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Gay Salve Villegas-Pante as nursing director in Riyadh, K.S.A. |
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She was nursing director at Aflaj General Hospital but she loves her family more.
Thousands of Caramoanons are scattered around the world in different types of work but very few have achieved as much as Gay Salve Villegas-Pante in so short a time.
Lured by the continuing exodus of nurses to foreign countries, she decided in 2004 to leave her job at the Bicol Sanitarium Hospital in Cabusao, Camarines Sur. She had been working at the hospital since 1993 after passing the nursing board examinations on her first attempt. It was also in the hospital where she met her hubby, Tito B. Pante, a Radiologic Technologist. Tito hails from Canaman, Camarines Sur with roots from Catanduanes just like her father, retired government auditor Salvador T. Villegas who married a Caramoanon public school teacher, Wilma F. Recto, presently assistant treasurer of the Caramoan Residents Association in Naga City and its Environs (CRANE).
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Husband Tito B. Pante with their children Angeli Marie, 3, and Desiree Faye, 7 |
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Incidentally the couple typifies Caramoanon parents who through sheer hard work, determination and sacrifice are able to send their children through college. All of Gay Salve’s brothers and sisters are successful professionals: Salvador, Jr. is a practicing lawyer; Joy Wilma is a B.S. Sociology with a masteral degree in Public Administration and now with Philhealth in Legazpi City; John Philip is a nurse in Kuwait who also finished law; Marie Grace is a resident physician at Mother Seton Hospital; Mary Agnes is a BS in Accountancy and now works in Switzerland; and Rex Anthony who also finished BS Accountancy is an entrepreneur.
Because she holds a Master of Arts in Nursing degree she applied for the position of chief nurse in a hospital in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
She passed the interview with flying colors because aside from her more than ten years experience at the Bicol Sanitarium Hospital she was indeed academically prepared. She graduated with honors at the Jose Rizal Elementary School in Naga City in 1984 and also finished her high school with honors at the Camarines Sur National High School. She completed her Bachelor of Nursing degree from the Universidad de Sta. Isabel in 1992 and pursued her masteral degree at the University of Saint Anthony in Iriga City until 1998.
Luck for her did not stop with her passing the recruitment requirements. When she arrived at Riyadh the nursing director at the Aflaj General Hospital, a Nigerian, was retiring and a replacement was urgently needed. There were more than 120 nurses in that hospital alone but Gay Salve who just arrived became the choice not just to be the chief nurse but the nursing director, which meant becoming head of all more than 120 nurses of varying nationalities.
It was like winning in a lottery. Many old timers in the hospital had hankered for promotion but here was a Bicolana who just arrived but immediately seated on the pedestal.
The joy of having swiftly ascended to the pinnacle, a dream of every Filipino nurse abroad, was however to simmer down in just in a few weeks. Soon the pangs of nostalgia began to haunt her. She had left behind not just a loving husband but her two children --- Angeli Marie who was then only six months old and Desiree Faye who was just five years old. The instinctive yearning of a mother to cuddle her small children caused her sleepless nights. She was now torn between her longing to be back to her family and the prestigious job which she was exceptionally fortunate to be given her, virtually on a silver platter.
Added to her woes was the extreme difficulty of adjusting to the Saudi culture, the numerous restrictions unknown in her own country. She had shuddered and wept many times as she saw other Filipinos punished with lashes until they bled. Yet what they had done--- like simply talking to Filipino acquaintances---was not at all an offense back home. By then anguish had become unbearable.
When her two-year contract expired she sought the first plane that would take her to the Philippines into the arms of her family.
It did not mean, however, she does not entertain the thought of going abroad once again. She does want to work abroad but possibly in the United States or Canada where there is much similarity in the culture with Filipinos and where she may be able to bring with her Tito and their two children.
And what could she impart to Caramoanons also raring to work abroad? She says they must have enough experience in their line of work and they must not be contented with their degree. They must pursue higher degrees or seek professional advancement because that is the only way they can aspire to get good jobs. They have to really work hard and be resilient in any condition and type of work.
More importantly, perhaps, they must know whether they can adjust to the culture, customs and practices and behavior of people in the country where they would want to work.
