Vinh Dao | Return to Country

RETURN TO COUNTRY

A quarter of working-age Filipinos live and work overseas. They are labeled as “OFW”s – Overseas Foreign Workers – by their country and find themselves straddling two worlds: the country of their birth and their country of employment. For these ten million OFW’s, it is the push and pull of these worlds that embodies the spirit of their transnational identity. The Balikbayan Box – a care package, sent in large cardboard boxes to family members back home, which contain food, clothing, and other consumer goods from their newfound country – is one link that connects their two worlds. It is apt that the word “Balikbayan” in the Tagalog language translates to ‘return to country’.

Return to Country is an ongoing project documenting the lives of OFW’s in both the United Kingdom and Vietnam, and is inspired by the Balikbayan Box and how it represents this connection to home.