From the outside, the skyline of Doha gleamed like a dream. Skyscrapers pierced the horizon, their glass walls catching the desert sun. But for Joel Ramos, an OFW electrician from Tarlac, the beauty of the city was something he only saw in glimpses reflected in the sweat-stained visor of his hard hat as he worked long hours under the Qatar heat.
Joel was a licensed electrician in the Philippines, used to wiring small homes and fixing neighbors fuse boxes for extra income. But despite his skills, he struggled to support his family. When a recruitment agency advertised job openings for skilled workers in the Middle East, he didn’t think twice. The pay was triple what he earned locally. It meant leaving his wife and three kids behind but it also meant finally catching up on school fees, house repairs, and overdue bills.
His first project in Doha was a massive commercial complex. The scale of it stunned him hundreds of workers, each from a different country, buzzing like ants over steel and scaffolding. Joel was responsible for laying electrical lines, installing panel boards, and inspecting high-voltage systems. The work was technical, dangerous, and exhausting.
But Joel was no stranger to hardship. Back home, he once climbed poles during typhoons to restore power. Here in Doha, he brought that same determination. He was quiet but dependable. After a few months, his supervisor began assigning him more complex tasks, trusting his attention to detail.
Still, there were days when loneliness hit hard. The shared room he lived in with five other workers offered little privacy. On days off, Joel would sit outside their accommodation, staring at the flat desert horizon, video calling his kids. Sometimes the signal was poor. Sometimes, his youngest would cry, asking when he’d come home. He kept all their drawings taped inside his locker.
One evening, during a routine maintenance check, a junior electrician nearly caused a short circuit by connecting a live wire. Joel noticed just in time and pulled him back, shielding both of them from a potential disaster. The safety officer filed a report, and Joel was recognized for his quick thinking. Later, the younger worker a fellow Filipino came up to him and said, Salamat, Kuya. Kung wala ka doon. Just just smiled. Lahat tayo dito, nagtutulungan.
After three years, Joel had saved enough to renovate their home back in Tarlac. The nipa roof was replaced with metal sheets, the cracked walls now stood firm, and his kids no longer shared one small bed. He also enrolled his eldest son in electrical vocational school, telling him, Learn this. Not just to work abroad but to build a better life here.
His contract was extended, and he chose to stay one more year. Not because he wanted to, but because he saw the finish line: a small electrical shop of his own, a business he could run back home, and the promise of never missing another birthday.
In a city of lights powered by millions of unseen hands, Joel remained just one man with a tool belt and a dream. But through every wire he installed and every connection he repaired, he wasn’t just lighting up buildings he was lighting the path home.
