Divina, together with her 12 year old daughter, hesitantly moved to Honolulu five years ago to join her husband. All her in laws live in Hawaii.
She hates living in Hawaii. She told me she has a good life in the Philippines. She owns a rice grains retail store in Nueva Viscaya, unlike here in Honolulu, she has to work for others. Her sister is now the one tending her store.
She and her, now 17, daughter want to go back to Nueva Vizcaya but her husband would not agree. He kept telling her “naku-culture shock ka lang”. But it’s been five years and she still feels the same way.
They have a nice two storey house back home but here they are renting a tiny two-bedroom apartment for $1,200 a month in Waipahu. She said she’s not able to save from her earnings because aside from the high cost of living in Hawaii, she still sends help to her relatives in Nueva Vizcaya. Just recently, she sent P56,000 plus another P44,000 for her father’s hospitalization.
I was giving her some chocolate spread but she refused, masyado daw matamis. I gave her something else. She asked me “bakit ang bait mo sa akin ha?”
#filipinoheroes
#filipinosinhawaii
#ofw
