Whenever a plane filled with returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) touches down at Manila’s international airport, a loud, thunderous applause reverberates around the cabin.
Elsewhere in the world, travellers may roll their eyes over the lack of sophistication in clapping, or even see it as an insult to the pilots. But not in Manila, where the yearning for home among returning workers who have been away for years – decades even – is so intense that nothing can stop them from cheering at the exact moment when the plane’s wheels touch the runway.
