WITH dark almond eyes glued to a phone screen, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) peered towards the date of February 17, 2020, his first-born’s birthday, and the reason why he would traverse three plane rides from Kuwait all the way to Iloilo City in the Philippines. Little did 38-year-old Jeferson know that this birthday vacation would change his life forever.
For 14 years, the click-clack of office workers on their keyboards, accompanied by the all-familiar swish of printers spitting out piles of Microsoft Word documents made Jeferson’s nine-to-five office job at the Kuwait Oil Company a dream, making him earn five figures a month — more than enough to sustain his wife and two children about seven thousand miles away from his touch. However, everything flipped. In the month of March, the world erupted in the chaos of speculations, doubts, and fear, as the COVID-19 swept through most of the world, halting face-to-face interactions, which closed down schools, work, commerce, and our OFW’s way back: international travel.
Faces strewn with a mix of confusion, sadness, and despair, Jeferson and his wife, a then newly hired public school teacher, realized that there was no going back to the life they once worked hard for; and alas, they had to start all over again. From selling street foods and milk tea from their wide garage to selling products on the live-selling world of Facebook, the married couple ventured through multiple businesses, making neighborhood friends, and just enough to get by, nothing more, sometimes less. But somehow, in the darkest times, a blessing always arrives. In 2021, the church that the family called “home” during their stay abroad, reached out to them, and gave them a gift with three wheels, with soft chairs spanning back-to-back stuffed inside a cozy red sidecar. And now, the once office worker turned into a tricycle driver for their subdivision.
Contrasting from the shine of his computer’s light and the beep of announcements through the office’s speaker, his life was now replaced with the sun’s scorching rays, the ringtone of beeps from cars, and frequent sighs of “Sa lugar lang, nong!” from his passengers. Being a tricycle driver seems easy from the outside, but they constantly have to deal with rude passengers, flat tires, exhaustion, and the constant worry of how much they could earn in a day. And for Jeferson, these problems slowly but surely got to him, but he never once complained, and let life’s problems beat him up again and again, with him silently praying for his family’s life to turn better as his defense.
Slowly but surely, he and his family got used to this routine and sought sanctuary in the arms of their creator. There were times when tears were shed and hurtful words were said, but these things never stopped them from loving one another, and making their hardships into a beautiful testimony that shows that love, no matter what, will always stay. And, after the constant ringing of bad news for three years, the things that he lost slowly but surely came back to him, now better than ever.
The scars that he gained from his journey were healed by countless blessings that were given to his family. Destiny may have stopped him from going back abroad, but that meant he had more time with his loved ones at home. And, even though he had a highly esteemed job that “fell,” being a driver never meant that he meant less. In fact, these events painted him to become his family’s hero, always enduring the punches and kicks that life has brought upon him.
Every burn from the motorcycle’s engine, every cut from fixing the lights, every drop of sweat that he endured was all worth it in the end. And, on February 17, 2025, his first-born daughter was awarded for winning a national competition in Manila, with the whole family accompanying her — making it the first time they have travelled after five years. It took them three plane rides to go there and back home again, and every single trip made their smiles reached their eyes, happy, that finally they could enjoy the fruits they took care of during the harsh days of the pandemic. Now 43, still journeying through life with three wheels and a smile, things seemed to change for the better. And finally, the scorching rays of sun that once burned him now turned into a ray of hope for the driver with a dream./PN
