A golden chance

Every Friday afternoon, Romel Bustalino and his wife Noora spend quality time with their children Rechalla, six, and RG, 17. For Bustalino, these times with his family are precious, and they cannot thank technology enough. It all started when, "due to the financial crunch, we decided to send our daughter Rechalla back home to the Philippines. Her older brother was already studying there.

"The first few days without her were extremely difficult and it became more so the longer she was away. We were so used to the enjoyable chaos she brought in her wake that the silence at home made our hearts heavy. So we thought of buying a laptop so we could see them as we talked to them."

This simple decision changed his family's life forever. When they went to buy the laptop, they were not aware of a certain promotion. They had decided to purchase a laptop of the same brand as their television as the idiot box had given them over 12 years reliable service. "At the billing counter, I was given a coupon to fill out and I went through the paces without giving it much thought. After living in the UAE for 14 years, we had gotten used to the idea of filling out coupons and never winning! So when I received a call from the promotions office, I did not quite register what the man was saying. I thought it was a prank," recalls Bustalino, who works as an Operations Officer in the ATM Department of Transguard, Emirates Group Security. "They called me twice to inform me that I was the Toshiba millionaire!" he laughs.

He had won a prize worth one million dirhams. He had a choice to redeem his prize through many options: an apartment in Dubai, a family holiday, a trip to Hollywood, a ski trip to Switzerland, the equivalent prize value in gold, a BMW XG 2008 model, a Toyota Land Cruiser 2008 model, a diamond watch, a scholarship fund, designer furniture, selected electronics from Toshiba or even a charitable donation. Bustalino chose to take the money as gold. Says Bustalino, "Gold prices are on the rise so I felt it would be a good investment for the children and would offer security for their future. We have worked very hard during our stay in the UAE but our earnings never led to savings. I am hoping that this will help some of our dreams come true. I would like to build ourselves a home in the Philippines and to educate my children and equip them for a better life. I do not want them to face the struggles I did at the start of my career.

"Thanks to this win, we took home a whole set of fulfilled hopes. For us, the laptop is a blessing in more ways than one because it enables us to 'see' our children regularly. Before buying it, we had come to a point when we were thinking of moving back to the Phillipines, but it was hard to do so with empty pockets. Now we are more positive about the future. We can bring Rechalla back so she can continue to live here with us and pursue her studies."