Hello Happiness!

As a teacher in the UAE, this video resonated with me enough to write this blog.

Earlier this week, I opened my Talkatone app to call my dad and got a surprising pop-up message. "Your account will be terminated May 15, 2014 at 9am."  For those of you that don't know what Talkatone is, it is my lifeline. Through GoogleVoice, I was able to keep my Atlanta phone number. All I had to do was download the free app, and log in and amazingly I could call and text people in the US for free! I had always thought back to when my parents lived in Singapore 30 years ago, wondering how they could be on the other side of the world, without cell phones, paying huge costs to call on landlines, or having to (GASP!) write a hand-written letter!

Imagine my dismay when I thought I would no longer have access to free calling and texting with my friends and family in the US! In fact, I had something close to a heart attack. Luckily I found there was another app that does the same thing and was able to switch seamlessly.

I am not sure if this video will touch the people back home the way it did me. For those people that have never been here, you may not be aware of the amount of laborers that come here from third-world countries. They live in crowded camps together, work from sun-up to sun-down, making wages that would not be legal in our country. Here though, it is more than they can make in their home countries. Hailing from places such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and India, they come on very long contracts and work outside in scorching heat to earn these meager wages.

While we have much in common, such as being away from our families for long periods of time, the major divide is my access to funds, phone, computers, and other ways to communicate with my loved ones back home. We see the workers, often wave to them, or a few times I have given them a box of left-overs on my way home from a restaurant. Through talking to some that speak English we have heard stories of how they have been in the country for 8 years, with children at home who are 8, 10, and 12 years old, proving that they are sacrificing being there physically in order to provide financially.

This video truly shows the depth of their sacrifice. I have always loved Coca-Cola, not only as a product, but as a company. I love to see the company in the city I call "home", bringing such happiness to the country that I currently call "home". Please watch the video and share it!