Letters to the Editor

Looking to be part of community

Just had the December issue of The PinoyStrayan. Thank you for coming up with the concept. It is a great way to reach more of our kababayans. However, I still ask myself how to be a significant part of such an active community of migrants. We’ve been in WA for two years now. We are lucky to find a Christian church through a fellow Pinoy. They’ve been our family away from home.

There are lots of Pinoys here in our place (Cockburn) actually but there seems to be no sense of strong community. I think gone are the days when meeting a fellow Pinoy would mean “kumustahan” or finding your common ground. I have three children two of them came here younger than 8. Sad to say they are becoming more Australian than Pinoy. That is despite us insisting on speaking in Tagalog, eating Filipino food and generally living the Filipino way. That’s why I’ve been looking for ways and

means for them to be exposed to people with strong sense of “Filipinohood”. I just don’t want them to forget the land where we came from. We’ve just been here for two years and yet I already have that feeling it must have been worst for those who basically grew up here. I know, there is nothing wrong if they embrace Australia after all this is now their land but it doesn’t hurt to remember your roots. They have Filipino friends of course but they have Australianized themselves already

Anyway, I hope you can put a comment section next time. You acknowledged them in your editorial actually but it’s good to read what people have to say. I’m sure they are mostly encouraging words that is hard to miss. As a reader I must commend you for putting up success stories of Pinoys together with Filipino History and Culture. They are my favorite pages. Thank you!

Best regards,
Cecilia Cantillano-Parao, Cockburn WA