The object on the left shows my great-grandmother’s wooden engraved table that she would later pass down to her offspring. The table was made around 50 years ago in Olongapo, Philippines. My great-grandmother, Zenaida Geluz Mercardo, had the table made and designed by a local craftsman, around their city. The engraved pictures on the table and chairs showed rice farmers in the Philippines, to show where our family started; the table was made out of Mahogany wood. Originally, the table was made for my great-grandmother’s family dining room, where whenever someone visited them they would ask about it. My great-grandmother later passed down the table two years later, to my Grandmother Rose Eman in Subic Bay, where my grandfather Glen was stationed. The table stayed in the Philippines for about 30 years, then my grandma took the table to Pensacola Florida around the year 2000, where my grandfather was later stationed. The fact that this table has been around our family for generations, even though my grandmother went to a different place she was not so familiar with, shows how much she cared for this table. My grandma later gave my mother the table around the year 2005 in Hemet, California. My mother then gave the table to my older sister Sheena in Los Angeles in 2017, 12 years later. As I asked my family the history behind this table and why we still have it, they told me “to remember our family history and to tell its story to the next generation.” The table represents more than what it is, it represents the importance of remembering who we are as Filipinos. 

– Andrew Almazan

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant