4/24/2007

"A good provider is one who leaves"

The cover story of this week's New York Times Magazine explores the lives of migrant workers from the Philippines, which last year, according to the article, sent 1 million workers overseas. Carnegie Mellon alumnus Justin Hakuta, who is working in the Philippines on a Fulbright Scholarship, tells me that the nation has a remittance-based economy, meaning it is dependent upon money sent home by Filipinos working abroad. The government encourages such heavy migration, making Filipinos vulnerable to human trafficking. Hakuta is spending 10 months in the Philippines to compile data on the efforts of non-governmental organizations to combat human trafficking. 

Hakuta graduated in 2004 with a degree in Decision Science, which is possibly the only undergraduate program of its kind in the nation. Click here to read Hakuta's blog.

Jonathan Potts