So The Grass Is Not Always Greener,ofw

[Jollygoodfellow]

I wish more prospective OFW would understand that being an OFW is not always the icing on the cake.OFWs living in Saudi tents seek help from Aquino gov’t MANILA, Philippines -- An organization of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East is calling on the Aquino administration to help more than 20 stranded workers who have been living in tents ‘’like squatters’’ beside the Philippine consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. ‘’The consulate did not bother to offer a shelter and let the stranded OFWs, along with their children, stay in makeshift tents. It’s inhumane,’’ Migrante-Mideast regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said on a Sunday in a statement. “It is terribly hot and humid now in Jeddah, (with the temperature) reaching to 40 degrees centigrade,’’ he said. ‘’Meanwhile, our heartless consular officials sit inside air-conditioned rooms.” The group said it had been calling the consulate’s attention to the workers’ plight since May. The stranded Filipinos, among them runaway workers and four children, earlier sought shelter under the Khandara Bridge in Jeddah. They later moved to makeshift tents on a vacant lot beside the consulate’s new building on Um Al Qura Road in Jeddah’s Rehab district, the group said. Monterona said the owner of the lot had threatened to evict the Filipinos and sue them for illegally occupying the property. The consulate used to rent a nearby building to house distressed OFWs, but the lease was terminated due to lack of budget, he said, quoting a consulate insider. Migrante said it was “ridiculous” for the mission to run out of funds for housing distressed OFWs since the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila has been making an annual allocation for such measures. The consulate has also been earning income from passport renewal and replacements, as well as other fees collected from migrant workers, it added. Monterona noted that President Aquino had directed the DFA to be responsive to OFWs’ concerns, but “it seems that his message has not been heard clearly by various Philippine officials abroad.”http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20100711-280487/OFWs-living-in-Saudi-tents-seek-help-from-Aquino-govt