Housekeeper and Bookkeeper, Fort McMurray, AB

“I was born, really, as a hardworking person,” says Abby. “If you’re a working person, your body, you know, it’s something that your body wants to do? It’s something that you’re missing . . . I mean, you miss earning, you want to make money.” This material pull to work—both bodily and monetary—is palpable as Abby contemplates how long she will stay on maternity leave. Going back to work full-time as a bookkeeper and housekeeper is not necessarily possible, given ongoing pain from postpartum complications and COVID job disruptions, but the arrival of her husband and children from the Philippines just over a year ago makes it almost imperative. Besides, Abby has often worked in and through difficult conditions, from supporting her poor family as the oldest of seven children to working in harsh conditions as an overseas factory worker in Taiwan. When asked what advice she might give to her ten-year-old self about her future as a working person, Abby says “I mean, work hard. Always think of family for inspiration . . . no matter what hindrance or struggle, stay strong.”

The small barrio in which Abby grew up was “not a very civilized place,” with jeepneys and tricycles for transportation. She remembers her family being looked down upon for their relatively poor house and living conditions. Abby worked from a very young age, helping with her aunt’s and mother’s home-based businesses. She packaged uniforms and coffee filters and made paper bags for packing rice.

“I never miss a year without having a job, going from any kind of work to any kind of work. It is the way that we can buy our own things for school, and some things to help my mom and dad because back then it’s not easy, like life, for us.  I think I start working since a child . . .  I think I was five or six, six years old. So that's where we used to do.”

In high school Abby’s mother bought two sewing machines and taught her and her sister how to sew so they could be part of the dressmaking business. All of this work helped pay for college, where Abby worked part-time in a print shop, typing and editing things like calling cards and invitations.

Her goal throughout was to eventually go abroad to the US, Europe, or Canada. This goal was inspired by other overseas workers in her family, including her own father, but also by the discrimination she saw in the Filipino job market and that she experienced growing up in poverty—“so I didn’t put myself down but instead made it like a tool to be inspired and work hard.” Once she graduated from college in computer administration, and as her country and family faced a financial crisis, she started the process….