“In these years, I have learnt that spiritual strength counts more than anything else, including money,” she said. For her, only with faith in God can we face all the challenges of life.

“Because of the crisis, many difficulties led me away from my faith, but I tried my best to keep my spirituality alive, above everything else. Faith and prayer helped me go forward and have given me strength to continue hoping.”

Alina Ganjuana is one of ten million Filipinos forced to emigrate to feed their families. The Philippines has the third highest number of workers abroad, after China and India.

Faced with the current global crisis, Filipinos are emigrating in record numbers, some 2,000 a day. Europe and the United states remain the destination of choice and have the largest overseas Filipino communities, but many are also going to the Arab world in response to local labour shortages.

In 2008, more than 600,000 Filipinos were working in the Middle East, despite very exploitative working conditions and the persecution of Christians.

“Migration is a new answer to a very old problem, which is unemployment," said Maria Angela Villalba, executive director of the non-government Unlad Kabayan Migrant Service Foundation.

Migrant remittances represent 10 per cent of the country’s economy. Last year alone, Filipino migrants sent home US$ 17 billion.

However, for Villalba, the Filipino government should stop using migrants only for their remittances, but should offer them incentives to save and invest in their own country. This way, they can play “a more pro-active role in nation building” and enable their children to find a job at home.