Lima kaming magkakapatid. Gusto ko silang mabigyan ng magandang buhay. Kasi kapag nag-asawa ako… ayaw kong maiwan sila. Wala kaming makain…sira ang bahay, natutulog sa ilalim ng mesa.
By Jojo Dass.
DUBAI: Stories about nannies have always been much about life in despair…about bringing up some other couple’s children while leaving theirs back home so they could provide a future for them… about rape, inhuman treatment… the whole nine yards of wretched existence.
Not Melanie Manansala’s.
This year’s winner of “UAE’s Best Nanny Awards,” an initiative by rise, a wealth management platform for migrant workers, loves her mom and siblings so much she never had second thoughts dropping out of college to work as a nanny when she was 17.
Melanie, who turned 45 on Nov. 30, has remained a nanny – and single. She had been too busy supporting her family that personal love affairs did not have a room in her heart.
“Dalaga pa rin ako ngayon,” Melanie tells The Filipino Times during an exclusive phone interview.
“Lima kaming magkakapatid. Gusto ko silang mabigyan ng magandang buhay. Kasi kapag nag-asawa ako… ayaw kong maiwan sila. Wala kaming makain…sira ang bahay, natutulog sa ilalim ng mesa,” she said, her voice quivering.
Life has been kind to Melanie, who hails from Lubao, Pampanga. She sort of started her “career” working as a domestic help for a town mayor’s daughter back in the province, something that would eventually take her to Dubai on June 15, 1993 for her first stab at being an overseas Filipino worker (OFW).
“Sabi nila kapag namamasyal ako sa Karama nuon, ang bata bata ko raw…inutusan lang daw akong bumili ng suka. Sabi ko, nag-abroad ako para tumulong sa nanay ko. Iniwan kami ng tatay ko when I was 17,” Melanie said.
Four employers in 24 years
Fast forward to the present: Melanie has worked for four employers, a Lebanese family being the first in 1993 and with whom she was for 12 years; then to an Indian-British couple sometime in 2005 who had wanted to take her with them when they moved to Hong Kong three years later; a Belgian family who waited for their turn to have her on advice of the Indian-British couple; and now the Leeksmas, a Dutch family who nominated her to the UAE Best Nanny Awards.
During those 24 years, Melanie managed to bring her siblings to Dubai. “Dinala ko silang lahat dito,” she said. One of her siblings is currently working at the Abu Dhabi airport as an AC technician; the other, who had worked at Spinneys, will be flying to Canada with her husband; the third is in Korea and the fourth, in Saudi Arabia.
Award
Melanie was still in disbelief about having won the award, which goes with a P1 million (Dh74,000) retirement fund to be given in 10 years and a plane ticket to the Philippines. She bested 500 other candidates and is the second Filipina to win in the event which was on its second year.
“Masayang masaya ako. Di ako makapaniwala. Magandang opportunity ito para makapag-regtire na ako,” Melanie said.
She said she plans to work for at least five more years before finally calling it quits – by then she’d be 50. “Gusto ko rin namang i-enjoy ang pinaghirapan ko. I am grateful kay God,” she said.
