An eye-opener
December 2, 2007 -- Got something to say?
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This is an eye-opener for all of us, says Mencie Hairston, an active Filipino American community leader, at the recent necrological services for Irene Apao, a Filipino teacher who committed suicide in Baltimore early this month. She was the second Filipino teacher to do so; the first was Fe Bolado who ended her life in May this year.
Irene was an award-winner teacher in the Philippines when she decided to come to this land of opportunity, probably unaware that its also a harsh and formidable place for newcomers. Its harsher for the Filipino teachers who often feel the daily frustration of coping with an entirely different teaching environment.
Hairston, one of the founders of Mabuhay Inc. which helps Filipino immigrants adjust to American life, says that in their haste to deliver the needed teachers, both recruiters and school officials are neglecting the plight of the new arrivals. Others also say the Philippine embassy has not being doing enough to help these Modern Day Heroes who prop up the Philippines economy with their dollar remittances.
The Fil-Am community is not part and parcel of the initial equation when workers are recruited in the Philippines and when they are placed with employers here, Hairston explained.
They (the teachers) are prepared professionally but the big issue is how to make a life in the United States, Hairston adds. Its hard moving from something so familiar to you which is the Philippines a culture that is so receptive and embracing to here in America where the individual is treasured, kanya-kanya, you have to be able to stand on your own, she avers. Were used to that, the embrace of family, friends and the community to be able to make it. There should be a way to bridge that for the newly arrived immigrants to have a support system, not only professionally but emotionally, Hairston declares.
Its time for the Filipino American community and the Philippine embassy to help establish that bridge for all new arrivals from the Philippines.
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