Filipinos are Nursing the World
(republishing, copying, no restrictions)
By: Father Shay
It is always a happy day when young people study with enthusiasm and dedication and graduate near the top of their class. Last week three young Filipino-American scholars graduated as nursing aides with excellent grades through the scholarship programme of the PREDA Foundation. Education is the greatest weapon to fight poverty and Filipinos are eager and highly motivated to excel to the best of their ability. Hundreds of Thousands have succeeded and are working all over the world with dedication and commitment.
These three young people endured childhood poverty, racial taunts and survived on their own after being abandoned by their US navy fathers. They were among thousands of “Throwaway Children”, the “souvenir babies” left behind when the US military bases closed in 1992.
Despite the hardship, they worked their way through school doing any work they could find. One became a professional driver at 17 and worked till midnight to earn his keep. Another became a vendor and worked in the market between classes. When they finished high school they were referred to the PREDA scholarship programme for Filipino-American youth.
It was a proud moment when they received their nursing-aide pin and a diploma marking the completion of their course and hospital experience. They also successfully completed the Red Cross training in standard first aid and basic life support and are presently taking computer training. A volunteer teacher from England, Paul Fuller gives them an advanced course in English.
There is a growing worldwide demand for trained Filipinos in the developed nations with ageing populations living longer and few nursing graduates. Recruiting agencies and hospitals flock here to hire the best nurses, nursing aides and care givers because of their quick intelligence, fast learning ability and mastery of the English language. They recognize that the hardworking and friendly nature of Filipinos. Which is a huge bonus and especially their respect for the elderly a long deeply ingrained cultural and spiritual values of the Filipinos.
This reverence for life and a dedication to selfless service has roots in their Catholic faith. Many Filipinos join church choirs and parish organizations wherever they find employment and generously share their earnings with their families back in the Philippines.
The PREDA graduates for
example, Shawn whose father is Irish-American, Michael with Scottish
ancestry and Norman whose father is from Mississippi are committed
Catholics. They organized and acted in the traditional Holy Week
‘Passion play’ this year in the local parish. Presently they are working
part time with a medical mission helping jailed minors and street
children, putting their skills to practical use and gaining valuable
experience. They are an inspiration to the other students still in
training.
There are almost a million Filipinos working abroad in the caring professions and together with other Filipino overseas workers they send as much as US$8 billion annually to the Philippines to help their families and incidentally keep the faltering economy afloat.
The good salaries abroad has dramatically increased the numbers of top grade students applying for nursing in the best schools. The prestigious University of the Philippines had a whopping 11,260 applicants this year who put nursing as their course of first choice up from a mere 721 in 2001. Of all these students, 3000 are male applicants. The demand for Filipino care workers abroad is increasing too. In the first two months of this year 170,242 land based workers were recruited and more than one third of them for the caring professions. At this rate our graduates will soon be heading to the lands of their fathers.
