Embroidery of Thoughts

Wit and honesty will win the heart.

I have been reading about how well Precious Lara Quigaman answered the question during the Miss International Pageant. I can't help but to have my say about her phenomenal performance.

If you were in her place and was confronted with this question, what would have been your response as a Filipino? Pretend you have never heard her response, what would you have said?

Q: “What do you say to the people of the world who have typecasted filipinos as nannies?”

A: “I take no offence on being typecasted as a nanny. But I do take offence that the educated people of the world have somehow denigrated the true sense and meaning of what a nanny is. Let me tell you what she is. She is someone who gives more than she takes. She is someone you trust to look after the very people most precious to you - your child, the elderly, yourself. She is the one who has made a living out of caring and loving other people. So to those who have typecasted us as nannies, thank you. It is a testament to the loving and caring culture of the Filipino people, and for that, I am forever proud and grateful of my roots and culture.”

Some people say that the question was discriminatory, some say it's a stupid question. I say, it's a great question that meant to test how well a person will respond to such question on stage and she did an excellent job.

She spoke for the thousands of overseas workers, migrant workers working as nannies who are not getting fair treatment. For the numbers of Filipinos workers around the world that are being taken for granted, she spoke for those who cannot speak for themselves. She is a voice of a lot of Filipinos around the world doing their job caring, loving and are sometimes mocked because of what they do. She made people think of whom they are entrusting the people they love, themselves. She spoke for the invisible workers most people take for granted. She spoke for the people who sacrificed so much inorder for other people to be able to go out and have a career while she makes a career of caring and loving. She spoke for the people that are making life easier for other people. She spoke for a lot of people out there giving so much of themselves out of love, and are being paid too little. She spoke for lots of people, not only nannies that deserve respect because of their dedication and loving ways.

Precious lara is the voice of a lot of people's voices that are lost in the crowd that are just viewed insignificant.

Is it prejudicial? I think there's some truth to it. If you look at the statistics of overseas workers and migrant workers all over the world, majority of the pie falls to the nanny jobs.Countries like Hongkong, Singapore, Taiwan, Canada, countries in the Middle East and other countries.

Being a nanny, I think it's one of the most noble jobs. It takes a certain skill to be a nanny.You get to be a parent, get to be the teacher, a confidant, a friend, a referree, a coach, you get to assume a lot of roles being a nanny. And it requires lots and lots of patience. So, if you are a nanny,be proud to be one as long as you are doing a great job.

The question really is, what's wrong with being a nanny?

Kudos! to you Precious Lara, you would make an excellent ambassador of goodwill. Because you speak for the people you represent. You are a real mirror of beauty. You voice is loud enough to reach people all over the world. Continue uplifting the Filipinos working all over the world whatever they might be doing as a living. Even in the blogger world, everyone is talking about your excellent wit of rebuttal. You deserve the crown. Keep up the good work.

posted by Unknown @ 11:36 AM