A Hopeful Gamble: Living the Faith as Migrant Workers and Transnational Mothers

Abstract

This article is based on a qualitative research study involving Filipinas who are both migrant workers in Kuwait, Italy, Hong Kong and Taiwan and mothers of children aged between 0 and 18 years at the time of their departure from the Philippines. The article seeks to answer the following question: how does one’s Christian faith assist women in coping with labour migration and the resulting transnational mothering? In an analysis of data gathered from the participant mothers, the concept of ‘strategising to gain access to a better life’ emerges as central to how the participants navigate transnational mothering as labour migrants. In particular, the participant mothers identify their faith as one of the factors in which they invest. From a theological perspective, such ‘investing in faith’ is interpreted as an integral component of an ongoing spirituality that is hinged on an active relationship with God. On the one hand, their experience of living the faith reveals encountering the sacred in mundane events, amidst the challenges associated with labour migration and transnational mothering. On the other hand, their experience of hopeful gambling attests to the reality of evil or ‘dis-grace’ in the here and now.