I took a trip to the Philippines in the summer of 2018, it was about 10 years since my last visit to my parents’ homeland. Life was getting pretty hectic and I was feeling drained, so this trip couldn’t of had came at a better time. I used this as an opportunity to ghost on social media and unplug from the internet for 3 weeks while I was in the motherland to recharge my mental, physical & creative batteries.
I set my intentions before I took off on the plane, to culturally immerse myself and soak in the energy from the island of Bohol. I wanted to dive deep and learn more about my ancestral roots - the complex history of the Philippines.
“No history, no self. Know history, know self.”
I came across that quote and it really stuck with me. I’m a first generation Filipino-Canadian, so it gets a little sticky. My upbringing was in a Filipino household, but my environment stepping outside of that house was everything but. I felt, and at times still do, that there was a cultural-line drawn in the sand and I had my feet on both sides.
I thought me knowing more about the history of the country would bring me closer to knowing myself. However, it was only until the plane landed & I reunited with my parents that I knew it was the history of them that I needed to dive deeper into.
To visiting the homes that they grew up in, to the schools and the beaches that they would frequent as young adults. To be able to step foot in the locations I’ve only seen in pictures from their old photo albums, as they narrated memorable life moments was mind blowing. So many of their stories and struggles, particularly my pops, mirrored many events in my life too as an adolescent (whose frontal lobe wasn’t fully developed yet haha).
It was a breath of fresh (and very humid) air knowing that even though our living conditions and geographical environments were very different - our core values and beliefs are very much the same.