JEDDAH, 11 May 2003 — When someone drops the ball, so to speak, he simply failed to complete a task, or didn’t make the necessary follow through.

That seems to be the case with OWWA’s headquarters in Manila. A request for assistance on behalf of Al-Hikma Burung was forwarded to them on March 27. As of this writing, nothing was heard of it except that a certain Cynthia Lamban of the Workers Affairs Division “recommended it positively.”

Burung needs tickets for herself and her three children to go back to the Philippines. She also needs to pay 2,500 riyals for her sponsorship transfer fee.

The social worker who is overseeing the case of Burung is getting desperate. All she wants is a reply to the request. “Whatever the response is (positive or negative), all we need is information so that we can act accordingly,” she said.

Burung, 34, a nurse, used to work for the Madinah Maternity Hospital in Madinah. Because she was married, sponsorship must be borne by her husband. But before the transfer could be completed, Burung’s husband abandoned her and her three children, leaving for Pakistan only with their eldest son. Burung is six months pregnant. Out of compassion, her employer released her on condition that she pays SR2,500 as penalty. Usually, in this case the worker is deported.

With nothing in her pocket, but with a lot of courage in her heart, she took her 3 children with her and sought assistance from the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah on Jan. 13. Since then they have taken refuge at the consulate.

Burung said she recognizes that what happened to her is not the government’s fault. “If not for my children, I am willing to live with hardship by myself,” she said.

She said all she needs are plane tickets and the money to pay her employer. She said that once she gives birth in Zamboanga, she can come back to the Kingdom to work because there is a standing offer for her from one of the hospitals in Jeddah.

OWWA personnel here worry because without any legal sponsor, no hospital in the Kingdom would admit her when the time to deliver her baby comes.

According to the social worker, the OWWA’s welfare officer in Jeddah, Mustapha Glang, sent the request for assistance directly to OWWA Administrator Virgilio Angelo.

“I don’t understand OWWA for not replying to the request,” reiterates the social worker. “Much to my desire to help, we don’t have funds to dispense,” she added.

Someone in OWWA’s headquarters dropped the ball on this case — an OFW who needs immediate help.