AS HEAD of Mowelfund, the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation, Boots Anson-Roa has had to work extra hard of late to raise funds for the foundation?s many activities, which seek to provide much-needed medical, educational, livelihood and other services for thousands of needy members of the Filipino motion picture industry and their families.

The task of running and funding Mowelfund has become even more difficult, after its subsidy from the annual Metro Manila Film Festival was cut to increase the share of other film-related agencies.

Benefits

Despite these extremely difficult circumstances, however, Boots and the other stalwarts on Mowelfund?s board continue to exhaust all possibilities to increase the benefits that so many movie workers now depend on to meet their needs and improve their prospects.

Most recently, Boots? fundraising efforts took her all the way to Saudi Arabia, to seek the generous assistance of Filipinos, film lovers one and all, living and working there. And, in a few weeks? time, Boots will again be going overseas, this time to the United States, to raise more money for Mowelfund by staging benefit screenings of Filipino movies like ?Ded na si Lolo.? (If Fil-Am groups want to support this worthy endeavor, they can call 727-1915 or 727-1961.)

Back to Boots? recent foray to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: It was made possible by Amb. Tony Villamor and his dynamic wife, Rosemarie, who have been dear friends of Boots for many years, ever since they worked together at the Philippine embassy in Washington, DC.

Parenthetically, it turned out that we too had a connection to the Villamors, since we taught with Rosemarie at UP?s Speech and Drama department?but that?s another story.

Various topics

In our case, the Villamors invited us to join Boots on her trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, not just to screen ?Ded na si Lolo? to raise funds for Mowelfund, but also to speak to the faculty and students of four Filipino schools in Saudi Arabia on various topics related to Philippine movies, culture and media.

We were more than happy to go on the week-long Saudi immersion trip, because we?ve always had a great interest in getting to know other cultures beyond the usual tourist route. In addition, we wanted to meet Filipinos living and working abroad, to get a better feel of the ?global Pinoy? phenomenon that has been talked about so much?and so loosely?of late.

Finally, we wanted to know how ?connected? Filipinos in Saudi were to our homegrown movies, TV and other media, despite the potential estrangement resulting from time, distance and a possible clash of cultures.

Questions

Well, we got the answers to our questions right after our plane landed in Riyadh: The minute the airport terminal doors opened, we were assaulted by a veritable surge of heat?some 40 degrees Fahrenheit?that we had never experienced before.

After that ?warmer than expected? welcome, however, the Villamors quickly tucked us into the cool comfort of their car and took us on a brief tour of the area between the airport and the city proper of Riyadh, where an exotic and distinctly different lifestyle awaited our perusal and enjoyment.

It didn?t take long for us to realize how crucial and challenging a diplomatic post Saudi Arabia is for the Philippines. No wonder Ambassador Villamor was convinced to come out of retirement and assume his diplomatic duties again, to take advantage of his vast experience in the Middle East some years ago.

When we learned that over 1.5 million Filipinos lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, we remarked to Ambassador Tony that his job was akin to running a small country!

In the days that followed, it turned out to be even more challenging than we had initially perceived, as ?Amba Tony,? as Saudi Pinoys dotingly like calling him, took Boots and us to a halfway house for workers maltreated by their employers, as well as to a computer school that sought to teach domestic workers skills that could help them ?graduate? to better-paying jobs.

Immersion

Our immersion in the lives and concerns of Pinoys working in Riyadh was so instructive and occasionally cautionary that we had to remind ourselves that our main purpose for being there was to help raise funds for Mowelfund and to speak to hundreds of Filipino students and teachers about Philippine arts, culture and media.

Our encounters were educational, not just for them, but also for us. We saw how Filipino culture and lifestyle can not just survive but even flourish in a foreign land?while at the same time adjusting and adapting in a number of significant ways.

Seeng this happening to the young Filipinos in Riyadh, we wondered what the cumulative effect of all this cultural give-and-take would have on the ?global Pinoy? some 10, 20 years into the future. And, conversely, how would the result of this long process affect the essence of the Filipino himself, regardless of where he chose to live?

Topic

Even as these and other thoughts filled our mind, we strove to focus on the topic at hand?Philippine arts, culture and media?and were gratified to see that, after our respective talks, we had to answer a great number of perceptive questions from the students, who had managed to remain in touch with local TV and film productions, thanks to TFC and other up-to-date conduits of information and entertainment from ?home.?

Our other activities included judging an oratorical contest, enjoying a concert showcasing Filipino talents, a successful benefit screening of ?Ded na si Lolo,? which went over well and raised a big bundle of donations, and interacting with successful Filipino professionals living and working in Riyadh, at a dinner hosted by ?Amba? Tony and Rosemarie at their residence in the Philippine embassy.

It was an eye-opening experience for us, because it proved that some Filipinos could rise up the employment ladder in a foreign land to assume managerial and even higher positions in a number of key fields and enterprises.

Conflicts

It was also during the dinner that we learned that the current ratio of Filipinos working in Saudi is 70 percent professionals and only 30 percent construction workers or domestics. As a whole, despite some conflicts that land hundreds of Filipinos in jail, Pinoys are much-appreciated members of the Saudi workforce.

How can their lot be improved? Some leaders of the Filipino community urge our government leaders to fund training programs that will raise the competence level of our workers in fields like accountancy to meet international requirements.

Before the dinner ended, Boots held another activity that raised even more money for Mowelfund, making our six-day visit a successful fundraising trip?in more ways than 10!

Over and above these ?official? items on our agenda, we valued the ?off-cam? time we spent with Tony and Rosemarie Villamor. Through their example, we saw how hard some of our diplomats have to work to be of the best possible service to Filipinos working and living overseas, despite many challenging problems and the consequent adjustments they have to make.