In July 2020, around 13,869 Filipinos lost their jobs in Bahrain. The layoffs began after the Covid-19 crisis hit in early February. According to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Bahrain (POLO), this number made up nearly 25% of the legal Filipino migrant population, then estimated at 55,756.
I followed the lives of some overseas Filipino workers and how they coped during the pandemic. It is common in the Filipino community to give and receive ayuda—a term that means aid or assistance. Ayuda often comes in the form of money or goods.
I worked on this story as part of the VII Academy’s Level 1 Program in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography.
