If only life was divisible by four….

Then the Migrant Focus layout for our monthly newsletter at work would actually make since….seriously trying to divide a month of events into enough pages that are divisible by four just gives me a headache. It will happen, trust me it will, Abode InDesign has yet to outsmart me and this month will be NO different. But in the mean time yes Im going to complain about it a bit, so if you don’t want to read it then stop reading 😉

So I said good bye to a client today as she cried and I fought back tears. Now she isn’t the first client I’ve said good-bye to but she is the first whose cried and it was seriously tough. Her case is finished and it didn’t finish well as her agency took her end of contract claims from her employer and refused to give them but the court ruled that her employer had fulfilled her obligations. While, that’s a different story its not the end of the World. She flies home Saturday and came in today to say farewell and thank you. While I encouraged her to be strong and remember all she has learned I inside told myself to stay strong until she leaves and as I watched her say farewell to my coworkers and their encouragement I learned a lot. To care and to be encouraging, to listen and remind them to preserve onward back to her home and to not get distracted by her agency. My heart broke yet I know she needs to go home and she’s ready to go back to her family. I won’t soon forget this client and the lessons I learned through her case and pray for the best for her.

This situation reminded me why moments like one I had Monday morning was so important. So I had a YAM sister visiting for the weekend and GABRIELLA-HK had flown in Representative Luz Illagan from the Philippines for a forum on OFW issues and the consulate was providing a shuttle van to take her back to the airport. So a space was offered to my YAM sister and we accepted. This meant we had to be up and at the meeting point by 5:45am also going in the shuttle were two of the volunteers of the mission whom I work with, both going home for an amount of time. So friends came helping them carry all their bags. Aaron, a coworker from our sister office, commented it was just like he had been terminated as he stood there holding a bag with a couple other bags around him. We all laughed hard and snapped pictures of him looking sad with the luggage around him. The moment drew the realisation that many helpers are terminated in the middle of the night and kicked out of their houses and yet at 5:30am in the morning it felt good to laugh. Because in this job you can’t take everything seriously or you’d burn out quickly. So we laughed and smiled and laughed. After the shuttle came and we loaded everyone in and waved them off, we headed off to ‘find new employers’.

It reminded me of something Linda said back in September that sometimes when you can’t change the situation all you can do is laugh about it. We can’t change the fact some employers terminate contracts in the middle of the night, but we can laugh about it then take care of those who are terminated. We can show Christ love even in the midst of challenging circumstances where there doesn’t seem to be any positive light. So when the situations do finish in tears we can encourage them to stay strong and head home to their families. Because when the moments break your heart you rely on the moments of laughter to see you through.