Wazzup Pilipinas!
Concepcion
“Connie” Cabasa couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw her daughter Ruselle standing
at the front of their house. Ruselle
Cabasa, who had not been home to the Philippines for seven years, has just
arrived at their doorstep in Navarcan, Ilocos Sur unannounced. What her mother Connie and her father Eddie
Cabasa didn’t know about is that Ruselle had just won MoneyGram’s Kabayan
Homecoming promotion where one MoneyGram customer from Japan could win an
all-expense paid trip back home to the Philippines. For Ruselle, it was a long time awaited visit
Ruselle had been
working in Japan for 13 years now. She didn’t visit her loved ones home for
seven years to send them more money. A roundtrip ticket costs as much as
PhP40,000– an amount that would cover her family’s living and household
expenses in Narvacan. So, instead of
regularly flying in for a visit like other OFWs, Ruselle had chosen to
sacrifice her need to be with her family and support them financially instead. To make up for her absence, she regularly
phoned home to keep in touch with her parents and siblings.
As the third out
of four children, Ruselle always had a strong sense of responsibility for her
family. After college graduation, together
with her twin sister Raquel, she immediately started working in Manila to support
their family’s income. Soon they learned
of an opportunity to work in Japan. Both
sisters applied for this position, but only Ruselle’s application was accepted.
Although it was
difficult to work in a foreign country, not to mention being oceans away from
her family, Ruselle stayed motivated and did her best at work. She adapted to the culture and norms, and
soon started her own family in Japan. Whenever
she was tired, homesick or longed for her loved ones in the Philippines, her
children, Yoshitaka and Nozomi, kept her spirits up.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
