GABAY reunion rekindles friendships

GABAY reunion rekindles friendships

AWARE- Gabay members (L-R) Eunie Arevalo, Bern Jagunos, Ditas Ferrer, Tita Bautista, Ricky Esguerra, Florchita Bautista, Paz and Belen

By Lui Queaño

It’s been almost 10 years since the Gabay caregivers’ organization faded away but a committee of former members in Toronto got together and put up a special homecoming event to bring everyone together again and possibly regroup the community organization.

The homecoming event was held Sunday October 16 at Our Lady of the Assumption Church on Bathurst Street in Toronto. The jampacked event kicked off with a prayer written by Bern Jagunos, one of the original members of AWARE. Jagunos is now committee member of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines-Canada (ICHRP-Canada) and is a Canadian representative to the coalition’s global council.

“We wanted to plan a fun day of reminiscing and rekindling those old friendships. We just wanted to have a get-together and enjoy each other’s company” said Agnes Valmores, the first President of the AWARE-Gabay group.

In October 20, 2007 – on the occasion of the launching of Chit Bautista’s autobiography “Leaping into the Unknown” – members of GABAY and AWARE held a reunion, “to reflect on their history and past experiences and strive to renew their commitment to serve their kababayans and co-workers.” Rev Justin Trinidad, in his review of the book for the Philippine Reporter, cited a bit of history:

“In 1989, Florchita “Chit” Bautista, along with like-minded Filipinos doing work among migrants, established AWARE, a volunteer endeavour to reach out to Filipino domestic workers who came to Canada under the Foreign Domestic Movement Program (now the Live-In Caregiver Program). It undertook educational and supportive workshops to facilitate adjustment to life in Canada and to inform the participants (mainly women) of their rights. The graduates of these programs constituted themselves into a migrant workers’ organization that they then called GABAY (Guide). Together they took in their compatriots, workers/caregivers like them and helped raise their consciousness of their rights and welfare, link their situation to the roots of their migration from the Philippines overseas, and encouraged them to stand up for, defend and advance their legitimate interests.”

What started as small group developed into a larger community with as many as 480 members.

“Those who underwent seminars and workshops on caregivers rights and welfare under AWARE Program automatically became members of Gabay. There were 72 graduates of AWARE who were the first batch graduates and became Gabay members,” Bautista said.

Group photo. (PHOTOS: LQ)

The fledgling AWARE/GABAY became inactive when its founder Chit Bautista moved to Vancouver. While some old colleagues have stayed in touch, there were those who moved out of town or lost touch. This more recent homecoming brought together former members, giving old colleagues and friends a chance to reconnect after a decade and to reminisce about the good old days.

“Back then, all of our lives revolved around our friends at Gabay and it almost felt like our lives were all connected. We spent so much time together, we would spend hours in workshops and seminars, all of a sudden, we no longer had those long hours with each other,” Bautista said.

During Bautista’s talk on the historical background of the group, she recalled how Gabay participated in social and political activities including the visit to Ottawa on a campaign against NAFTA and a protest rally on human and women’s rights in Toronto.

Petronila Cleto of Gabriela Ontario, talked about the recent changes in the former Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP), now called simply the Caregiver Program.

She said that the recent parliamentary committee’s report regarding the Temporary Foreign Workers’ Program didn’t make any recommendation to address the demand for Permanent Residency upon arrival for caregivers. Yet, she noted, this was the primary demand of many organizations and coalitions advocating for caregivers’ rights.

“We need to work together more than ever now,” she exhorted the audience, “because we need real changes that will protect and ensure the rights of temporary workers and caregivers in Canada.”