The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the transatlantic slave trade, was the trading, primarily of African people, to the colonies of the New World
that occurred in and around the Atlantic Ocean. It lasted from the 16th
to the 19th centuries. Most enslaved people were shipped from West Africa and Central Africa and taken to North and South America to labor on sugar, coffee, cocoa and cotton plantations, in gold and silver mines, in rice
fields, or in houses to work as servants. Enslaved people were
generally obtained through coastal trading with Africans, though some
were captured by European slave traders through raids and kidnapping.
Most contemporary historians estimate that between 9.4 and 12 million
Africans arrived in the New World.
The Atlantic Slave Trade was the result of, among other things, labor shortage. Many crops could not be sold for profit, or even grown, in Europe. Exporting crops and goods from the New World to Europe often proved to be more cost effective than producing them on the European mainland. A vast amount of labor was needed for the plantations in the intensive growing, harvesting and processing of these prized tropical crops. Western Africa (part of which became known as "the Slave Coast"), and later Central Africa, became the source for enslaved people to meet the demand for labor.
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Like the Atlantic slave trade of old, each year, more than a million
Filipinos leave to work abroad through overseas employment agencies and
other programs, including government sponsored ones. Others emigrate and become permanent residents
of other countries. Overseas Filipinos often work as doctors, physical
therapists, nurses, accountants, IT professionals, engineers,
architects, entertainers, technicians, teachers, military servicemen,
seafarers, students, caregivers, domestic helpers and household maids.
The exodus includes an increasing number of skilled workers taking on
unskilled work overseas, resulting in what has been referred to as a brain drain, particularly in the health and education sectors. Also, the exodus can result in underemployment, for example, in cases where doctors undergo retraining to become nurses.
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There are about 8.7 to 11 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, equivalent to about 11% of the total population of the Philippines.
Compare this to the estimated 9.4 to 12 million Africans slaves who
were taken to the New World, and you have a clear picture of the
magnitude of this exodus.
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But why does more than a tenth of the entire population of the
Philippines leave behind their families in their native land -- this
"Pearl of the Orient Seas" -- to work abroad? Why does many Filipinos,
some of whom are professionals, take menial jobs like housemaids and
unskilled laborers, in foreign countries? Why does many Filipinos opt to
suffer the humiliation, the bitterness, the loneliness and the
frustration of a foreign employment?
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The answer is simple – It is, for most Filipinos, now a simple matter of SURVIVAL. Money sent by OFWs back to the Philippines
is a major factor in the country's economy. Overseas Filipinos sent
$15.9 billion worth of remittances to the Philippines in 2008. This
makes the country the fourth largest recipient of foreign remittances
behind India, China, and Mexico. The amount represents 13.5% of the Philippines' GDP, the largest in proportion to the domestic economy among the four countries mentioned.
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Our country has been so grossly abused and mismanaged by politicians
and their cronies that Filipinos have found it increasingly difficult to
earn an honest living in their own country. A great portion of the
taxes paid by us, instead of being used to create jobs and support
income-generating activities, now goes to the servicing of enormous
foreign debts which saddle our country. And a huge chunk of whatever
money is left in the public treasury is devoured by greedy, soulless
politicians who feast upon the resources of our country like vultures
feasting upon the dead putrefying flesh of our motherland. Shame on
them!
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But, on second thought, it is shame on us! We, the voters,
were the ones who elected in office those rapacious politicians. Will we
ever learn? For instance, why should we vote again for that public
official who came from humble beginnings but who, after 9 years in
public office, is now a billionaire? Shame, shame on us!
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