#61 Re: Offene Stellen in Finnland auf dem Höchststand
Verfasst: 28. Jan 2008 17:50
...
...A small fan on the ceiling of the classroom tries to cut through the sweltering heat. About 40 students sit at their desks - women and men wearing the white uniforms of nurses. "Which of you want to go abroad to work?"
All hands go up.
"Who wants to stay in the Philippines?"
Omega.
"This is our tragedy", says teacher Maria Fe Habardass. "What will happen to us when all of our trained professionals leave the country?"
The World Health Organisation shares the concern. It says that 15,000 nurses leave the Philippines each year. At the same time, there is a shortage of competent nurses at clinics in the country - especially in poor rural areas. The Ministry of Health of the Philippines estimates that 85 per cent of the nurses trained in the country have gone abroad.
But what else is there to do, when there is no money?
Allen Famatid, 28, opens the buttons on his white coat, and walks out of the West Visayas University Hospital at the end of a work day.
The hospital is the most prestigious in the area, but even as a specialist nurse in the treatment of liver disease, Allen earns only 10,000 pesos - about EUR 160, a month. It is more than what millions of Filipinos get from doing odd jobs, but it still is not much.
Allen first studied management at university, but noticed that the degree would not get him work abroad, so he trained as a nurse.
"I hope that I can get a job abroad, so that I might build a better future for my family."
The cheerful and energetic man has a wife and two young sons, but he is willing to leave his work and his family in Iloilo for a year or two, if someone in Finland were to want him.
Allen has been told that in Finland he could earn EUR 1,800 a month.
Allen left an application with Opteam a couple of moths ago. He did not get into the first group to leave for Finland, but he still has hope.
Esperi Care has chosen the first seven applicants recommended by Opteam. All of them have at least a nurse's education and experience at work. Many have been at work abroad before.
In Finland, the nurses first spend <span style="color:red;">half a year [/color]in an apprenticeship programme. <span style="color:red;">At that time they are supposed to learn the Finnish language[/color] . Then they take a test to be qualified as practical nurses.
Esperi has promised a two year contract and pay according to scales set by the labour agreement.
Circe Brillantes, the woman from the termite house, is practising elementary Finnish on a computer.
She is trying hard, but the sound of "hyvää yötä" ("good night") are difficult to produce. There are plans to send teachers of Finnish to Iloilo, but the first group of nurses are going to Finland with no advance knowledge of the language.
"I have heard that Finns are friendly and warm people . You can learn the language through interaction with people. That is how I learned Arabic", Circe says.
People do not know very much about Finland. There has been talk about the cold weather, as well as Nokia and Kimi Räikkönen. But none of these is something that would entice a person to move to the other side of the world.
Ask any of the nurses at Iloilo, and all would primarily like to go to the United States. Australia and Canada are also popular. The Middle East is fairly easy to get to, but many horror stories are told about unpaid wages, and even sexual abuse.
A new boom location for Filipinos is the English-speaking, predominantly Catholic Ireland.
Ireland also has a history of mass emigration, but the new prosperity there has turned the tide in the opposite direction. Now Ireland, which has a smaller population than Finland, already has 10,000 foreign nurses - half of them from the Philippines. One Swedish company has set up a recruitment office in Dublin to attract Filipino nurses to Sweden. There is competition for skilled Filipinos.