Mabuting Ina Kahit Malayo Sa Anak? OFW Nurse On Motherhood And Surviving A Civil War Plus A Pandemic

“It is difficult to be a mother when your job takes you away from your children,” says Teresita Sabio, a Nursing Activity Manager for Doctors Without Borders.

And it is even harder if your job calls for something higher than yourself—a war and a global pandemic.

Teresita who has been assigned to Taiz City, Yemen, was caught in between being a mother to her own children, helping those affected by the ongoing civil war, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is a situation no one ever wants to be in and yet, if no one chooses it, healthcare would collapse.

Surviving a pandemic and a civil war

Like all healthcare professionals during the pandemic, Teresita was called by her profession to willingly sacrifice first, her safety, second, her time with her family. 

“While I was in Taiz City, COVID-19 was making its way around the world, and inevitably it reached Yemen. It was the early days of the pandemic, and there was little information on how COVID-19 spread, and how infection could be prevented. 

“There were no guidelines or recommendations yet from the World Health Organization, none of the information materials that are everywhere now,” she said.

Teresita was assigned in Taiz City, Yemen for six months in 2020, right when COVID-19 was just starting to affect one country after another.

 To make the situation more challenging, Taiz City, Yemen was still at the forefront of an ongoing civil war at that time. The country’s healthcare system had already collapsed even before the pandemic, and this is why Doctors Without Borders assigned them in Yemen. The civil war started in late 2014.

Teresita and the team of Doctors Without Borders had to start from scratch—navigate through the mystery of COVID-19 all while taking care of other patients in the war-torn country.

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A nurse who can’t care for her sick daughter

As if it were a K-Drama script, the plot continued to thicken. Teresita’s daughter tested positive for COVID-19 at the same time. She too is a nurse but works in United Kingdom.

“My God, something happened to my daughter, and I am here in Yemen, and I cannot do anything. I can't see my daughter, I can’t go to her.” Teresita thought at first.

Isn’t it every mother’s heartbreak to be away from their child, at the time that they need them the most?

But still, even if they were separated by physical distance, a mother’s love continued to take care of her daughter: 

“All I could do was video call her every day, just so I could see how she was doing. I would pray the Novena every day, I distanced myself from any social gatherings in the project, and I requested all my colleagues—almost all of whom are Muslim—to include my daughter in their prayers. 

“I felt so desperate since I am a nurse, and I felt that I should be the one taking care of her,” Teresita said.

I am both, a mother and nurse

Mothers are often in this predicament: “Should I work and leave my child, be a working mom”, or “Should I leave my work and take care of my child, and be a stay-at-home mom?”

It goes on and on, we go back and forth, and even when we already made a decision, we feel like it wasn’t the best choice to make. And for nurses, there is no in between or option to ‘work from home’.“

"It is difficult to be a mother when your job takes you away from your children. The first time I attempted to work abroad, I had to back out at the last minute, because I was so worried that my children would not be able to cope. 

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“I was not emotionally prepared. It took a few years before I felt that they could manage, and so I decided to work abroad,” Teresita said.

But women can be mothers and professionals, too. 

Motherhood does not disqualify women from pursuing a profession, passion, or hobby. Rather it can strengthen a woman, such as when a nurse’s care is upgraded with a mother’s love. That’s a whole lot of ‘magical healing.’

Technology eases the difficulty of the distance

For Teresita and all other healthcare workers who are called to respond to the pandemic, they wore the hat of being mothers while taking care of others.

“Now, even if we are far apart, I find ways to show them my love as their mother. Because there are better means of communication these days, there is no excuse not to call or text them as often as possible. 

“In this way, I am able to give them moral support even if I am thousands of miles away. I can remind them to love and support each other physically, emotionally and financially.”

Teresita didn’t have to choose between being a mother and a nurse, she is both.  

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization delivering life-saving emergency medical humanitarian aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, pandemics, natural disasters, and healthcare exclusion. They work in over 70 countries worldwide, from North Africa to South America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East, in villages not found on any map, in refugee camps, in hospitals and clinics, in projects, serving the health needs of the vulnerable.