A Filipina single mom in Dubai, United Arab Emirates can finally reunite with her daughter after winning in an online draw.
“I can finally bring my daughter here [in Dubai] from the Philippines,” Wendy Arroz said in an interview with GMA News Online.
Arroz has not seen her now eight-year-old daughter in over two years due to COVID-related travel restrictions.
The 31-year-old mother said she returns home once a year, but COVID-related restrictions have prevented her from doing so.
“Para sa aking baby girl. Hindi ko man sya mapamanahan ng malaki, at least may bahay na sya paglaki (To my baby girl. I may not leave her much when she grows old, but at least she already has a house),” she added.
Arroz, who hails from Cagayan Valley in Northern Luzon, currently works as an office manager at an HR consultancy.
“Pangarap ko lang na manalo dun, kahit sa AED20,000 weekly draw [I always dreamt of winning, even in the AED20,000 weekly draw],” she said.
Arroz was one of five winners to match five out of six numbers in the online raffle. She shared the prize with four others.
“I’ve been participating from the very beginning along with my brother,” a company announcement quoted Arroz as saying.
“I was driving with my friend during the draw and asked my brother to check the numbers for me. He mentioned I got four out of six. I was shocked and ecstatic to win the 1,000 dirhams,” she added.
Arroz won another AED1,000 after her second entry to the draw matched four out of six numbers.
“As I was celebrating, my friend mentioned that on my other entry, I matched five numbers,” Arroz told GMA News.
“I had to pull the car over to go online and check the results. I started crying and kept asking myself ‘Is this really happening? Is this really true?’”
Arroz said she is also planning to buy a house in the Philippines for her family and share some of the funds with her mother.
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