Sunrise Narratives

The 1 st Cup
Brekkie Bite
A 2 nd Cup
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Hoy por Manana
Magis
Reminiscence
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Burning Desire
for Service
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Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
5:48-5:51 AM
Sept. 10, 2020
GKWorX – A Burning Desire for Service (published 2014) (page 1 of 4)
Many occasions, I am asked “Why spend so much time
helping others, when you are already so stressed out with
your work?”
Here is the reason:
Oftentimes, I interact with my co-workers, and see the
youth, our so called “future”, struggling to make a living
from their almost next to minimum salary. I hear stories of
new graduates coming from the provinces, striking out
here in Manila to get a better job. Together with a couple of
friends, they find a place to rent near the office. Three of
them, in a 4 X 4 room. No private toilet but just a makeshift
table, a bed mat on the floor, and a water heater. The water
heater is essential because day in and day out, a meal will
be just a cup of instant noodles. Their earnings would have
been enough, if not for the constant need to send money
back home for Dad’s medicine, for Joselito’s tuition, or for
the house repair after a typhoon’s wrath. Truly, at the end
of so many months at work, many of them would already
have their ATM card pawned to the loan sharks just to
make ends meet. And what do the employees do to
alleviate the situation? They resort to drinking at night to
help them forget their sorrows and get some sleep as the
mosquitoes “fiesta”/ feast on them.
As an employer, am I at fault?
Am I not paying them enough to make their lives more
decent?
Perhaps.
But I also see employees who are receiving double or even
triple that of a minimum wage earner, and yet they are still
in the same situation as above.
Maybe it is not just about money, but a combination of
financial woes and an unguided values system.