Philip Dagumboy's day begins at 10 am, when his alarm goes off. After an hour and a half, the masseur is showered, cleanly shaved and ready for work. It takes him 20 to 30 minutes to travel from his home in Salmiya to his workplace in Salwa, and usually arrives ahead of his noon duty. "Besides my regular massage duties, I have been tasked by my boss to supervise the entire operation during my shift," he told Kuwait Times.

Dagumboy's first task is to check the list of appointments during the day. "I usually check the booking folder if I have a 12 pm massage appointment. If I have one, I proceed to the room and call my client. We have a receptionist who receives calls from customers for appointments. The list will be given to me and I usually divide the appointments amongst the staff accordingly. Of course, regular customers want to be handled by their regular masseurs," he said. When customers start pouring in, taking even a small break is impossible. "Mostly we are busy from the time we open until 10 pm, and sometimes operations are extended till 11 pm."

As an experienced masseur, Dagumboy regularly gets compliments in the form of monetary tips from customers and commission if the salon meets the sales target. Another compliment he regularly gets from satisfied clients is being told that he is possessed with magic or healing hands. "I don't think it's about the healing hand. I think it's the experience which I accumulated throughout my years on the job. Nonetheless, I am glad I can heal pains when I touch them. That is the purpose of me being a massage therapist - to touch and heal them," he said.

Dagumboy came to Kuwait in June 2008 after few years working at a foot spa and nail salon in the Philippines. "My line of work was in nail, hair and foot spas for men. I took a short course in the Philippines and I landed a job immediately after training," he said. Dagumboy completed his full masseur training when he got this job at a five-star hotel and spa in Salwa. "While I had some training in the Philippines, I learned more techniques during those months of training by international experts. I owe them my expertise - I learnt the techniques through them, and I am humbled because they really gave us the right tools and skills freely. I am loyal to my job, and my employers are kind and generous," he said.
His mother was in Kuwait since the early '90s, so Dagumboy asked her to sponsor a tourist visa for him to join her in Kuwait. She immediately applied, and a few weeks later, he arrived in Kuwait in June 2008. "My first job was at a small but classy men's salon in Salmiya. I thought they would be able to transfer my visit visa to a work permit, but they were not able to do that and I found myself exiting back and forth to Bahrain thrice," he said. "I worked for a year on visit visas there. It was a hard job, because I had to walk at least two and half kilometers daily just to get KD 130. Thank God, now I am earning not less than KD 500," he said.

Dagumboy has been serving his company for the past 10 years and is proud and glad he is part of the team. With this job, he was able to invest and start building his dream house. "It's about believing and enjoying the job you are tasked to do and get the monthly salary. Do the job properly and the reward will follow. My house is being built now, and until such a time the house is completed and furnished, I am willing to work and enjoy my remaining years in Kuwait," he concluded.

By Ben Garcia