Tempted




If you were given a chance to work abroad as a chambermaid for a hotel or as a factory worker, would you take it? A former PBSP employee is recruiting people to work in Canada, either in Alberta or Calgary. My workmates are really excited about it. It seems that there would even be a solution to the $ 2,000 recruitment and processing fee they are constantly worrying about. The compensation is $9 per hour (not counting tips) for 43 hours per month. They have a 2-year contract and they gain privileges to return to the Philippines bi-annually. The Canadian government also provides medical insurance and educational insurance if they have kids. More than this, the Canadian company would be talking to local banks to help finance their applications here. They would even help source out the lodgings.

Discussing it over lunch, I briefly glimpsed the future of these girls I have become friends with. I can almost see them walking through the snow, sharing an apartment and babbling over dinner about their day’s workload. Wow. For one brief second, I wished I could go with them.

Then, I stopped and thought again. Am I really going to revise my dream that radically? I have always envied people who can flit about from job to job and still think they’re stable. It would be a nice learning experience to work as a chambermaid. But is it something I want? It’s totally outside my career plans and I’m sure I don’t have the disposition for it. I can’t even clean my own house, for Jupiter’s sake!

I think I’m still at the crossroads when it comes to my career. Now that Mummy and Daddy are gone, I can pursue a totally seemingly pointless existence if I wanted to. It wasn’t long ago I was thinking of giving up here, packing my bags and living in Sagada. I can probably find work as a teacher in the local high school or even as a chambermaid for one of the inns. I wouldn’t be averse to minding stalls or stores too. Of course, life would be hard and I would be dirt poor, but the cost of living there isn’t so high. How I will be able to afford books and the fact that there isn’t even a bookstore within 100 miles is another matter, of course.

So, I was thinking, if I can think of living like a church mouse in Sagada, it wouldn’t be so bad to think of working as a blue-collar laborer in Canada. Because, obviously, I’d be earning way more and I might even snag me a Canadian guy. Hehehe! But…

But…

The dream inside me sparks. I look inside and I see it very clearly. I have found my niche in development work. I belong here. From PBSP, I can see myself transferring to an international organization. ADB, VSO, maybe even the UN. I think I still have a shot at next year’s Chevening Scholarship. I can still study in Oxford, or Amsterdam, or something as far shot as the University of Salamanca. I can work for the Prince of Wales Foundation. I can still become a founder of a development foundation, which I plan to call One World Org. I can go to Africa (or Payatas) and work with children and I know I can do this well. And then someday, I will teach in Universities. I will teach not just development theories but also values to support progress. I will teach empathy and freethinking and concern. I will teach action. And while doing all of this, I will write. Books, novellas, and anthologies… you name it.

I know it sounds so idealistic. But so far, life hasn’t given me grievance to withdraw my beliefs. Do I keep to the path? Or is it just pride that’s keeping me here? Are there really better opportunities for me outside my field? Should I lower my expectations or my standards already? Will pride cause my fall?

I may sound like a total airhead saying this, but I kind of really think I can do it. I would rather try anyway, than regret not having done anything. I have the capacity and capability to get there. I have always been a quick study and I sincerely love learning from people from different walks of life. I can almost, almost (!!!) sense the passion waiting to burgeon out of my soul for helping communities, especially children.

I will get there, but I have to stick to the path. So far, life’s flowing the right direction, so I should just learn to bade my heart to be still.

Adventures. Yes.
Exotic Learning. Yes.

You’ll get there, Liv. Just hold steady. Steady. And be ready when God says Go.

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