Skype brings OFW families together at Noche Buena

After being used extensively in offices and newsrooms, popular video teleconferencing software Skype has found its way to another unique place: the Noche Buena tables of Filipinos based overseas.

 

For United Arab Emirates-based logistics officer George Bravo, an LCD screen connected to a computer running Skype was the closest experience he had to the traditional Christmas feast this year.

 

"I prepared my own dinner, and they did the same thing so we could all eat at the same time. I want them to feel my presence even if I am not there physically. When I see them, even just through Skype, I feel less homesick," Bravo, 48, said in an interview with Gulf News.

 

The Gulf News report said many expatriates are expected to also use similar technology to speak to their families on New Year's Eve.

 

On Christmas Eve, Bravo sat while his daughter at the other end led the prayers.

 

Bravo said he also took part in the gift-giving tradition, at least virtually.

 

"My wife bought the gift for my secret Santa. And my daughter gave me a rosary as a present but she had to open it for me," he said.

 

Yet, he said this was better than what his uncle went through when he worked in Saudi Arabia.

 

At the time, he said the family would have to wait for weeks to get his recorded messages on cassette tapes through the mail.

 

"Now, because of the Internet and modern technology, I can easily monitor what's happening back home and how my kids are growing up," he said.

 

Bravo said that while he still longs to be with his family this Christmas, what they shared over the holidays will have to do for now.

 

"I was very happy to see them and I'm really thankful that there's Skype that we could use to connect with our family members on special occasions like this. We spent two hours eating, chatting and laughing together. That for me as a father is a big thing," he said.

 

New Media and migrant families

 

The Gulf News cited a three-year study on Filipino families by Dr. Mirca Madianou from the UK's University of Cambridge.

 

The study, "Mediating migration: polymedia and transnational family communication," affirmed that new media has helped families maintain long-distance relationships.

 

"Although new media, understood as an emerging environment of polymedia, cannot solve relationship problems, they do become increasingly integral to the way relationships are enacted and experienced," Gulf News quoted a part of the study as saying. — TJD/HS, GMA News