Mograbi, a citizen, feels as if he has lost both his hands after his two Filipino workers who used to manage his gift and flower shop left the Kingdom. Mohammad traveled to Manila a week ago to negotiate with two other Filipinos, asserting that no other nationals are as good as Filipinos. “There is no comparison between Filipinos and others,” he said. What would the Kingdom be like without Filipinos? Most of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) live in Saudi Arabia. Their number reached 1,019,577. In 2006 alone, we received more than 223,000 OFWs. The numbers are increasing. Filipinos account for 20 percent of the world's 1.2 million seafarers. If the Philippines, for whatever reasons, halts exporting these seafarers, or they themselves go on a strike, then who would transport the world's petroleum, food and heavy equipment? You can imagine the disaster. The world will come to a standstill if these ships stop. Filipino workers are present on more than 51 ships navigating the world, performing exceptional duties in transport, maintenance and operation. What makes Filipinos special? They get technical training early during their academic years. They have a good command of the English language. Specialized training institutes in the Philippines polish the talents of their students with the best work-related training methods, as they also concentrate on majors ignored by many countries. When we talk about Filipinos, we should not forget Filipino nurses who account for 20 percent of the world's nurses. Philippines has about 190 recognized universities, colleges and institutes that offer nursing courses. More than 9,000 female and male nurses graduate from these colleges and institutes every year. Most of these graduates move directly to work in the US, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Singapore. Kati Ann, a 35-year-old Filipina nurse who has been working in the Kingdom for five years, said she felt at home here because there are so many compatriots. She said her training as a nurse started when she was just 4 years old. Her nurse aunt used to take her to her workplace and asked her to observe. “I had become professional by the age of 11, measuring my grandfather's blood pressure and injecting my mother with Insulin.” We should respect Filipinos not only by recruiting them, but also by learning from them and their rich experience. – Al-Watan __
