When losing a job can help recover one’s faith
In the Philippines, the economy is teetering on the edge. The serious predicament of 10 million Filipinos living abroad is making matters worse—so far this year about 200,000 of them lost their job, thus depriving their family back in the Philippines of much needed remittances. In spite of this, about 2,000 Filipinos leave the country every day in search of a job.
Agas is one of the many unemployed Filipinos forced to go home after losing their job overseas. In 1998, he moved to the United States where he worked for a multinational corporation. He was the sole breadwinner, but made US$ 8,000 a month, enough to feed and clothe himself, his wife and their five children, but he lost his job in November 2008 and decided to return to the Philippines.
He told AsiaNews that after their return he and his family “depended solely on our savings” whilst he and his wife spent days “looking for jobs”.
Soon enough their “savings were depleting” quickly. They could not rely on their relatives for help and had to find work quickly. Eventually, they landed contractual jobs at the end of February 2009. Their two salaries combined paid about 20,000 pesos (US$ 420) for everyday expenses and the children’s school.
“Our salaries are not so high, but we are happy what we have,” Agas said.
“We had to find our own means to survive,” Christopher’s wife Maria Fea said. “Thank God, hard times are slowly passing away. At least, we have some jobs to depend here and move on” and “every adversity is an opportunity to be strong in faith and not to give in to despair or hopelessness.”
In the United States “we were always under stress and strain to maintain our comforts and luxuries of life,” Christopher Agas said. Now “we have more time for each other and family ties and attend Mass”.
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