A lot has been written about Filipinos who have gone abroad. Mostly about our contribution to the Philippine economy through our remittances, and also on the dislocations caused by so many people leaving the country. However, relatively little has been written about other activities we do while abroad – both what we do for ourselves and what we do for the Philippines.
From the point of view of an OF activist based in Europe, I have written some articles on Overseas Filipinos (OFs), both on the overall OF situation as well as on the need of OFs to assert our rights in two societies, i.e. both in the Philippines and in our host countries.
At the same time, many OFs (including myself) are also active in what we call the "solidarity movement" for the Philippines. This generally includes activities that aim to raise support for the Philippines from the host countries' nationals. In the process, we hope to also raise their awareness of the Philippine situation, and to develop linkages between them and various Philippine grassroots organizations. I have reported on one such activity in Newsbreak magazine (in the Philippines) that was held in the Netherlands as part of their 'Lenten Campaign'. To get a more general view of how solidarity work is done in Europe, you can also look at a paper I presented during one of our solidarity conferences.
