Abstract

The Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Macau make up the biggest chunk of foreign migrants in the Chinese region, and they are continuously growing in number every year despite the many hardships and trials that they encounter throughout their stay. The big question is: what keeps them motivated to pursue their work amid the challenges of distant employment? This article aims to determine the root causes of their decision to stay in work through an in-depth interview of selected OFWs in Macau. The transcripts were then analyzed through reconstruction, coding, and identification of recurrent themes to attain the objective of this article. Findings revealed three recurrent themes, namely, families’ poor economic condition, prayer as a weapon for extreme sadness and hardships, and the support of fellow workers and the Catholic community. To provide the relevance of the Catholic faith in the lives of the participants and understand their motivations to work abroad, a brief history of Catholicism in Macau is also presented and followed up by a discussion of the Filipino’s virtue of religiosity. The study also serves as a challenge for other cases regarding the essentiality of living out one’s Christian identity to surpass obstacles in various life situations.