According to my 50-year-old Filipino colleague Mai, she has been learning English since kindergarten. In kindergarten, teachers don't allow them to speak their mother tongue. They can only speak English, or they will be beaten. For fear of being beaten, she seldom spoke in the first year of kindergarten. In schools in the Philippines, teachers teach in English and students explain in their mother tongue when they don't understand. ?
From the perspective of immigrating to Canada, their work experience and language ability are an advantage. Filipinos are more likely to come to Canada through their employers to keep their work visas, go to their employers' homes to take care of the elderly or children, and apply for a green card 24 months after filing tax returns. ?
Most of them have a big family with many brothers and sisters. ?
Talking about their big family reminds me of an interesting thing. There is a colleague in the Philippines, who is in his thirties and loves to talk and laugh. He is very cute. She told us that she ranked 12 at home. When she was three or four years old, her 20-year-old elder sister instigated her to say, Sleep between your parents at night, or your parents will not love you. In order not to lose her parents' love, she insisted on sleeping among her parents every night. Once, her parents wanted her to sleep next to her, and she cried. Her parents were puzzled and asked why. Her parents were very upset when she told her the reason. Perhaps because of her persistence, she became the youngest in the family. ?
Because most Filipinos have many brothers and sisters, they don't need to think too much about taking care of their parents, and they can go out to work to earn money to support their families. ?
Many of them send money to their families, parents, siblings' children and so on. Although one Canadian dollar is about 40 Philippine pesos, parents can live a good life with one hundred Canadian dollars a month, but the social security in the Philippines is not very strong. Once parents are ill and hospitalized, they may need a lot of money. Moreover, they have to take care of their small family in Canada, pay the house or rent, and send their children to school, so they are always financially nervous. Wheat went home for the first time after staying in Canada 12 years. ?
Once, for some unknown reason, the unit refused to pay me and another Filipino girl. She was very angry and immediately went to the supervisor's office and told them: I am waiting for the money to pay the bill. If you can't get it this afternoon, you won't come to work tomorrow! I don't understand why she is in such a hurry. Later, she told me that if she didn't pay those bills tomorrow, her bills would be overdue and she would be fined. ?
She has three children under the age of 10, and both husband and wife do nursing. In order to take care of the children, they stagger the shifts of work, one in the morning shift and the other in the middle shift or night shift, so that one person can always take care of the children, and the cost of sending the children to kindergarten is also saved. ?
Many people who don't need to take care of their children will work in two shifts every day, working in one unit for 8 hours and then working in another unit for 6-8 hours, that is, working 14- 16 hours every day. I once saw a colleague's itinerary in the Philippines. For a whole month, there was not a day off. The long-term result is a serious physical overdraft, and the quality of work is difficult to guarantee. ?
For example, a female colleague in her forties was more than ten minutes late for work from another unit, and then sat in a chair and said, I'm exhausted! She put her elbow on the table, supported her chin with her palm, closed her eyes and listened to the nurse's work report, and then dragged her tired body to work. If she meets an uncooperative old man, she will be impatient. ?
Once, I helped an old man sleep with her. I prepared toiletries and she changed his pajamas. The old man resisted a little and didn't want to take off his clothes. She pulled a face and said to the old man, I know you don't like me, I don't care! Then she continued to take off her clothes instead of patiently explaining to the old man what she had to do.
Another time, an old man pulled a pager, and I happened to pass by the man's door and went in, but this was also her area, and then she went in. The old man was lying in bed and asked us to change his urine pad. Staring at her eyes, she screamed, again? This is the third time! The old man was not frightened by her scream, but continued to laugh. She said firmly, this is the last time, there is no next time! It seems like a joke, but I can feel the fatigue on her face and the unhappiness in her heart. ?
She often uses our half-hour meal time to lie on the sofa and sleep instead of eating seriously. The food she brought was also very simple, such as bread and sandwiches, only for a few minutes. It is conceivable that if you don't even have time to sleep, how can you cook with your heart?
Filipinos also have a tradition of family support for the elderly. I once asked them that there are so many Filipinos in Canada, but I have never seen the elderly Filipinos in nursing homes. Why? They said, yes, but rarely. Many people will choose to live at home or go back to China for their old age.
Several people told me that they would go home in the future and buy a house in the Philippines for the elderly, including young people in their thirties whose children were born in Canada. ?
However, I am worried about them from the bottom of my heart, fearing that their bodies will collapse before their dreams come true. ?
Most of the first generation Filipino immigrants chose to do this industry. They generally think that this job requires short training time, good income and not too tired work.
A few days ago, several interns came to the nursing home, all Filipinos. Except for a woman in her fifties, all of them are young people in their thirties, and two fifths are boys.
I talked to two of them. They study this course in a private school in this city, working part-time from 8: 30 in the morning to 2: 00 in the afternoon and working from 3: 00 to 9: 00 or 11: 00 in the afternoon.
They are very happy and can graduate in three weeks' internship. After graduation, you will change jobs and your income will increase a lot.
The biggest feature of Filipinos is that they are practical and capable. They work fast, don't drag their feet, and are not afraid of being dirty or tired. For example, my colleague Maizi has always been soft-spoken, especially patient with the elderly, doing everything he should do for them seriously, methodically and meticulously. They don't dislike or complain about this kind of service, and they don't think it's an inferior job. If the locals ask them "why do Filipinos like to do this kind of work", they don't want to listen.
There are also a few people who are not so good. They are glib, know how to cut corners, cheat and even collude with each other, keeping other colleagues from knowing and being complained. For example, they work in the production line of the workshop, and the object of work is things rather than people with feelings, so they don't think too much about the feelings of the elderly. For them, work is just a means of making a living. After finishing the work, it will be ok without any safety problems.
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