck! we can even blame our kababayans who piss on the
walls for all i care. But then again...
just my 2 cents.. aiyoh no 2 cents lah, 10 cents can or cannot?!
Pinay wins it big in London
By Alfred Yuson
The Philippine Star
05/16/2004 Patricia Evangelista,
a 19-year- old, Mass Communications sophomore of
University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman,
did the country proud Friday night by besting 59 other
student contestants from 37 countries in
the 2004 International Public Speaking competition
conducted by the English Speaking Union (ESU) in
London.
She triumphed over a field of exactly 60 speakers from
all over the English-speaking world, including the United States, United Kingdom and
Australia, reported Maranan. The board of judges' decision was unanimous, according
to contest chairman Brian Hanharan of the British broadcasting Corp. (BBC). PATRICIA'S SHORT
SPEECH WORTH READING....
BLONDE AND BLUE EYES When I was little, I wanted what
many Filipino children all over the country wanted.
I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed, and white. I thought
-- if I just wished hard enough and was good enough,
I'd wake upon Christmas morning with snow outside my
window and freckles across my nose!
More than four centuries under western domination does
that to you. I have sixteen cousins.
In a couple of years, there will just be five of us
left in the Philippines, the rest will have gone
abroad in search of "greener pastures." It's not just an
anomaly; it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora.
Today, about eight million Filipinos are scattered
around the world.
There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose
to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction
of someone who was left behind, smiling for family
pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year.
Desertion, I called it. My country is a land that has
perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself.
Our heroes offered their lives in the struggle against
the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans.
To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to
spitting on that sacrifice.
Or is it? I don't think so, not anymore. True, there
is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that
what was once the other side of the world is now a
twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless
world, where no individual can claim to be purely from where
he is now. My mother is of Chinese descent,
my father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a
pure Filipino-a hybrid of sorts resulting from a
combination of cultures.
Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of
people of different ethnicities, with national
identities and individual personalities. because of this, each square
mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much
as this blessed spot that is England is the world, so
is my neighborhood back home.
Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of
dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many
claim.
It must be understood. I come from a Third World
country, one that is still trying mightily to get back
on its feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall
make it, given more time. Especially now, when we have
thousands of eager young minds who graduate from
college every year. They have skills. They need jobs.
We cannot absorb them all.
A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet
one that is not so much abandonment but an extension
of identity.
Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000
skilled nurses who support the UK's National Health
Service.
We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most
of the world's commercial ships.
We are your software engineers in Ireland, your
construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors
and caregivers in North America, and, your musical artists
in London's West End.
Nationalism isn't bound by time or place. People from
other nations migrate to create new nations,
yet still remain essentially who they are. British
society is itself an example of a multi-cultural
nation, a melting pot of races, religions, arts and cultures.
We are, indeed, in a borderless world!
Leaving sometimes isn't a matter of choice. It's
coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire
travelled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home,
richer in every sense of the word.
We call people like these balikbayans or the
'returnees' -- those who followed their dream, yet
choose to return and share their mature talents and good
fortune.
In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever
opportunities come my way. But I will come home.
A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a
home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't
about just geography; it isn't about boundaries. It's about
giving back to the country that shaped me.
And that's going to be more important to me than
seeing snow outside my windows on a bright Christmas
morning.
Mabuhay and Thank you. So, be proud, you are a
Filipino,..not a freckled blue eyed blonde...
becoming an IT powerhouse... oops..Economic powerhouse
for that matter. Though its his opinion, i believe
that it is a fact... He said, "For us, we go to other
countries to do business and learn from the bigger
players, but the main goal is, to take those
businesses back to India. Thats why there are alot of
Indians in key positions and managers in big
companies,(waving his head)" Then i remembered, IBM
had open a technology hub somewhere in India and a
slew of other multinational corporations followed
suit, and these are manned by themselves, this is how
their minds work...I know, this can start a flurry of
reactions on why its not applicable for our country.
Political instability, corruption, our pessimism,
heck! we can even blame our kababayans who piss on the
walls for all i care. But then again...
just my 2 cents.. aiyoh no 2 cents lah, 10 cents can or cannot?!
Pinay wins it big in London
By Alfred Yuson
The Philippine Star
05/16/2004 Patricia Evangelista,
a 19-year- old, Mass Communications sophomore of
University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman,
did the country proud Friday night by besting 59 other
student contestants from 37 countries in
the 2004 International Public Speaking competition
conducted by the English Speaking Union (ESU) in
London.
She triumphed over a field of exactly 60 speakers from
all over the English-speaking world, including the United States, United Kingdom and
Australia, reported Maranan. The board of judges' decision was unanimous, according
to contest chairman Brian Hanharan of the British broadcasting Corp. (BBC). PATRICIA'S SHORT
SPEECH WORTH READING....
BLONDE AND BLUE EYES When I was little, I wanted what
many Filipino children all over the country wanted.
I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed, and white. I thought
-- if I just wished hard enough and was good enough,
I'd wake upon Christmas morning with snow outside my
window and freckles across my nose!
More than four centuries under western domination does
that to you. I have sixteen cousins.
In a couple of years, there will just be five of us
left in the Philippines, the rest will have gone
abroad in search of "greener pastures." It's not just an
anomaly; it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora.
Today, about eight million Filipinos are scattered
around the world.
There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose
to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction
of someone who was left behind, smiling for family
pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year.
Desertion, I called it. My country is a land that has
perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself.
Our heroes offered their lives in the struggle against
the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans.
To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to
spitting on that sacrifice.
Or is it? I don't think so, not anymore. True, there
is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that
what was once the other side of the world is now a
twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless
world, where no individual can claim to be purely from where
he is now. My mother is of Chinese descent,
my father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a
pure Filipino-a hybrid of sorts resulting from a
combination of cultures.
Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of
people of different ethnicities, with national
identities and individual personalities. because of this, each square
mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much
as this blessed spot that is England is the world, so
is my neighborhood back home.
Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of
dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many
claim.
It must be understood. I come from a Third World
country, one that is still trying mightily to get back
on its feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall
make it, given more time. Especially now, when we have
thousands of eager young minds who graduate from
college every year. They have skills. They need jobs.
We cannot absorb them all.
A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet
one that is not so much abandonment but an extension
of identity.
Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000
skilled nurses who support the UK's National Health
Service.
We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most
of the world's commercial ships.
We are your software engineers in Ireland, your
construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors
and caregivers in North America, and, your musical artists
in London's West End.
Nationalism isn't bound by time or place. People from
other nations migrate to create new nations,
yet still remain essentially who they are. British
society is itself an example of a multi-cultural
nation, a melting pot of races, religions, arts and cultures.
We are, indeed, in a borderless world!
Leaving sometimes isn't a matter of choice. It's
coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire
travelled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home,
richer in every sense of the word.
We call people like these balikbayans or the
'returnees' -- those who followed their dream, yet
choose to return and share their mature talents and good
fortune.
In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever
opportunities come my way. But I will come home.
A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a
home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't
about just geography; it isn't about boundaries. It's about
giving back to the country that shaped me.
And that's going to be more important to me than
seeing snow outside my windows on a bright Christmas
morning.
Mabuhay and Thank you. So, be proud, you are a
Filipino,..not a freckled blue eyed blonde...
posted by Blind Thinker at 1:40 AM
5 comments
