My family is allowed to go to the United States from the Philippines. My mother holds a small prayer book, 2 inches long and 3 inches wide, with the pages a color between tan and brown. The words on the bottom say “Our Lady of Rosary of Manaoag”. Manaoag (pronounced ma na wong) means Lady of Help, Rescue, or Call. In the Philippines, there are festivals in towns and people dress up as the ladies like the Lady of Rosary of Manaoag. As I was looking through the pages of the book, at the end I saw my mom’s first name and her maiden name. I’m guessing that my mom has had this small prayer book since before she was married. During my family’s immigration process, my mom recited a different prayer for 9 days each day and prayed that the way to America was safe. Before you would pray, you’d say your petition, then pray, and recite the rosary. She prays that my family arrives in the United States smoothly. They arrive safe and sound. The object is really important to their story because if my mom didn’t have the book and didn’t pray every day, I might’ve not been born. This story is important to share because it can show how important resilience can be and if you hope hard enough you can do anything. This book represents me because it has gone through a lot and so has my family.

– Marzeillin M.

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