Domestically Yours

A Caregiver's Inspiring Journey

Non-Fiction - Womens
182 Pages
Reviewed on 10/05/2015
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

Author Biography

Annie Chua was born in the Philippines and today she is a proud citizen of Canada. She is a mother, grandmother and entreprenuer. She enjoys curling and deeply appreciates living in Edmonton, Alberta. This is her first book.
She wrote Domestically Yours: A Caregiver's Inspiring Journey based on her own experience to inspire anyone who wants to make their own dream come true.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Sarah Stuart for Readers' Favorite

Domestically Yours by Annie Chua sets out to show one woman’s experience of the Canadian Care-Giver Programme, after changes were implemented to include non-Europeans, giving them the opportunity to obtain permanent citizenship and bring families to join them. Canada needed care-givers; two salaries were required to run a home and the help available had to be both qualified and affordable. The first half of the book explains the circumstances that caused Annie to leave her four daughters with her estranged husband. The second part recounts her experiences working as a care-giver in Edmonton, Alberta, and then the various jobs she had to find to raise money for a home.

Annie Chua was born in Paranaque City near Manila in the Philippines into a poor, but hard-working family who gave her the best education they could. Her ambition to be a doctor was thwarted when she fell in love with Bong and married, aged twenty. Following the death of their second daughter, Karoline, Bong started drinking to excess. A reconciliation resulted in the birth of a fifth daughter, but Bong did not support his family. Divorce wasn’t an option in the Catholic Philippines, but Annie’s situation called for desperate measures. Her story is an inspiration to anyone determined to turn their life around for the sake of their children. Domestically Yours also contains a great deal of practical “how to” information, interwoven with Annie’s own battles with bureaucracy. The account of her time in Canada before she is free and financially able to relocate her daughters is heart-breaking at times, but it also paints a vivid picture of a beautiful country.

Jessyca Garcia

Domestically Yours: A Caregiver's Inspiring Journey by Annie Chua is a story about how one woman decided to leave her family in order to provide a better life for them. Annie Chua, a single mom, left her family in the Philippines for over two years in order to work as a caregiver in Canada. It took three more years after that before her family was able to live with her. She did this because it was the best possible solution in order to support her family. This is the story of her journey and how she made her dreams come true.

Anna Chua made a tough decision that few mothers could make in order to give her children a better life. In 2003 she decided to leave them and work in another country for two years. In Domestically Yours: A Caregiver's Inspiring Journey, Chua tells of the steps she took in order to become a caregiver. She also describes what she went through to get her children to come live with her in Canada. I liked that Chua told of her first reaction to seeing snow. I forget that not everyone has experienced snow.

This book is more than just Chua’s story of how she became a caregiver; it is also a guide of what to do to become a caregiver in Canada as well. Personally, I never thought of looking in a different country for someone to take care of a family member, much less going to a different country to watch someone else’s family members. I cannot imagine being away from my child for a day. I do not know how Chua made it through five years. I am happy that Chua was able to achieve her dream. I thought that Chua’s story was interesting and very informative. This will be a good book to read if you or someone you know is interested in being a live-in caregiver. This is also a good book if you like to read about strong women.

Valerie Rouse

Domestically Yours: A Caregiver’s Inspiring Journey is an engaging tale about Annie Chua’s path to a new life in Canada. Annie was always intrigued by the caregiver system of employment. She decided to apply as she wanted to secure a better life for her children. This Filipino native knew what hard work entailed and she did several jobs in order to fund the fees for the application process. She was jubilant when she found out that she was successful in becoming a Canadian caregiver. Annie worked for two years in Edmonton. After this period, she would be eligible to become a permanent resident. Despite the odds, Annie became a permanent resident and subsequently relocated her four girls to Canada. They flourished in this new environment and later became Canadian citizens.

Domestically Yours: A Caregiver’s Inspiring Journey is truly inspiring. The self-penned autobiography by author Annie Chua is very interesting and descriptive. I enjoyed reading her account of her experiences as a new permanent resident, which exudes lots of enthusiasm. The language used is colloquial and is easy to understand. I love the fact that the author was able to display her tough spirit. Not once did she throw in the towel and decide to give up her dream of living the good life in her adopted homeland. This tenacity is admirable and the average reader can really learn a lot from this story. In addition, the book has a wealth of information for readers who might be interested in becoming future caregivers in Canada or elsewhere. This novel is a source of realistic inspiration and I recommend it to all readers who appreciate positive stories.

Hilary Hawkes

Domestically Yours: A Caregiver's Inspiring Journey is the autobiographical story of how Annie Chua changed her life, and that of her family, when she made the decision to pursue her dream of leaving the Philippines to become a permanent resident in Canada. She wrote this book to explain the daunting process of application. Her story begins with what life was like for her in Manila – married at 21 to Bong, she had, in time, five daughters. She had achieved well educationally and gained a degree in psychology and was a hard worker who found good jobs. Sadly, one of her daughters died at age two. She and her husband separated and she began her application process to the 24 Months Live-In–Caregiver Program in Canada. This is a way for people to gain entry to the country as child care or elderly care workers. After two years they may apply for permanent residency for themselves and for their family members who have waited in their country of origin.

Domestically Yours is not just a guide for anyone wishing to pursue the route of obtaining residency in Canada. While Chua explains the process, the difficulties and solutions at each lengthy stage of the application journey, the book is also a record of her own inspiring determination to find a better way of life for herself and her young daughters. The author explains that the details of the process may have changed since, but this is a book that encourages those who feel the need to aspire to a new life to persevere, find out all they can and begin the process.

While plenty of factual information is given, the book is wonderfully honest on a personal level as Annie Chua tells the reader about her doubts, patience, the culture shock and the adjustments she needed to make. I couldn’t help feeling thrilled that after several setbacks and the way she sacrificed five years of seeing her children growing up everything worked out wonderfully well for her and her family. Annie was always a determined and conscientious hard worker (her work ethos coming from her upbringing) and so her eventual starting and running her own business in Canada in order to find further self-fulfillment and meet her family’s financial needs is not surprising. An interesting read that inspires all to follow their dreams.