Many Journeys, Many Voices: A Tribute to Filipina Overseas Workers by Edna Zapanta Manlapaz, Czarina Saloma, and Yael A. Buencamino (review)

This homage to Filipina overseas migrant workers is a collaboration of three units at the Ateneo de Manila University: the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings (ALIWW), the Ateneo Art Gallery, and the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC). The ALIWW sought to generate texts from ordinary women to complement its archive of writings by published female authors. The IPC conducted a study in 2012–2013 to collect the life histories of thirty-three women who worked overseas from the 1950s to the 2010s. The Ateneo Art Gallery focused on the artworks of three female artists—Ofelia Gelvezon Tequi, Brenda Fajardo, and Imelda Cajipe Endaya; their works adorn this book and make powerful statements about migrant women. The first of the two formal divisions of the book discusses key findings from the IPC study, concentrating on family relationships and commitments. The second part, which is the heart of this book, presents the autobiographical narratives of ten of the thirty-three women who participated in the IPC study. The narratives are English translations of the transcripts of taped interviews conducted in the local languages, “edited to simulate the conversational flow of a Filipina overseas worker telling her life story in her own words” (xi). Their narratives do not tell a single story. For one good employer, there is always another who is just the opposite. One’s problems may come from coworkers, rather than the employer. Eight of the ten women, whose migratory life is over, take stock of what transpired in their lives. There is no single answer to whether it was all worth it. Traumatized by sexual harassment and rape, Catalina says of her time in Oman, “I cannot be proud of my having worked abroad. . . . Work like this makes you no better than pigs” (125). Maryanne recalled her grueling work as a domestic in Kuwait and Paris, but in the end declared, “My work overseas put food on our table. I am content” (78). There is no single view about kinship ties, either. Hailing from Benguet, Socorro worked in Hong Kong from 1979 to 1996; she never got married, but supported her family with her earnings, only to reap conflicts with relatives. Socorro’s advice is to temper altruism: “Take care of yourself. Don’t send all your hard-earned money to family back home. . . . Otherwise you will end up like me, living alone and blind” (61). Aniceta, a beautician, decided to work overseas after her marriage ended; in Kuwait she met her second husband, marrying him in 1990. She retired in 2005 and now lives with her husband and eldest son and grandchildren in Zamboanga. She asserts, “I am proud to be an OFW. I was able to earn and bring dollars to the Philippines” (71). Each life story is unique, highlighting adversities but also and always the agency of these women.