PEBA: Strengthening the OFW Families | A Call For Awareness

This year's PEBA theme is definitely something that will have a great impact not just to OFWs but also to the family they have left behind. And the fact that it was opened not just to the OFW Bloggers but  also to Philippine based bloggers, made the theme more timely and more appropriate to our country's growing number of broken families. With high hopes and the support and efforts of other Filipino bloggers around the world, let the awareness begin.

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PEBA has witnessed the real life suffering and loneliness of the OFWs and their families and believes that strengthening the OFW families, strengthens the homes and the nation! Thus, this season’s theme of “Strengthening the OFW Families: Stronger Homes for a Stronger Nation” does not just momentarily fit the issue of hour but is a timeless subject that cannot be bound by shackles so long as there are OFWs out there.

Scores of blogs and articles have been written about the subject in the past but it seems that the government authorities remain clueless of solutions and action plans to abate the increasing number of broken families.

We cannot wait and just rely on our government to come to rescue of the OFWs families in crisis. As Pinoy Expats and OFW bloggers, we have the moral obligation to help and encourage one another in our own little ways. What we blog and write about may encourage a fellow OFW or a fellow blogger to save his marriage from falling apart… it may help one to keep the family intact.

What can we do as bloggers? The PEBA 2010 Season opens with not just the OFWs and Pinoy expatriates writing about the OFW families but will be joining forces with local bloggers who, in one way or the other, have been influenced by OFWs in their lifetime. The support of the local bloggers who are sympathetic to the OFWs cause will have that exponential effect of reaching and educating up to the grassroots level.

PEBA calls on the bloggers to write and post about topics on strengthening the OFW families, and their being miles away from each other. Topics may include family communication, family gatherings, parent-child coaching and counseling, assistance and support in children’s homework and projects, conference meetings with family members, online contact with families, pointers on cheap communication, etc. PEBA calls on the bloggers to write about what they are doing to strengthen their families despite the distance and their absence from home. PEBA calls on the bloggers to share insights, ideas, pointers and how to express love for their spouses and children.

PEBA will not just be an organization that will give annual awards for exemplary blogs but it will proactively act on issues that will make difference in people's lives, especially the young children, and the OFW's and their families. 

Read the complete article here.