DARNA-Anti-OFW ?

This is what I have in mind right now....

Chatting through internet between Overseas Filipino Workers and their families back home has become the cheapest and easy tool to combat homesickness. Old folks who have been here in abroad way ahead of us, talked about their dilemma during the early days. Letters took month to get replies that’s why they used to send more than five letters in one sending without waiting for reply. Writing letters had been the common past time of OFWs back then.

Also, they made once a month long distance call to the Philippines since it was extremely expensive, unlike these days where they are just few peso away from each other, wherever and whenever. Communication and staying connected with our families back home is top of the list in OFWs daily life, this helps us prevent experiences of overseas workers in the past, where attentions were diverted.

Today, we have email, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, Skype, MSN, Chikka and many more. Even as our company IT personnel will block these chat machines, we still find ways to get connected through chatting and video talk.

Recently, Astig Pinoys in Iraq were complaining about KBR in Camp Taji blocking their YM and Chikka, but still they found ways and manage to re-connect by themselves (pinoy talents talaga!) and other through soft-hearted IT guys. Staying connected with our families back home improves our performances, unless one will abuse the use of internet during working hours. I could say it is indispensible part of us to be able to overcome fear and loneliness here in abroad. It makes us less worry as we could monitor them all the times and we could even help the kids do their homework, or guide our spouse what is missing in her cooking.

The worse part of working abroad is having no peace of mind. Knowing what’s happening around our dear family back home is important and makes us inspired, which in return boosts up our quality work output. Doing away on this perspective and you are becoming anti-OFWs, as you are putting back the loneliness in our working consoles and it will have a "domino effect" to our decision to better be home and stay happy, which is actually sad ending.

BUT HERE IS THE THING!

These few weeks, as I observe, and it has been a discussion among my peers in the internet that something is eating up our chance to have time with our families online. And even among us OFWs, they don’t have time in the evening for important discussions through chatting, as they have something else focusing on.

It is getting my family’s time for me and makes me feel ignored, as if it is far more important than me. My friends complained the same thing, the same experience and they feel lonely during this time, and homesickness starts to envelope the entire surrounding waiting for them to come back in front of the webcam.

The top rated DARNA is becoming my wife’s "paramour" (lol!) during our chatting hours, even my kids can’t stay longer when the programs starts, they would hang me up until it is done airing. What is with Darna that we OFWs don’t have? Marianne Rivera’s oh-lalah body? Yeah I guess the ever-exciting run of events and suspended climax. Damn! Why GMA7 did not think about putting up a cable TV subscription here in Afghanistan.

Well, I really like Marianne when she hip-rolled in Marimar! Hehehehe! That’s why today, to get even with them, I subscribed to www.noypi-unlimited.com to see Darna.

The next time I face the webcam, I will be in my new two-piece Darna costume too, to get my family back!

“Ding ang bato!”