By Cheryl Sevegan
Most of us went abroad with a common goal – to look for a greener pasture. While cultivating and enriching ourselves in our new place, there are few who managed to express their selves and succeeded despite the difficult working conditions in a foreign land. I call them the ‘empowered ones.’
Each of us has its own destiny, its own luck, but it depends on how we are able to bring out and use that luck in us and how we went through the difficult journey towards our destiny.
In this issue I want to share the story of an empowered lady I met in Rome during the convention of the first Diaspora 2 Dialogue in Europe. She caught my attention by the way she carried her self and I find her very patriotic because she wore our traditional costume most of the time. She’s one of the speakers in the conference, a very simple woman on the outside but is overflowing with substance in the inside.
I’m so glad that I’ve come to know her in my life’s journey. She continuously inspires me in so many ways on her own special way. She became my friend, and I consider her an older sister whom I ask for advice sometimes, seeking her knowledge on so many things as a leader. She’s a woman who loves people and inspires them, showing how to make our life significant to others by giving her fair share in this wonderful world.
I believe we have many things in common aside from our interest on international migration and the welfare of women and migrant workers. Both of us hail from the beautiful province of Mindoro, she originally came from Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro. She attended the Philippine Women’s University and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics.
Dear fellow OFWs, I’m very honored to introduce to you a very humble and beautiful woman inside and out – she’s no other than Ms. Charito Basa from Italy.
Migrating in Rome on November 1986 to work as a domestic helper, she immediately found job with Isis International, an organization founded to foster communication and networking among women at the international level. Through her work she became interested and later on became deeply involved on issues related to Filipina migrant workers in Italy. She then founded the Filipino Women’s Council (FWC), a Filipino migrant women’s association based in Rome and became one of its major spokesperson on women migrant’s issues in Italy.
She worked as resource person for many Italian and international organizations, helping them manage and coordinate development projects focused on food security, conduct training and research, and promote networking. Often unpaid for many of her various advocacy works, the former Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi conferred her the honor of ”Cavaliere della Republica/Knights of the Italian Republic” in 2002 in recognition of all her volunteer works.
Cheryl: Hello Ate Chato. Can you please give us some backgrounds about your profession?
Charito: Hello to all Kababayans in Israel. This is the list of my professional experiences:
March 2011-October 2013, Research Consultant, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London, United Kingdom
May 2010-January 2011, Coordinator and trainer/facilitator, Filipino Women’s Council, Rome, Italy
July 2008-November 2009, Research and Training Consultant, Fondazione ISMU, Milan, Italy.
May 2007-March 2009, Research Consultant, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London, United Kingdom
Oct 2006-Dec 2007, Research Consultant, United Nations-Institute for Training and Research for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Dec 2005-April 2006, Research Consultant, Mama Cash Foundation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Nov 2004-Aug 2005, Consultant, FAO, Livelihoods Support Programme, Policy, Participation and Local Governance, Rome, Italy
1994 to present, Trainer/facilitator, leadership, empowerment and organizing migrant women, anti-racism, awareness-raising and intercultural seminars for Italian public service workers, other migrant organizations, International Organization for Migration (IOM), International Labor Organization (ILO), Italian NGOs and public institutions
Dec 1996-March 2003, Project Coordinator, Centro Internazionale Crocevia, Rome, Italy
Dec 2002-July 2004, Project and Research Coordinator, Filipino Women’s Council in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other groups and local government entities in a European Commission’s funded EQUAL project on the “Image of Migrants in Italy through media, civil society and the labour market”
January 2003-June 2005, Researcher, EC funded project “Network of Native and Migrant Women in Europe”, Università Roma Tre
April 27-Dec 30, 2001, Consultant, Radio Televisione Italiana – RAI Educational’s project “Io parlo Italiano” (I speak Italian), Rome
July-October 2000, Producer and Researcher, VPRO Television, The Netherlands and Rome
Sept 1996-Jan 1997, Consultant, Logistics and International Relations, for the International Steering Committee of the NGO Forum on Food Security, Rome, Italy
Feb 1990-Feb 1992, Consultant, Society for International Development in Rome, Italy
Nov 1986-Dec 1990, Production Assistant, Isis International–Women’s Information and Communication Service, Rome, Italy
Cheryl: Wow! That’s a very impressive long list of professional experiences. I know that you publish books; can you share it also to us?
Charito: Yes, I have published a few books. Here are they:
Co-author with Natalia Ribas-Mateos, “How Filipino Immigrants in Italy send Money Back Home,” (2013) Mellen Press, London, UK
Lead author with Violeta De Guzman and Sabrina Marchetti: “International migration and over-indebtedness: the case of Filipino workers in Italy,” International Institute for Environment & Development, Human settlements working paper no. 36, (2012) UK
Lead author with Wendy Harcourt and Angela Zarro, “Remittances and transnational families in Italy and The Philippines: breaking the global care chain,” Gender & Development, Volume 19:1, March 2011, OXFAM, UK
Lead author with Lorna Villamil and Violeta De Guzman, “Migration and Local Development and Governance in Small Towns: two examples from the Philippines,” under the programme “Migration and Small Town Development,” International Institute for Environment and Development, (2009), London, UK
Author, “Remittances, Migration and Development: perspectives of Filipino Migrants in Italy,” published under the book “Moving Out, Back and Up: international migration and development prospects in the Philippines,” (2008) Scalabrini Migration Center, Quezon City, Philippines
Lead author with Marita Moaje, “A Guide for Filipinos in Italy” (2008, rev 2010), Filipino Women’s Council – Institute for Training and Research for the Advancement of Women, Santo Domingo
Author, “She Gives Back: Diaspora philanthropy in Italy, a research on the Diaspora philanthropy activities of migrant women in Italy,” (2006) Mama Cash Foundation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Lead author, “Women in the Diaspora: the experiences of Filipino women in Italy,” a technical paper presented at the Consultation Workshop and Panel on Female Migrants, UN, New York and for the UN High Level Conference on Migration and Development, (2006), NY
Author, “Me, Us and Them: migrant women defining changes,” an article included in the Development issue of Society for International Development, (2006) International;
Co-author with Rosalud Dela Rosa, “Me, Us and Them: realities and illusions of Filipina domestic workers,” a book on community research work and analysis of findings on the lives of Filipino domestic workers in Rome within the EC-EQUAL project, “The Image of Migrants in Italy”, (2004), Italy
Author, “Noi Filippini scaraventate nel mondo” (We Filipinos scattered all over the world – an article published in an Italian newspaper), Libera Informazione Editrice, 1995, Roma.
Cheryl: Another ‘Wow!’ for that long list again of your books. Many people dream to be like you and I am one of them. What do you think are your best qualities?
Charito: I love people and feel that my strength lies in the ‘people’ skills I have developed in my work. I am multi-skilled, a good organizer, flexible, persistent, a good team player, and a swift learner. I’m a very energetic and cheerful person and I appreciate challenges and opportunities.
Cheryl: That explains who you are right now. May we know your current job or present position in the organization you are connected with?
Charito: I am now holding the positions of
Founder/Vice Chair, The Filipino Women’s Council, Italy
Board Member, Defence for Children International – Italy
Member, ENAR-European Network Against Racism
Member, European Network on Migration and Development
Cheryl: Aside from being a graduate of Economics in the Philippines, did you take another course or have studied abroad?
Charito: Yes I did because I love learning. I took and finished my study at the International Labour Migration Academy, International Training Centre-International Labour Organization, Turin, Italy, on July 2011. I am currently completing a Master’s Degree on Gender & Migration Studies, Women and Gender Institute (WAGI), at Miriam College in Quezon City, Philippines. I also completed the Leadership Training at the Center for Women’s Global Leadership Institute in Rutger’s University, New Jersey, USA, on 1994.
Cheryl: You’re an inspiration and what I love most with what you are doing is when you shared your knowledge and did some seminars about tomato preservation. Can you tell me something about the livelihood program you are conducting?
Charito: Yes, it all started when I saw that many harvested tomatoes are just getting spoiled in our place because there are lots of supplies but lesser demands. You know that in the Philippines tomatoes are seasonal and during off-season it is so expensive. So from there an idea about tomato preservation like the one we have in Italy came into my mind. I started it in my place in Mindoro which turned out very good because they can keep the preserved tomatoes which are ready to use like in cooking spaghetti, meat and other menus that require the use of tomatoes.
Everybody was so enthusiastic and happy to learn the process and it inspired me more when I shared it in Facebook and I received very nice feedbacks. Many even shared it in their FB accounts like you and so I had a series of tomato preservation and bottling demos in the province of Mindoro and in Manila. My 4th tomato-bottling demo was in Quezon City. It took place in Isis International, QC, hosted by Education Life Foundation (ELF) and Isis International.
Cheryl: That was really a very commendable deed and it’s just apt to praise you for doing it voluntarily without pay. I am aware that you also give lectures about financial literacy programs to our fellow Kababayans in Italy. Could you give us a glimpse about it?
Charito: Yes, my group and I are giving financial literacy programs around Italy and if there’s an invitation from other countries. Our main objective in the program is to identify the current financial situation and the reasons why they are in their current stage. We make family budget, set goals and financial plan to enable them to achieve goals within a certain time frame. We help them understand the various savings and investment instruments that they can avail of and to translate financial and family goals into concrete savings and investment programs to enable them to achieve their goals for migration.
We focus more on investing wisely for the OFW’s hard-earned money because we know that many are not really that educated in investing their finances which is also painful on our side since we know exactly how they earned that money that’s why we are into this thing. In my group we have chosen a few livelihood cooperatives in the Philippines where we invested our money as share of stocks and from 4 years I can say that my money is safe there and earning good and so do most of our members. By this way we are also helping our country’s economy. It’s a two-way process - they are helping us in keeping and making our money earn and we in turn give them more capital. Choosing where and what to invest or put your money into is very, very important.
Cheryl: Ate Chato, it’s really nice knowing you and I’m so glad and honored that you shared with me your precious time. I’m looking forward to working with you in the future towards of course a common goal, and that is to extend help to our fellow Kababayans. Lastly, what parting words or thoughts can you leave to our fellowmen in Israel?
Charito: Chinkee Tan said, “It is not the money you make, but it is how much money you save.” We can use this substantial thought as our guide in savings. And I also would like to share our concepts on saving which are: “To preserve for future use; to treat or use carefully in order to preserve; to keep. Therefore Saving is not the end itself. One must learn to save and invest and insure oneself. Saving is not enough; you have to make your money grow by investing it properly. There are too many cases of people who are good at saving but who still lose all their savings because of bad investments especially for us OFWs who work abroad away from home and who will someday go home in due time because we know that we will not be spending the rest of our lives in our host country.
Thank you very much Ate Charito for the very informative and inspiring thought. We really are in need of someone like you who don’t only have expertise but also broad experience regarding financial literacy to ensure financial security and stability for our families in the future. This is the reason why we are sacrificing here abroad – to give a better life and secure a better future for our love ones.
I salute you on your noble service for the benefit of our Kababayans and may you continue to inspire lives. Till we meet again and God bless!