CAREGIVER appears in the dictionary, but carer does not, not yet. In deference to the need to shorten words (and lots of other things) as the world needs to do more things in less time, the word carer has been in use since – well, since caregiver became too long to spell and turned into a full-fledged career of its own.
Carer, as in career.
I first heard the word during a little acquaintance party with Kelly and Barker, not to be confused with Bonnie and Clyde, or Ma Barker. They are immigration advisers from London and were in Manila last week to teach us How 2 Come to the UK to Live Work Study or Visit. See how the Brits have shortened words and left out punctuation marks in a bid to save time and space?
Kelly is Charles Kelly and Barker is Cynthia Barker. Cynthia is a native-born Filipina, which could mean she’s married to an Englishman, named Barker out not Kelly. However, Barker and Kelly look so bagay together, especially when they talk about their mission, that they might as well be not just married but to each other. On the side, I asked Kelly if Barker owned him, and his cheeky reply was, "I’m not for sale, I’m only for rent."
Unfortunately, the United Kingdom, a.k.a. Great Britain, as one of those countries where carers are in great demand, does not recognize a caregiver course as a qualification. Carers-to-be, take note. Even if you have a caregiving course tucked under your belt, even if you hold a college degree in another discipline, you won’t be given a work permit in the UK, and even if an employer is ready to employ you. That’s not all. Supposing you found work and obtained a working permit, you still wouldn’t be allowed to change your tourist visa to a working visa without coming home first.
Those hair-splitting complications are laid out in Kelly and Barker’s book – tagged at R800 at Fully Booked at Rockwell’s Power Plant – and are only one illustration of the heartbreaks lying in wait to trap our carers. More and more as word spreads that carers from the Philippines will save the elderlies of the First World while saving the Philippine economy, Filipino professionals in engineering, accountancy, teaching, etc., are downgrading their qualifications as a necessary step toward switching to caregiving in hopes of improving their lives and their families.
Thus, doctors are switching to nursing, engineers are switching to caregiving, and all because no one can stop us from chasing our dream. Me, my dream is simple. I want to hire a Brit, born and bred in the UK, to be my butler or chauffeur.
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