{"id":8035,"date":"2013-01-03T21:21:39","date_gmt":"2013-01-03T18:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/patnubay.org\/?p=8035"},"modified":"2019-06-14T17:16:48","modified_gmt":"2019-06-14T14:16:48","slug":"ang-inyong-lingkod-the-thursday-group-ksa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/patnubay.org\/?p=8035","title":{"rendered":"Ang Inyong Lingkod – The Thursday Group – KSA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Thursday Group – Jeddah Chapter<\/p><\/div>\n

The Thursday Group – KSA<\/strong>
\nby Roland Blanco
\nFirst posted in www,arabnews.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Organized in 2000 by a group of Filipino married pairs, the Thursday Group, has been providing packed lunch to Pinoy distressed workers of Bahay-Kalinga. The group is composed of Filipino husband and wife teams grouped into “households” composed of at least 5 couples.<\/p>\n

The “households” are alternately assigned to bring food to Bahay Kalinga every Thursday for the distressed workers. They\u2019ve been doing it from the day the group was organized. The group now has at least 600 couple-members, most of whom are hospital workers. “We give not only packed lunch but also toiletries, medicines, baby food, milk and pampers,” said Rolly Arriola, together with his wife, who happened to be the assigned pair on Thursday to deliver the pack-lunch to the Bahay Kalinga, hence their presence in the embassy to accept the certificate in behalf of their group. “Though we are pleased about such recognition from the embassy, we still want to maintain a low-profile in providing assistance to our distressed kababayan,” said one of the recipients who spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

Most of the recipients never expected to receive such appreciation from the embassy.<\/p>\n

“I came from a poor family. That\u2019s why I can relate to the sufferings of others who are in pain,” Mike Bolos, said in his message, adding that “at the end of each day, I always ask myself, what have I done to help my fellowmen?”<\/p>\n

The support has taken various forms, from counseling to conciliation, from advocacy to welfare and other assistance.<\/p>\n

The group also provide support to distressed male OFWs whose rights are clearly violated and not self-inflicted.<\/p>\n

Acknowledgements\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Patnubay Advocacy Group would like to thank the Thursday Group for all their assistance rendered to the distressed OFWs in Saudi Arabia. We acknowledge the following services that this group has provided to the OFWs in the kingdom:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Weekly Free Lunch for the distressed female wards in Bahay Kalinga \u00a0since the year 2000.<\/li>\n
  2. Food supplies for the distressed OFWs who are still fighting for their rights in the labor court, governor\u2019s office or in the Jawasat.<\/li>\n
  3. Food supplies for the distressed OFWs in remote areas (eg. the ten distressed fishermen in Umluj, Yanbu KSA).<\/li>\n
  4. Urgent financial assistance for the OFWs in need.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n