Family well-being has always been the focus of my mom. As the oldest of seven siblings, she has always been like another parental figure to the younger ones. Growing up in the Philippines, she lived a normal and comfortable life for a while, with servants and chauffeurs. However, this all changed when she lost her father at a young age. She was only sixteen years old when her dad suffered a heart attack, he was only forty-three. From this moment on, everything changed. Losing their father's income, their mother had to go back to work in order to provide for their family. However, she would no longer be around to take care of her children. The responsibility of that fell on my mom, along with household maintenance. Uprooted from their comfortable life, things drastically changed for them as they all assumed responsibilities that they didn’t have to worry about before. No more servants, no chauffeurs, and tighter wallets.  Driven by the love of her family, she decided she would try to make a better life for them by seeking to go to America. This was a time in our history where the demand for doctors and nurses was high in America, so they recruited from many different countries. My mom took the opportunity to go to nursing school to get her bachelors, and then eventually migrated over to America to work as a nurse. She faced much hardships and discrimination at first. However, she persevered and worked to earn enough money to bring her family over from the Philippines.

– Naomi B.

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant