Night with the Filipinas....

Night with the Filipinas....

What an amazing amazing day.  Wow...  We went first to the school.  We are videotaping their school production.  Its not much money...but this is the most expensive school on the Island.  St. Christopher's has all the ex-patriate (what they call foreigners) go there.  So we are trying to make in roads with this clientele since this is where the money is.  Next...i had the great pleasure of telling Julie and Jerilynn they were getting raises.  That is always fun.  Now keep in mind how little these talented girls make.  Jerilynn, is a mother in her late 20's/early 30's with an 11 year old son at home with her husband.  She hasn't seen her son or husband in two years.  She's here to work.  Lets put this in context.  Jerilyn makes only $22 a day.  And she is happy with that.  She is here because in the Phillipines, she would only be making about $2-3 a day.  Her husband is a taxi driver...when he works, which is about half the time, he makes about $4-5 per day.  So working here...and sacrificing her time with her family...Jerilynn makes about 4-5 times what she would in the Philipines.  When i gave her a 20% raise...just an extra $50 per month...she started crying.  She was so grateful and soooo happy.  She lives on soooo little...yet she sends so much of it home.  Jerilynn is not an isolated example.  They all do that.  Its all about the family and taking care of the family.  I remember my grandfather told me...he did that during the depression.  But now that we are a "wealthy" nation...do we really send 75-90% of our income to support our parents or children?  The sacrifices they make are amazing.  It sure helps put our upcoming recession in perspective.  Remember if you woke up in the U.S. this morning, you are 85% richer than the rest of the world...but which culture is the richest.....?

I took the three filipina girls out for celebration lunch...to thank them for their hard work.  They took me to this little obscure hole in Manama that had great Filipino food.  We all had pork since its so rare to find it in Arabic countries.  These girls are so full of smiles and so full of life.  You would never know their financial circumstances were so dire.  They accept it...they survive...they thrive.  They invited me to a church party they were throwing at Jeddah's hourse that night.  Jeddah is a vivacious filipina in her 40's.  She always has a joke and a gift.  She keeps giving me these Filipino peanuts.  So this is church party...they attend a local catholic church, St. Christopher's.  The first 45 minutes were really dull...They were reciting sayings...im not sure what its called...but there would be a leader...then the group would respond.  After the meeting...(there were about 30 girls there with about 7 men mixed in.) in this tiny apartment.    After the prayer...the girls invited me and the priest up to the banquet table first.  I was their honored guest.  They sat me at the best table...and kept serving me...so i wouldn't have to get up.  Jeddah, knows...im addicted to Diet coke.  So she feverishly was on the phone.  She was ordering some diet coke to be delivered...just for me.  I pleaded with her that i was fine with water...but she was insistent.  She must have called them four times...to find out where the delivery guy was.  Finally he got there...and they made sure my glass was full...the whole night long.  They really treated me like royalty.  They introduced me as their new GM...and were saying how much they like working for the company now....i don't think it was suck up...these girls were absolutely sincere.  These filipinos...many of them left their families for years at a time, to sacrifice so their families can survive...had very little salary.  Yet they were so full of joy.  So much energy, excitement and laughter in the room...and they were just eating dinner.  They were accepting of their circumstances...and they reveled in it.  I wonder who is the richer culture.  It seems...some of the people i have met, the more money they have...the more miserable they become...  Its weird the way that works, its counter-intuitive.  So if you are broke...say a prayer of praise...consider it all joy....  There is a purpose for that life experience.

After the food and the photos (i'll post these on Sunday) we did Karaoke.  I had never done Karaoke before, so they handed me the mic to be the first one out.  I chose an Elvis song (since im related to him) and wailed...it was fun...Nobody else really wanted to do the karaoke...so they kept handing me the mic again and again.    I just kept thinking...i can't wait to write about this in my blog, i can't wait to write about this...

I was a little down and lonely earlier in the day.  I cried out to God and he heard my cry.  

What an amazing amazing amazing day.  As i was leaving, the older filipina ladies were teasing me that i needed to give goodnight kisses.  So one of the ladies ran out...i gave her an arabic kiss...which is a kiss cheek to cheek on each side...no lips.  You greet both men and women in this manner.  And oh yeah..if you ever shake hands with an arab...don't let go...until they let go first.  After the good night kiss...i started to walk away...and i heard giggling inside.  Jeddah told me All the other ladies were jealous.  

Again...who is richer?