“So long, goodbye, to you my friend. Goodbye, for now until we meet again.” This is very fitting to me this week because our study abroad trip is no longer a study abroad trip. I’m on my own now in the Philippines for the next two weeks, left to digest, explore, and apply some knowledge as I embark on a quest to explore and re-explore places I’ve visited in the past six weeks. As I type this I am on a Cebu-Pacific plane headed for Caticlan (Boracay). I am spoiled…no…I am seizing the moment.
Miko Marasigan Angelo Buelva(Me)
My justification for another trip to Boracay is that it’s my cousins twenty-third birthday this Saturday August 13th. My cousin Miko used to be my best friend. From the time I was born until I was five we were inseparable. But fate had different plans for us and I was taken to the U.S. for the past eighteen years and he stayed here in the Philippines.
From my perspective I have lost a part of my identity that I can never again fully grasp. I am disconnected with the language and the culture of the Philippines. And though I can re-learn Tagalog and re-learn the culture it will not be the same had I grown up in the Philippines.
What exactly is the definition of Filipino-American? To me it is being a Filipino individual growing up in America, but it could also mean being half Filipino and half Caucasian. The categorizing of race is ambiguous to me. World population is increasing and the amount of interracial people is on the rise. Race is associated with identity and when there are categories such as Filipino-American or Chinese-Filipino or Spanish-American where the former is the ethnicity and the latter is the place the person was raised it can be confusing defining identity.
(From left to right) Me born in the Philippines raised in the U.S. Steph Adrales half Filipino half Caucasian born and raised in the U.S. and Frank Bacungan born and raised in the U.S.
What is the definition of Filipino-American? All 3 of us are Filipino-American
In a previous reading titled, “The Colonial Mentality Scale for Filipino-Americans” it spoke about assimilation, which is the process of integrating into a dominant culture and having low identification with ones heritage culture. Authors David and Okazaki state that people who normalize oppression or fail to recognize oppression feel less stress compared to those that do. For me assimilation came easier and the main reason for this, I believe, is that I was five when I moved to the U.S. I was easy to mold and transform into seeing the world from the American perspective. As a product of this I lost my Filipino culture and my ability to speak the Filipino language.
Had I not moved to the U.S. my life would be completely different. I would probably be constantly on the hunt for jobs, and I may have not been able to go to college. The problems that overshadow the people in the Philippines are large and I cannot grasp the entirety of it. I am a product of my parents and my surroundings and thanks to being in the U.S. I was given opportunities many people in the Philippines would not get.
I possess feelings of gratitude towards the opportunities I have received, but I’m weary to label that colonial mentality. I’m grateful that by moving to the U.S. my life will have been better, but I believe it’s wrong that the system is set up in such a way that a country’s people cannot prosper in their own country. I use to not think twice about the injustices of poverty, but as I have come to the realization that the problems of the homeless are not individual, and are systemic I am moved to act. When I get back to Seattle on August 22 2011 my first job interview is through the Department of Social & Health Services with an organization called WithinReach. This organization’s mission is to ensure that families and individuals at or below the poverty line are connected with health and social services. This is one step I am taking to be part of the solution, and though it is not specifically for the benefit of Filipino people it is only the first step.
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