The miracle of the money inside the washing machine

By Eva C. Visperas

Thanks to the 5,000 lira she “miraculously” found inside the washing machine in her workplace in the war-stricken Lebanon, this Pangasinense’s wish to return to Bolinao, her native town, came true.

Jonilyn Caacbay, 23, of barangay Concordia, Bolinao town believed it was a miracle to find the said amount at a time when she was penniless and longed to come home because of the war in Lebanon.

Relating her harrowing experiences as a domestic helper in Lebanon, Caacbay said that she could hardly eat due to overwork. She and her Pinay co-worker were even not allowed to watch television so that they couldn’t monitor what was going on. But the bombings and the ground-shaking traumatized her.

A graduate of Industrial Technology at the Pangasinan State University in Lingayen, Caacbay opted to work abroad because local employment was not available. Orphaned by their father and with an unemployed mother, Caacbay had to help tend to her other five siblings.

Luckily or unluckily, she was hired as a domestic helper on May 11 this year in Brumana, about two hours drive away from Beirut, attending to two children, one with physical disabilities.

She was to earn $200 a month but she was not being paid her employer claimed he had to recover her placement fees allegedly amounting to more than P10,000.

Though she had told her employer that she was wanted to go home because of the war, her request was denied and was even locked up inside the house whenever her boss would go out.

Then, one day, the “miracle” happened.

Caacbay accidentally found 5,000 lira inside the washing machine while she was retrieving washed clothes. She immediately escaped using the balcony at the fourth floor as her exit and climbed down a cable wire. Luckily, she was unhurt and rode a taxi going to the Philippine Embassy.

But her 5,000 lira was not enough to enable her to reach the embassy office, she needed about 20,000 lira for her fare. Then another miracle happened, a kind Lebanese helped her with the balance. The rest was God’s work leading her way home on August 13. She said she cried a lot when she was finally reunited with her family.

She said she regretted working abroad and promised not to leave the country again.

The other day, Caacbay joined hundreds other repatriated OFWs at  a reintegration fair dubbed  “Tulong at Alalay Ni Pangulong Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sa OFWs Mula Lebanon” held at Leisure Coast Resort here.

This one day fair, aimed to help the returning OFWs from region 1, was highlighted by the awarding of some 136 training coupons to returning OFWs by Technology  Education   Skills Development  Authority, livelihood certificates by the Overseas  Workers Welfare Administration, on-the-spot processing and hiring by local employment and overseas recruitment agencies minus the burdensome placement fees, passport services by the Department of Foreign Affairs, conciliation services by the National Labor Relations Commission and livelihood and loan counseling by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Quedancor and the National Livelihood Support Fund.

Back to Caacbay’s story, God works in mysterious ways, really!

 (You can also read this writer’s other stories at http://businessblog.prepys.com.)

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