Unfair isn’t it? The well-off nurses are the first ones to go abroad and taste the more idyllic kind of life whereas the poverty-stricken nurses who badly need those handsomely- paying jobs are still pathetically stranded here in our unproductive country. Talk about money making the world go round, student visa is considered as the most popular way being used by Filipino nurses to penetrate productive countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. But the placement and processing fees involve an unthinkably vast amount of money. An amount visible only to the bank accounts of the well-to-do. If you have the money, then might as well practice the British or Aussie twang; but if you don’t….. :-/

I am really at a loss as to how other professionals are able to work immediately with high wages while nurses, who I think, performs one of the most edgy works could not even buy a nice pair of shoes. It feels like we are poor monkeys roaming around the jungle looking for food in order to survive. That’s why not all RN’s are working in the hospital because they would rather choose to work in other fields which could pay them beautifully.

It’s just so sad to think that we are, all the time, referred to as warriors of health but not treated well in terms of salary. Remuneration which is supposed to be suited to the kind of work we render.

Once regarded as one of the most glorious and progressive countries in Asia, the Philippines was placed second to Japan in terms of economic status besting other Asian countries like China and Singapore. It was truly a glistening pearl in the orient seas…. But that was long ago, things have changed dramatically. Currently, Japan remained atop most Asian countries; China, once the sleeping giant has metamorphosed into an economic giant, Singapore boasts of an unshakable economy and so with the other countries in Asia. The Philippines on the other hand is left behind and dived its way to the bottom of the roster.

The Filipinos remain steadfast amidst economic turmoil, political chaos, and poverty-induced tribulations. Most of the citizens are severely affected with poverty; nurses are not exempted in this problem. With the increasing rate of unemployment in our country, Filipino nurses are on their respective strategic maneuvers to combat the presenting problem so they may survive and uplift their families from the deep trenches of destitution. Unconsciously, from being patriotic they turned to being practical. And so, with love, hope and optimism they flew and rendered their services to other countries. But do these Filipino nurses really resorted to perfidy and totally despised the spirit of patriotism?

It’s not perfidy but love for their family that they chose to serve other nations in spite of cultural diversity, language barrier, forced solitude, and heartfelt longing—-SACRIFICE, to the strongest sense of the word. In the end, these sacrifices produced multi-fold benefits; because of the money they (and other overseas Filipino workers) send to their families in the Philippines, our country is saved from further degradation brought about by myriad and innumerable debts and thereby addressing our insolvency issues. This fact may not be in the minds of these modern day heroes when they’ve decided to work abroad but still in one way or another they haven’t totally turned their backs on our country.

There are a lot of ways to show and enact our loyalty to our country. It may not always be in the most pronounced and loud way, what is important is your effort to do so. In the case of overseas Filipino workers (that include nurses), it is love that led them to sacrifice and by these sacrifices they enacted patriotism by upholding the value of family—a pure and distinct FILIPINO quality.

Last year I and my closest friends were so much hopeful that something good will happen to our careers this year but our hopes failed and our luck stayed frigid as always. As nurses, we’ve always wanted to work abroad and of course we did everything to realize that desire. Just the other day we met at one of our friend’s house like what we often do; just talking and checking on anyone’s progress if there is. But sadly we’re still standing on the same grounds: the grounds of nothingness. Talking about the “ber” months made us shiver not because of the winter season but because the year’s end is coming and our careers remained fruitlessly languid—worst, we’re getting older. Funny how the carol says “you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why; Santa Claus is coming to town”—-never mind Santa, we all want to do otherwise.

To kick the melancholy aside, we laughed our depression out over bottles of beer and noisy singing and dancing. But still amidst our drunken revelry are our suppressed feelings looming like nightmares that refuse to get lost. And after indulging ourselves in oblivion our worries surge like impetuous waves that slap us back to reality. The fun’s over; what now?

My friend together with the 18 other nurses are all NCLEX-RN passers; I tried to apply to the agency where they are affiliated but my application was denied because I haven’t passed the NCLEX yet. Right now I’m working on my NCLEX-RN application in the sheer hope that I may also be granted the chance that my friend and her group are enjoying right now.

What I’m worried is that my Nursing knowledge is quite “rusted” already; of course, nurses know how hard the NCLEX-RN is. Just wondering and posting, if, perhaps, anyone here in the blogosphere have any suggestions regarding an effective means of reviewing…