Marinel Garciano dislikes winter, and that’s tough when it lasts nine months in Ilulissat, Greenland. But she has no regrets about leaving the Philippines to give her children opportunities.<\/p>\n
Her family is among the roughly 1,200 Filipinos living on the vast Arctic island of 57,000 inhabitants, the largest foreign diaspora in the Danish autonomous territory.<\/p>\n
“We’re just looking for a greener pasture,” smiled the 38-year-old, her eyes stealing a glance outside the window.<\/p>\n
But behind the glass there was no greenery — just the pristine white of a blizzard enveloping the streets of Ilulissat, north of the Arctic Circle, in the icy month of April.<\/p>\n
– ‘Teleported’ –<\/p>\n
Marinel was taking a break at the Nuka cafe where her husband works, flashing a contagious smile despite being tired from work, her long dark hair falling down her back.<\/p>\n
In 2012, Owie Garciano left the lush landscapes of the Visayas and headed to Greenland for a job as a cook.<\/p>\n
Marinel and their three children joined him in 2021, amid a tourism boom in the town known for its icebergs.<\/p>\n
“It was like I had teleported,” Marinel recalled. “From the tropical forest to here.”<\/p>\n
At first she worked in a warehouse, eventually landing a job as a receptionist.<\/p>\n
Her 15-year-old daughter sometimes helps her, while her eldest son, 18, works as a kitchen hand in a restaurant.<\/p>\n
The Garcianos are often tired from working so much, but it’s for their future: Marinel invests “every penny” in real estate back home to give her children a better life.<\/p>\n
“I want my kids to not grow up like me. You want to offer them what you didn’t have,” she said.<\/p>\n
In between orders, Owie bounced out of the kitchen, gave her a quick kiss, then disappeared again, leaving behind an odour of fried food.<\/p>\n
Since they never know how long their visas will be renewed for, they don’t want to waste any time in Greenland.<\/p>\n
Marinel keeps meticulous accounts, watching the children’s spending closely, even going so far as to confiscate their money “for their future”.<\/p>\n
“In any case, it’s too cold to go out and have fun,” she said. “And if you drink, you just end up hungover and broke.”<\/p>\n
She squirmed on the red vinyl seat.<\/p>\n
“I don’t know… maybe I’m crazy,” she laughed.<\/p>\n
The next morning, she helped some Filipino friends clean the town’s new airport, which is set to open in October.<\/p>\n
– Labour shortage –<\/p>\n
At dawn, life at the Best Western hotel begins to stir.<\/p>\n
A Thai chambermaid disappears behind a flurry of sheets, a Filipino cook behind a burst of flame.<\/p>\n
Here, a quarter of the staff is foreign.<\/p>\n
“We want to hire locals, but it’s hard,” admitted manager Arnarissoq Moller.<\/p>\n
“I don’t know how we could maintain our high-quality service” without the guest workers, he said.<\/p>\n
A town of 5,000 inhabitants, Ilulissat has about 50,000 visitors annually.<\/p>\n
Tourism is growing rapidly but Greenland, whose population is in decline, has a labour shortage.<\/p>\n
According to Greenland’s employers’ association, five to six percent of workers on the island are Asian, drawn by the tourism sector.<\/p>\n
Their presence is needed, but sometimes misunderstood.<\/p>\n
Marinel said she senses it sometimes, in lingering looks and harsh words: “Go home! Go home!”<\/p>\n
“Like in any country,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We have to learn the language, and adapt to the culture… but it’s not that easy.”<\/p>\n
She switches between Greenlandic, Danish and English all day.<\/p>\n
At her side, her youngest child Neliowi, five, watched cartoons in English.<\/p>\n
“In the mornings I always urge her to speak four or five languages.”<\/p>\n
– Not die here –<\/p>\n
Marinel hesitated when the subject of happiness arose.<\/p>\n
“I’m happy knowing that my children might not end up being poor again,” she said.<\/p>\n
She doesn’t want to die in Greenland, she said, hoping to move back to the Philippines before she turns 40.<\/p>\n
Night began to fall, and the tourists gradually left the Nuka cafe one after another. Outside, the blizzard raged.<\/p>\n
Marinel pulled on her warm coat with a grimace, saying she dreams of “Trees. Sea. Sand”.<\/p>\n
Owie emerged through the swinging kitchen doors, looking tired.<\/p>\n
A Filipino kitchen hand greeted him with a bloodstained hand. He was preparing reindeer legs for a panang curry, which has become the “in” dish at Ilulissat’s restaurants.<\/p>\n
In the dining area, a young woman laid the tables for the next day.<\/p>\n
Ilulissat went to sleep beneath its blanket of snow, but the warm light and strains of Thai pop rock from the Nuka cafe hinted at another life still awake.<\/p>\n
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