A few months ago, I was introduced to Rosielyn (Rosy) and Jaen Enrico (Coy) Oreiro. Instantly I felt a connection.
It turns out Coy is working with Baker Hughes Group, my former employer and the same company that was instrumental in migrating me and my family to Australia 10 years ago. I was also happy to hear that Coy used to do work at the Leyte Geothermal Plant Project, which was one of the signature programs of the Philippine Department of Energy, where I began my career. It’s a small world.
Coy and Rosy left the Philippines around 2006, when they were barely in their 20s, to seek better economic opportunities abroad. They landed in Dubai. With 3 engineering degrees between them, Coy and Rosy found jobs early and progressed to professional positions. But although work in the Emirates had been financially rewarding, Coy and Rosie felt that culturally and socially, there was much more left to be desired. In 2013, by some stroke of luck, an opening in a Baker Hughes project in WA came up, and Coy was offered the job.
Coy now works as a Technical Support Engineer with Baker Hughes in various projects, the latest of which is the Gorgon Project.
Rosy, on the other hand, works with Nilsen Pty (electro-technology company) as a Document Controller and Contracts Administrator.
On weekends, if they are not out in the theatre, Rosy cooks favourite Filipino dishes to bring to get-togethers with friends. On their free days, Coy packs up his camera and his esky and takes Rosie out for a drive down country road WA. In the two years they have lived in Perth, they have been to more places than I have in my 10 years. I am jealous. Coy and Rosy are doing exactly what my wife and I have been for years planning to do and just haven’t been able to. Until we do, and for now, we are happy and content to see places through their eyes. – Jim Concepcion
