A Filipino domestic worker who won a luxury car in a raffle organized by a remittance center in Dubai has said she plans to sell the prize to help repair the family kitchen back home and to support her five children.
Florinza Santos, 31, won the BMW after she sent money to her family in the Philippines through UAE Exchange, The Filipino Times reported. Money is usually sent by her employer, but this time she did it herself.
“My employers advised me to take it easy on the money. They said I should save the money because my children are still very young,” she said. “I’ll send half the amount home to pay debts and have our kitchen done; the other half I will save.”
Santos and her husband, a farmer in Ilocos Norte, have two eight-year-old twins and other children aged 15, 12 and just 12 months. She has only been working in Dubai for 11 months.
The maid had wanted to go home, but said she changed her mind.
“I was a direct hire. I didn’t spend any money getting here; that’s why I feel uneasy leaving them,” she said. “I am very blessed and extremely happy.”