Russian dreams(?!)

HONG KONG—US President Barack Obama doesn’t know my friend Digoy or else he wouldn’t have made that statement to the New York Times recently about no one wanting to emigrate to Russia. He said this in connection with the West’s imposition of more sanctions against Russia which looks set to invade Ukraine after having gobbled up Crimea.

Mr. Obama, despite his myriad advisers, was obviously not apprised of the fact that Butuan-born Digoy recently bought Aeroflot tickets for himself and his wife Maris to job-hunt in Moscow. Many of their pals, like myself in the Filipino community in Hong Kong’s Lantau district where the couple worked for two decades, were sad to see them go. Most felt frissons of excitement over their impending voyage, but a few felt trepidation on their behalf as they headed for that vast distant land—one which Winston Churchill once described as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

It was thanks to Facebook that Maris learned that a former classmate of hers had a nice job as a nanny in Moscow, earning much more than any migrant worker could in Hong Kong. In previous years Digoy assiduously applied online for jobs in Canada and Australia—he and I had spent many hours polishing his resumé and sending out application letters. All to no avail. This time, ignoring (or ignorant of) reports about the crisis involving Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the United States, he decided Russia was their only recourse. So he applied through an agency in Moscow where the system requires foreign workers to pay a hefty fee in US dollars and then obtain temporary visas from the Russian consulate in their place of residence. Once the workers arrive in Moscow, the agency arranges interviews with prospective employers. Needless to say, nannies and caregivers are much in demand, while positions for male workers are not as plentiful.  Digoy’s hope was that they could find an employer who would hire them both so they would not be separated.

One can’t totally blame such young people (he’s 41, she’s 34). After years of toiling in this Chinese territory as a maid and handyman, the couple decided (with what seemed to me a “bahala na” attitude) to strike out in search of greener pastures—one that I warned them turns into frozen tundra each winter, which did not deter them. Intrepidly they made the epic move for the usual reason: to support their three children back in the Philippines.

All this reminds of the stories during the first war in Iraq when the Philippine Embassy offered to repatriate workers, many of whom preferred to stay behind. The same happened later when Lebanon’s civil war broke out. This scenario is being repeated today as Libya boils over into conflict—reports are that just a fraction of the over 13,000 Filipinos there have agreed to return home. Which speaks volumes about the fact that ordinary Filipinos have no faith that their government can provide them with decent livelihoods.

In my opinion, Canada has been foolish in not welcoming a fine character with such wide talents like Digoy to their shores, but there’s no telling about a country’s predilections. For some time now, Canada has accepted countless migrant workers over the years, in fact many women have used Hong Kong as a stepping-stone to that country. Today a survey shows that the widest-spoken foreign language in that continent is Filipino. Unfortunately the worldwide recession seems to have affected Canada’s intake of new emigrants. Which makes one conclude how much nicer it would have been if Digoy and Maris had found work even in the far reaches of the Yukon, Saskatchewan or Nova Scotia than in the “permafrosted” provinces of Russia. But, as the saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers.

BBC correspondent Tim Franks recently talked about the return of the Russian oligarchy, which filled me with foreboding for my two friends. Like China, that former communist country today is ruled by capitalists, whose cronies live well while the mass of the people struggle like the old serfs under the emperor (today’s supreme leader is referred to privately as “rasPUTIN”). With my two innocent compatriots having launched themselves (or, put another way, taken the plunge) into that scary Great Beyond, one hopes they make a soft landing, perhaps hired by a kind capitalist who will treat them well and pay them properly.

So those of us in Hong Kong who have been waiting and worrying as we watch Facebook to track Digoy and Maris’ progress, do so with fingers crossed and bated breath. Who knows, being devout adherents of the El Shaddai cult, they may be able to Christianize the heathen Russians or at least soften their Cossack tendencies.

Isabel T. Escoda is a freelance journalist based in Hong Kong.