Far From Home: Back for good after years overseas as migrant staff, they wrestle with new realities in personal nations | USAEMALL.com

One day, a friend reached out to Miranda, offering her to come to a sharing session organised by a group of former migrant workers. 

“Sharing my story with people who understand or have similar experiences helped me cope with the pain I feel inside,” Miranda said, adding that ever since she has been attending similar sessions and workshops organised by the group: Sandigan. 

The group was founded in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, when the Philippines saw an influx of returning migrant workers because they either lost their jobs or feared that they would not be able to return home as host countries began closing their borders. 

Similarly, support groups in Indonesia also began cropping up during the pandemic, particularly in areas with a large migrant worker population. 

“Some of these groups started as informal gatherings of friends and neighbours. Most disbanded after one or two sessions but there are those which are still active today,” said Wahyu Susilo, executive director of Indonesian-based non-profit organisation, Migrant Care.   

In Dadap – a village in the coastal region of West Java where nearly 80 per cent of its households have at least one member of the family who have worked overseas – such group began as an impromptu snack-making workshop back in 2020.  

“A lot of people, be it returning migrant workers or those who stay in Indonesia, fell on hard times during the pandemic because there were no jobs both abroad or at home,” said Elly Kusumah, the coordinator of the village’s Migrant Workers’ Empowerment Group. 

“We have a lot of cassavas in our village, so why not try to turn them into chips? We have a lot of fruits, so why not turn them into jams?”

As more former migrants participated in the programme, they began interacting more closely with each other. Elly noted that many were facing difficulties readjusting to life in Indonesia. Although Elly was never a migrant worker herself, she sympathised with their plights. 

“Some felt they were ridiculed by family members because they now speak with a Malaysian accent and sounded like Upin Ipin,” she said, referring to a Malaysian cartoon programme popular in both Malaysia and Indonesia. 

“Others shared about struggling to reconnect with their children after being away for so long. The problems varied.”