Yesterday I had lunch with a Saudi entrepreneur and his assistant Jayson. As his name doesn’t tell, Jayson is Filipino; he’s part of the million and a half Filipinos working in the Kingdom, and had some very interesting facts to share!
Jayson came to Saudi Arabia through the intermediary of a work placement agency in the Philippines, which helped him find a job in Saudi Arabia and obtain a visa. So he landed 3 years ago in this foreign country and started working as an engineer in a Saudi company. Of course his first month salary had to go straight to the work placement agency, but still the salary he would receive in the following months was much of an improvement compared to what he used to earn back home.
The Philippines, he says, is becoming overpopulated and it’s getting harder and harder to find a job. In 2010, the population was estimated over 92 million people, and given the relatively limited size of the country, the density is over 300 men / km2, which is 25 times Saudi Arabia’s! That’s why more and more Filipinos are coming to the Kingdom; Jayson is even considering bringing one brother along, or should I say one “hermano”???
Well “hermano” was the first Filipino word of my lesson! It wasn’t a language lesson though, but a history lesson I’d like to share: the Philippines were indeed conquered by the Spaniards in 1565, and they remained there over 300 years (during which they were administrated from Mexico City! Only until 1821, but that’s another story…). They left a large Catholic community, an “Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española”, and several Spanish words incorporated into Filipino / Tagalog, such as: servesa, kabayo, bentilador, bangketa, kabanya, and of course hermano!
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