Don’t Ask Expats: Kailan Ka Uwi for Good?

Joseph Guerrero in Tips and Advices

Sep 07, 2019 • 2 min Read

“When ka ba uuwi for good na?” This is a common question thrown at Filipino expats when they have been out of the country for quite a long time. Honestly, this is a cruel question to ask, along with “How do you survive every day without having your kids with you?”

Stop. Expats are humans. Very human in fact that they get teary-eyed once they hear this question…after a performance of fake smiles and loud laughter, of course.

Expats have myriad reasons why they leave the Philippines and find work in the Middle East, Singapore, or London even. They have complex reasons why they endure working overseas in conditions that they chose to hide from their families. Lifting their families from daily financial miseries is the single most common reason. The money the expats send home somehow alleviates the pain that each party tries to hide and allows them to live through each day until the next homecoming.

National Geographic pegs the expats at about 10 million in 2018. The Philippine Statistics Authority has a modest figure of 2.3 million. Whatever the correct figure maybe, that is a lot of families being forcefully separated due to financial circumstances and other challenging reasons.

Much as expats want to come home for good, they cannot and will not until their financial situations have changed. Beyond fortune, there should be a rock-solid reason for them to even contemplate on coming home for good. When that inevitable time comes, expats will be the first to declare: “Uwi na ako. For good.” They have then found the reason to up and leave the country they considered a home away from home. Only they themselves will know when that time will be. No one can force them to come home.

So let the expats be. Do not ask.

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Sources: /www.nationalgeographic.com and www.psa.gov.ph