Family

For many Filipino immigrants in the United States, the most common motivation for leaving the Philippines and settling here is family. And it is certainaly no different for Lorenza Madamda.

I was lucky enough to have talked to her a few days before and on the day of her flight back to the Philippines, her first trip back since officially immigrating to the US in December 2006. The photo above is of her waiting in line to enter the departure gates as SFO.

For the main interview on Monday, we talked about how she obtained her first emergency visa, then having her niece and nephew arrange for her immigrant visa which turned out to be easier than most people's efforts at obtaining the elusive authorization.

Lorenza is a very happy, upbeat, and optimistic person. Even while talking about her sister and her family, she remained composed, yet comtemplative. In her story, I could see a lot of things that are common to all Filipino-American families, including in my own.

Writing the story and looking for different things online, it made me think about immigration in general. There has been a lot of talk, especially lately, about the different immigrantion reforms that both incumbents and candidates want to bring to the table and then there are the arguments from the people who are directly affected, whether they be immigrants' rights groups or immigrants (legal or illegal) themselves.

Knowing my family's own struggles and hardships in immigrating here to the US in the 1970s and 1980s, and their years of hard work, literally under the scorching sun and the 100 degree Philippine heat, that enabled them to just get to Manila and eventually here to the Bay Area... as well as hearing stories from people like Lorenza... I've always held the belief that if they can do it all legally, then why can't others?

By no means was my family well off in the Philippines, especially living in the northern coastal provinces of the country. So being able to immigrate to the US was a huge deal for them (my grandparents, parents, and uncle & aunt). It meant that they now had the opportunity to help those left back home a little more. But it also meant they'd have to start all over again here in the US, working low paying jobs and in my grandparents' case, working in the all too familiar scenery of the farmland of the San Joaquin Valley.

And for that I am grateful. Without their hard work here and in the Philippines, I probably wouldn't have the means or resources to blog about anything today.