OFW in India sees each day as battle for survival

MANILA – Amid thousands of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infections and fatalities in India, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) couldn’t help but expect a worst-case scenario.

Annabelle Joy Villamarin, a 42-year-old primary school principal in Gurugram City (formerly Gurgaon), near the capital Delhi, shared her fears with the Philippine News Agency in an online interview on Thursday.

“Nahihirapan kami dito kasi (It is very difficult here) we’re so scared and we need somebody to tell us at least that we’re going to be okay, we’re going to be fine,” the Baguio City native, who arrived in India in 2012, said.

About 2,000 Filipinos are living and working in India. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, she said there were more than 5,000 of them, but most decided to go home last year.

On Tuesday, Philippine Ambassador to India Ramon Bagatsing Jr. said two Filipinos, both female, succumbed to Covid-19 while about 20 are infected and isolated.

Villamarin lives in India with her 49-year-old husband, who is from Tondo, Manila, and their two sons, aged 19 and 10.

She lost her father last year – not to Covid-19 – but she was not able to go back home as she anticipated the stringent protocols she would have gone through.

“My dad passed away last year. I couldn’t do anything. Parang sa utak mo parang (In your mind it seems that) you know what to do but when it actually happened we’re so helpless, no one knows what to do. I’m a teacher, so I try to research, but it’s not enough,” Villamarin said.

On Thursday, India reported the largest daily increase of 379,275 new cases since the outbreak of the pandemic. The country has been reporting more than 300,000 new cases each day over the past week, according to Xinhua News.

Better PH situation

Based on what she’s reading, she said the Philippines is faring way better.

Villamarin said help from the Indian government seems to have stopped and people are left to fend for themselves.

“Kung titingnan mo ‘yung management of resources ng government sa PIlipinas, at least may tinutulong ang government dyan kahit konting pera na pwedeng gamitin. Dito talagang zero. The government does not help the people, they stopped the transportation and people started walking, ang mga tao wala na kinakain (If you will look at the management of resources in the Philippines, the government helps. Here, it’s zero. The government does not help the people. They’ve stopped transportation. People are walking. People do not have anything to eat anymore,” Villamarin said.

She said that what keeps them going are prayers and messages from friends and families in the Philippines, checking on them and motivating them to stay positive and stay strong.

Stay at home

To keep themselves safe, Villamarin said that they do not go out and order whatever they need online.

Only her husband, in full protective gear, will receive the items, leave them outside under the sun, and dip everything in a container filled with soap and water.

“Kami talagang hindi kami lumalabas. We order everything through apps, even groceries. ‘Pag dineliver, only one person holds the items and that would be my husband, tatanggapin niya, naka-full gear siya. Sibuyas, bawang, hinuhugasan lahat, lasang sabon na lahat ng mga kinakain namin (We do not go out. We order everything through apps, even groceries. Only one person handles the items it and that would be my husband, in full gear. Onion, garlic, all are washed thoroughly. Our food already tastes like soap), but we don’t care,” she narrated.

For other non-food deliveries, she said they are left outdoors for two days before they touch them.

Villamarin said he knows of just less than a hundred Filipinos who hold managerial positions, most of them in the southern part.

She also heard of 10 Filipino families who are stranded in Delhi holding medical visas, issued to those undergoing treatment or operation.

Support group

She said Filipinos get in touch with each other online, including those married to Indian nationals.

“We created a chat group and we help each other through chat, like somebody would ask who has a medicine like paracetamol, or would ask what to do in a certain situation,” she said.

The Covid-19 situation in India has become unimaginable, said Villamarin, taking away even the people’s sense of empathy, replaced with anger.

“Yung mga tao dito nagkakagulo kasi maraming families ng mga namatayan dito nagwawala at sininisira nila ‘yung mga facilities around the hospital kaya nakakatakot din pumunta. Umaapaw ang mga hospital. Walang emergency room (The people are panicking. Families who lost loved ones would destroy facilities around the hospital so it’s scary to go out. The hospitals are overflowing. There are no emergency rooms), they close the hospital gates and people are lying just outside the gate, waiting,” Villamarin said.

Villamarin said people are dying in their homes.

“We don’t know what to do. It’s difficult. We’re emotionally drained,” she said.

Overflowing

The explosion of new cases and the number of people dying every day forced the Indian government to convert parking lots into crematoriums, according to Villamarin.

Normally, she said, a crematorium can accommodate a maximum of 20 bodies per day. Now, hundreds of bodies pile up in hours.

“They had to create ‘yung isang parang sementadong box na dun nilalagay yun, kinokolekta yun. Nililinya nila yung mga katawan. Hindi na nila alam kung saan nila susunugin kasi it requires 24 hours before siya fully ma-cremate, hindi tulad sa atin na may full blast cremation facility (like a cemented box where they collect the bodies, then they are lined up. They do not know anymore where to cremate the bodies because it requires 24 hours for a body to be fully cremated, unlike in the Philippines that we have a full blast cremation facility),” she said.

Villamarin said that in Hindi culture, cremation has to be done naturally.

“Imagine how many people will pile up bago matapos ang (before the end of) 24 hours. They had to open a parking lot and at least, according to them, 70 funeral pyres can be placed in the parking lot,” Villamarin said.