Encounter with a 'prosti' in UAE

Christopher Escasinas left behind his wife Menchie and children Xyrzch Love and Xymun Peter in Imus, Cavite to try his luck in the Middle East. He wishes to share his experiences when he arrived at the UAE in 2005. Hi po sa inyo d’yan sa GMA. Ako si Kapuso Christopher Escasinas na OFW dito sa UAE since Feb. 2005, working here at Jumbo Electronics, Sharjah City Center. Sana ay mailathala ninyo ang ilan sa mga karanasan ko noong akoý bagong dating dito. Salamat sa mga ginagawa ninyo para sa amin upang mabawasan ang aming pangungulila sa mahal namin sa buhay. Thanks, Kapuso! Chris First encounter with domestic helpers I was very excited on my first international flight to Abu Dhabi via Qatar Airways. It was a connecting flight from Manila to Cebu, Cebu to Singapore, then to Doha (Qatar), and finally to Abu Dhabi. The flight was grueling for it took us more than twenty-four hours, and three airplanes to arrive to our destination. What I will not forget is when we arrived at Cebu International Airport where I heard the story of a young lady aged 16. She came from a poor family in North Cotabato, a province in southern Mindanao. She was supposed to work in the Middle East as a housemaid. Everything was all right: a passport, a plane ticket, a visa, and her luggage. She arrived at her airport destination on time only to be told by the immigration officer of that Middle East country that she’s traveling on a fake passport. Right away she was sent back to her country (Philippines). She was there at the airport for three days and could return to her province because she had no money to pay for the transportation going back home. She had nothing to do but cry. Afraid of the future, because they just borrowed the money from their neighbors and her mother is yet to find out what happened to her. After a couple of minutes, we checked in for our flight to Doha. It made a stopped on Singapore to download some passengers and upload more than fifty Indonesian women bound for the Middle East to work as housemaids. First job interview with an Arab national I saw in the ads the need for a male executive secretary. I applied thru electronic mail and on the same day at 10 am, I received a call from the commercial manager and was instructed to visit their office at 11 o’clock in the morning. After hearing the instruction on how to get to his office, I took a bath and wore my favorite office suit and went straight to his office. I arrived 5 minutes earlier at room 3 of the mezzanine floor. I saw the reception area, which was vacant at that time. It has a PC, a printer with a fax, a photo copying machine and a telephone. I was brought to a receiving area where I saw inside the manager’s office a man, probably in his late 40’s. He’s applying for the same position I’m targeting. After they finished (‘kalas’ – Arabic term for finish), it was my turn. A few simple questions were asked which I answered politely, looking eye to eye. Sometimes, I glanced at his computer screen where interesting pictures appear as screensaver. The man in the picture was Saddam Hussein, the former autocratic, atrocious leader of Iraq. I was thinking of a possible link of the man to international terrorists group but I stopped entertaining the thought further for I was told to proceed to the reception area where again the old man is doing his typing exam. I guess his tying speed is not more than 10 words per minute. When it was my time, I was able to show my ability in MS Word, in creating a business letter. I was interviewed the second time. I thought I was accepted. He told me the company policy, working time, and visa processing. After the interview, he advised me to wait for his call the next day. I waited until I decided to call him only to be told that somebody was hired. It was not my lost anyway, thinking I might have worked with a terrorist supporter. First taxi ride with a Pakistani driver I decided to go to Abu Dhabi mall, not to buy anything but to window-shop. I took a taxi (all taxis are Toyota Corolla with white & brown color), which took me 5 minutes to the mall. During the journey, the driver asked me “Filipini" (that’s how they call us)? Yes, I replied. And I asked his nationality as well. Most drivers were either Indian or Pakistani nationals. He appeared to be in his 40’s because of his hair color and mustache. To make sure, I asked him his age. He replied, “I’m 28 years old." I was shocked. He, too, was shocked to find out I was two years older than him because he thought I was 18 years old. We ended our conversation by answering his question if he looks old. I lied and said “No". First visit to the fish market On our second day here in Abu Dhabi, my brother brought us to the fish market. The market is air-conditioned, clean, and, naturally, noisy. You could also buy raw food other than fish. There were sharks, shrimps, milkfish, and big and small fish. The vendors were again Indians & Pakistanis. When they saw the customer is a Filipino, they will shout and say “Kabayan, bili na halabusin, sinigang"? The same thing when you go to meat vendors, they’ll ask you, “Are you looking for buto-buto?" They have learned not only our language but our culture as well. For your information, the Indians are the number one competitors of Filipinos when you talk about migrant workers. We bought a kilo of shrimp AED20 (300 pesos), fish and lamb meat, our food for the next couple of days. First conversation with a Chinese woman We were walking in a busy Hamdan St. to buy rice in a nearby supermarket when suddenly, a Chinese lady approached us. She was wearing make up, dressed in jeans and shirt. Conversing, and while walking she handed to my brother a piece of paper and told him she had her number written on the paper and then pointed her finger to one of the buildings to show us where she lived. I thought that Asians are really friendly but later, when the lady left us, we were told that she was a prostitute and that was how they approach would-be customers. As we got near the market, my brother threw the piece of paper into the trash can. First trip to Mussafah with an upright driver My uncle has an interview (appointment) in one of the companies in Mussafah (for the position of) welder-mechanic. I accompanied him on the trip. There were two options to get to the place: one is via taxi which will costs AED20, or taxi sharing for AED5 per person. So, we chose the taxi sharing in order for us to save money. The problem is, we had limited information on how to get there. We gave the information we had to the driver but the driver wasn’t sure of the place. It took us a few kilometers more and we found the Hyundai showroom we were looking for. I handed to the driver AED15. It's five dirham over as payment for the inconvenience we caused. The driver refused to accept it and told us it was all right. After he left, we learned that there were two Hyundai showrooms and we were on the wrong one. We took another taxi ride and paid 10Dirhams, and there we met the person waiting for us. My uncle was accepted anyway for the job.