Short introduction
The challenges and problems of Filipino community in Dubai. In my previous post I tried to talk very briefly about the Filipino community in Dubai. Here I will try to talk more about some of their challenges and problems at work, social interactions with other cultures, and problems created back home because of their absence from their family lives.
Dubai, and UAE in general, is the most open of all the other Gulf countries, and Expat percentage is higher than Saudi for example, which made local people and laws in Dubai, more open towards foreigners from non-Islamic backgrounds. In other Gulf countries, for example Saudi, there are some other issues that I will touch upon in different posts.
Challenges and Problems at Work
I will start with the domestic helpers, care givers, and nannies (predominantly female). By law and typical contract requirements, the employees cannot leave the house without an escort, and they leave just for a few hours some weekends to buy a few personal things from the market. It is like COVID 19 lockdown but for two years at a time (typical contract duration is two years).
This type of treatment can cause all types of psychological stress, depression, in addition to types of abuse and harassment in some cases. Some of these workers are degree holders, but due to lack of other opportunities they get locked in this type of contract.
Filipinos in general are shy people, and for them having a job is especially important and they are careful not to get fired. Getting fired for Filipino workers is like the whole world collapsed. That puts extra pressure on the employees when they have a boss or a manager that likes to exploit their situation. I have seen many managers and bosses pressure their employees, by letting them work extra hours, use of verbal abuse or even sometimes physical abuse or harassment.
For most Filipino and Filipina employees, this abuse can create a huge emotional strain which can cause drinking problems, depression, health issues associated with depression, and sometimes even suicide, some cannot handle the pressure, they quit and go back home, where they suffer depression and lifetime trauma.
Challenges and problems dealing with locals, other cultures and change in standard of living
After a hard day’s work, you come home, and you must deal with the attitudes and frustrated roommates and flatmates. Living in a group is good to make them forget work, and home, but also has its own challenges of people getting into each other’s business, filling each other with negativity and anger instead of helping to relax and forget the hard day.
For non-skilled labor, the employers must provide transport and labor camps per state guidelines for each worker. Workers cannot live outside the labor camp, but they can go shopping on weekends to the city to have a normal social life. The same is true for some professions that the establishment offers as an option staff accommodation, like nurses, teachers, hotel staff and some factory workers. These places have guards (usually Arabs) to control people movements, and enforce the curfew at night, this type of situation puts extra stress for the obvious reasons.
To handle the pressure, many get addicted to drinking and nightclub life. I have seen many in these clubs accepting drinks from strangers and getting hooked with some bad crowd. In many cases they start jumping from a relationship to another or many relationships at once to ensure constant supply of party life and maybe a few weeks of better living standards.
Dubai and similar countries are hubs for all types of people with different cultures and some are aggressive, for a newcomer Filipino, this will be a culture shock, and create fear of mingling with other nationalities. When I get invited to Filipino parties, I reluctantly agree, because I will be sitting the whole time alone listening to people talking Tagalog. If I try to open a conversation with anyone, most of the time they will not even answer me directly, they will answer my Filipina GF.
Challenges and problems at home
In my opinion, all the above can be overcome if one has a bit experience how to handle people. The biggest uncalculated risk and problems always come from the closest people and that is family. I have seen many Filipinos and Filipinas work for years in hope to secure their life and retire. However, the more they work, they cannot see that retirement getting closer.
Many I know they leave their kids in the care of a sister, mother or spouse and they leave for work only to find out that the son or the daughter when they become teenagers, they start becoming out of control, that is normal for any teenager, but for a parent living overseas and sacrificing everything for that kid, this can be a huge burden.
This is a huge issue, they cannot afford to go back just yet because they still need to earn money, and at the same time they cannot control the kid over the phone. I know kids suddenly start not paying attention to school, spending time and money trying to be popular on Tiktok, or YouTube, or some musical group fan club, chatting with strangers and all the dangers and problems due to that.
In some cases, the suffering is for the people home waiting for their partner to get back home. However, they might find out that the partner got used to the new life and they totally forget the family in the Philippines.
That happened many times to people I know. One guy was dating a friend of my ex, for years they were living together, and when the time came for them to get married, she found out that he was already married in Philippines, but he had the “intention” of telling her about his wife and kids, and he was intending to separate from his old wife. This is not a unique situation; I knew many stories like that of both males and females.
Conclusion
The lack of opportunities makes people leave their countries searching for a better pay and maybe a better life. Many families, instead of immigrating to different countries for better life, they sacrifice by sending one member of the family to work overseas to make more money and fund a better life for the others. As time passes, the situation changes, and people on both sides change due to many reasons, and that creates all types of heartburn and depression.
The decision of leaving to work overseas is really a very great sacrifice from both the person who will leave and the family who will be left behind. Reaching the planned goals requires great sacrifice from both parties. They need to understand each other’s situations and somehow compromise.
What I noticed, the happy Filipino expats are the ones that have very little commitments back home, or if the couple are working overseas together, without teenage kids to worry about. This way they can plan life together, and at the same time enjoy life as they are working. They just work and life happens, and they deal with challenges together.
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