Authors posts

Bai, HBCC Stigma Stories (Illustration: Vina Salazar/Oxfam)

Stigma Stories: Others before Self

Thirty-two-year-old Bai was supposed to fly abroad for work when the Philippine Government declared a country-wide lockdown including the temporary suspension of thousands of international and domestic flights. Bai had prepared for her departure for a long time, but all of her plans took a sudden...

Ben, HBCC Stigma Stories (Illustration: Vina Salazar/Oxfam)

Stigma Stories: Help in Times of Great Need

Ben, 36, is a community organizer with an NGO helping people find jobs and creating sources of income in his hometown, Cotabato City. When the pandemic began, his role shifted to mobilizing Barangays (townships) to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus through hygiene awareness sessions that...

Lynda, HBCC Stigma Stories (Illustration: Vina Salazar/Oxfam)

Stigma Stories: A Change in Perspective

Thoughts of loneliness and anxiety ran through Lynda’s mind as she volunteered herself to enter into self-isolation. What transpired not only disrupted her work, but meant not being able to attend to the child she was breastfeeding.

Haifa, HBCC Stigma Stories (Illustration: Vina Salazar/Oxfam)

Stigma Stories: An OFW's Journey Home

Haifa is one of the many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) forced to go back home when the pandemic began. She had been working as a domestic helper in Oman for the past three years. Her contract had expired and the lower demand for OFW domestic helpers made her decide to go back to the Philippines...

Sabel, HBCC Stigma Stories (Illustration: Vina Salazar/Oxfam)

Stigma Stories: A Sisters' Reunion

For Sabel, it was like a scene from a movie. It was around 11:00 in the evening when a police car rushed through their quiet street, waking up the neighbourhood. Suddenly, the police came down from the vehicle and rushed to their house to collect her sisters. “We felt like criminals,” she shared,...