This poignant account of Filipino women who leave their families to make money abroad centres on Frances Ocampo and her seven children, who grew up largely without her.

Filipino journalist, Candy Gourlay tracks this divided family in London and Manila. Frances describes the pain of long-distance parenting, and the emotions she invests in remitting not just money, but even everyday groceries. Frances' story is put into a larger context by conversations with other Filipino women, including Frances' best friend, Rita.

In Manila, Candy talks to Mai Annonuevo, who runs a Atikha, a charity that supports families left behind by the many women who go abroad to work – as well as the women who return after years away. Women work abroad not just because of the money, says Mai, sometimes its the only acceptable way to end a marriage in a deeply Catholic country where divorce is illegal.

Candy also meets Frances' family – the children, now grown-up; the relatives who helped look after them at home; and the grandchildren, some of whom she has never seen. Pictured top right is Frances' 18 year old daughter Melody and her baby.

Frances' sons and daughters all talk of their admiration for their mother, but one by one they shed tears describing the yearning they feel for her, the trauma they suffered when she first left, and the almost unreal feelings of joy when they were reunited with her four years ago, when she returned for the first time since leaving.

It's hard to evaluate the price Frances' children paid for their mother's absence. But all of them, when asked, said they would do what their mother did, and leave their children behind, if they had the chance to make money abroad.

Candy Gourlay is a former London correspondent of the global news agency, Inter Press Service (IPS). She was also Manila correspondent of Asia Magazine, a South China Morning Post publication. She was one of the editors of a collection of oral testimonies Woven Memories: Filipinos in the UK (published 2004 by CF Books)

Listen to the programme online from 16 July 2005 on BBC Listen Again Radio 4