An assistant teacher works to support her family and community in Kuwait and the Philippines

English transcript | نسخة عربية

Nationality: Filipino
Occupation: Assistant Teacher
Date of interview: 09 September 2020
Language of interview: English

Laila has been in Kuwait for the past seven years. She is an assistant second grade teacher. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and works to support her five children, her husband and her parents in the Philippines. When the pandemic came, her school went online from February to July but continued to pay staff. She lived with the school owners as a tutor for their children for the first two months. Staying in a Kuwaiti house for the first time in six years was lonely and she felt shy, but she had to be tough and remind herself she was lucky to have work. So many in her community in Kuwait lost their jobs due to the pandemic, as did her cousins back home. She and her cousins abroad coordinated to send money home to support their extended family, but Laila also used part of her salary to support her jobless friends in Kuwait. In addition, she volunteered with a group providing aid, collecting the names of those in need to submit to the coordinators making deliveries.

Laila, crying, says you need to act strong when you are helping others. As a mother herself, she felt very emotional for the lactating mothers who didn’t have enough food, or for those who didn’t have formula or diapers for their infants. When listening to those suffering from depression, she struggled to not show her own emotions. ‘Bayanihan’, which means taking care of community, is so important. You must take care of your own health and then take care of those in your community, she says, and the Filipino community all cared for one another during this time. But also, Laila stresses that you shouldn’t only seek to help those of your same nationality. Their volunteer group reached out and coordinated with members of African, Indian, Bangladeshi and other communities, to together find those most in need and make sure they got assistance. The five head volunteers were Filipino nurses who could get the food into the fenced off areas. They would work such long hours to ensure all the food was delivered that they often forgot to eat themselves.

“You know, you can see some babies on Facebook, the moms are pleading for milk, diapers and even medicines for the babies and even for the people that are affected by the Coronavirus [voice cracks]. Just like a time of-- it’s not like "only oh, you belong to that nationality, we are not going to help you." No! It's a time that we have to hold hands together. That whatever will happen, we are humans and humans tend to help each other... We don't care, during the pandemic it's not the time for like, “Oh, you, you belong to the religion?” No, it's like, we don't care whatever we have, we are, even if we are Christians or Muslims, we have to, we have to help each other in order to survive.”

Her emotions have been so mixed throughout. She sees the distress of parents who have lost their jobs and cannot provide basic food and necessities for their children. But then she also sees all of the groups working together to help these families, and she feels joy at the heroism of so many. Also, when Laila wasn’t able to go to work because of the restrictions, she would stay up late and call her children at a time when they were all able to talk, about 2am in Kuwait. These nightly talks were a positive and precious side of the pandemic, strengthening her bonds with her family. She said many of her friends had the same experience with their own families.

“I appreciate small things now in my life, especially my health... even if you don't have enough money and if your health is good, you’re considered yourself as a wealthy person. And you know, everything is temporary in this world. And one thing maybe that also made me mature is that you're not thinking of yourself only. You're thinking of other peoples’ conditions, other peoples’ struggles. You try to reach out more than before. You try to give more than you can have, even though you have only small things left on you for yourself. There is, you know, the feeling that, ‘Oh! I have to give this to you. I have to share this with someone because they need it more than myself. They need it more than I.’”

In the clip above, Laila talks about the importance of having your own space, whilst living in her employers' home during lockdown.

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