We’ve done this before, and it was exhausting. But with Weng gone, we had to go through it again.

Just like before, we asked everyone: friends, relatives, neighbors, officemates. I even asked the neighbor’s driver, and the guard at our office building.

We got a few leads, none of which panned out.

Amy

Our neighbor, a few houses down the street, has a cook, Ate Rosie. She said her friend Amy wanted to come to Manila to work as a nanny. Amy could come to Manila by May 15, and Ate Rosie would pick her up at the bus station and bring her to our house. I would reimburse her travel expenses when she arrived.

May 15 came, and Amy didn’t show up. Ate Rosie said that when Amy was about to leave, her boyfriend picked a fight with her, and begged her not to go.

Elsa

My officemate, Terence, had no nanny either. He referred me to Elsa, who looked for women and girls interested in working as nannies or househelp, and found them jobs. Elsa had found them nannies before, and charged a finder’s fee. If the help she provided didn’t work out, she would find you another one within six months.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t find anyone for either Terence or me.

Mercy

My friend Rory has a nanny, Mila. Mila referred her friend Mercy, who could only work as a stay-out nanny because she was a single mom. No problem, I said. I got Mercy’s number and gave her a call.

Mercy lived nearby, and she had an eight-year-old son. Unfortunately, she couldn’t work for us full-time. She already had work two days of the week, cleaning for a condo. She said her employers were kind, and she had been working for them for quite a while. She didn’t want to leave them.

I could respect that. I told her that I would refer her if anyone I knew needed a cleaning lady.

Jonah

Even our old friend Val tried to help. He asked friends and colleagues, and his wife’s friend referred Jonah.

I sent a text message, and got no reply.

Ruffa

My childhood friend Raphael said their nanny, Irish, could refer her friend from Zamboanga. We would have to talk to Ruffa about salary and airfare and increases.

Irish has been working for Raphael and Tesh for a year. That’s encouraging.

So we’ll see where that goes.