Overview to Social Change Interview

Immigration to a new country has always been seen as a difficult task for many. Whether it be because of the distance, war, or law restrictions, it is not a simple task to go forward with. When immigrating to the U.S., people need to process immense paperwork and petitions. The easiest way to immigrate is to have family who already live here, and then petition the government to help bring their relatives over. However, limitations such as marriage, kids, and age, can make this paperwork significantly more difficult and take twice as long. It is especially frustrating in countries with higher levels of poverty, such as the Philippines, where transportation is dependent mainly on converted buses, known as Jeepneys, and where schools are closed when the weather is too hot due to a lack of air conditioning in schools.

It may be shocking to know that these are not just problems of the past either, they’re modern issues. It is still a long and daunting process for people to immigrate here and the Philippines is still in immense poverty in a lot of places. Rommina Chancio experiences these issues firsthand from her childhood in the 1970s-90s. She experienced power outages, having to eat small portions of food to provide for her and her many siblings, and not being able to finish her schooling due to financial problems. When she immigrated here, it was because she was petitioned by her relatives in the U.S. It was also still due to luck of her being the right age and not being married or having kids, unlike her siblings who did and could not come over until a decade later. It is important to remember these restrictions when we think about immigration as well as the dedication put forth by people to live in a country more sustainable to them than their homeland.

Background Information

Rommina Chancio is from a small town called, Olongapo, in the Philippines, about two hours away from the capital, Manilla. She mainly grew up in poverty and away from the city. She immigrated to the U.S. when she was 19 along with her parents due to being petitioned to come here by family that already lived here. Since she was the youngest and the only one who fulfilled the petitioning requirements, she could move here.

What is petitioning?- In simple terms, petitioning is when a person living in the U.S. has family in another country and submits a request, or a petition to the government to bring them to America. However, there are certain requirements. For example, if they are younger they cannot be married or have kids, and if they are you have to wait 12 years before they can come. If the person has kids, they must be unmarried to go immediately, otherwise, you must wait. They also have to be under 21 years old.  My mother was the only one able to come from her siblings because she was the only one to fulfill these requirements. 

Transcription

Jonah Chancio- 00:01
Okay, hi, my name is Jonah Chancio. And today I’m going to be interviewing my mom, Rommina Chancio, about her experience coming from the Philippines and immigrating to America as well as her overall journey living here. So to start off, just as like, sort of an introduction question, can you describe what it was like being a teenager or growing up in the Philippines, and was there anything specific that you can remember happening at the time?

Rommina Chancio- 00:33
I grew up in a small town. So most of the time, everybody knows everybody. So we play outside, we know all our neighbors. And we go to the same school, most of the people, they’re the same, like, almost my age, like, went to the same school, go to the same church, and pretty much like, together all the time, we are all together all the time. And when there’s like, a “brown out”, which is very common in the Philippines, when the power is off, everybody goes outside, and we all just talk, talk to each other, know about each other until the power comes back on. [Similar to a “blackout”, in the Philippines they are known as “brownouts” because of the color of the lights as they dim. This is a very common occurrence due to inadequate electrical supply]

And then um-

JC- 01:24
That’s cool.

RC- 01:26
And then after high school, I went to college in like another city, which is like, an hour and a half from my house. So I come home every weekend. Until, until we can’t afford it anymore to go to school. So I stopped. And then we we got our papers for immigration, from immigration, that we are going to be able to come to America.

JC- 02:02
So can you describe like, what did it feel like when you found out that you would be leaving to come to America? How did you feel about that?

RC- 02:12
Well, it’s mixed emotions at first, I’m sad, because I’m the only one who’s going to be able to go from my siblings, they’re all going to be left. And at the same time, I’m happy because I want to start over because I couldn’t go to school anymore. Anyway. So I want to see like, what’s in store for me in America. But at the same time, nervous because I don’t know, the culture. I need to adjust with, like people that I’m going to be meeting like my family here that I’ve never met my entire life. And just adjusting like, not being with the same people that I’m living with in the Philippines.

JC- 03:01
So would you say you did you know what you were? What to expect in America? Are there like cultural shocks or anything that you experienced when you came here?

RC- 03:10
Yeah, that the culture shock was like, the transportation, like, you can’t leave the house. Unless somebody takes you somewhere. Like in the Philippines, you could just ride a bus, you can ride a Jeepney [Jeepneys are a popular form of transportation in the Philippines. They were Willy Jeeps left by America after WWI and repurposed by Filipinos.], 

or a tricycle. If you want to go to the market, you can just walk, um, in like, in here, like not everybody knows their neighbors.

JC- 03:35
Mhmm

RC- 03:36
So and that another culture shock was like, all the appliances like we don’t have it in the Philippines like microwave, we don’t have that before,

JC- 03:47
Oh ok

RC- 03:50
the washing machine and just adjusting I guess, yeah, to the environment. Also, like when we got here, he was already like, I think spring so it’s cold at that time, so I have to adjust also, like start wearing layers of clothes. Stuff like that.

JC- 04:18
So did you expect that or it just-

RC-  04:21
No, I didn’t expect that.

JC- 04:23
Did you have any expectations at all or?

RC- 04:26
Well, I mean, I watch a lot of American movies. So I see that I thought like every everything that I see it’s gonna be the same like same kind of houses. But when I got here, like I went to California first. They have different houses there. And then when I got here in Maryland, they also have different types of houses. And same way that the the weather I guess that’s the stuff that I’m expecting. So I mean expected but at the same time, I also need to adjust to it.

JC-  05:04
Mhmm, makes sense. So you said that you only were able to get like some college in the Philippines, but you didn’t finish?

RC- 05:11
Yeah.

JC- 05:12
When you came here, did you do more education? Or did you work? And what was that, like?

RC- 05:16
I worked more for at first, I have like, two or three jobs at a time. Because I have to, I have to pay for my car. And we have to pay our rent. Me and my mom and my dad. And then we have to send money to the Philippines. Because the money that we borrowed coming here to America, we have to pay it back. So I didn’t go to school right away. So I started working for another like, three or four years. And then I came back to school.

JC-  05:53
Mhmm

RC-  05:54
After I started working in the hospital that they were going to call this they are going to reimburse my tuition.

JC- 06:03
Oh, okay.

RC- 06:04
Yeah.

JC- 06:05
Where did you go to school?

RC-  06:07
I went to NOVA, Northern Virginia Community College. I studied respiratory therapy for another year and a half. And then I didn’t finish it. Because I got married. I got engaged and then got married. And kids.

JC-  06:24
Okay. Um, so you obviously did all that, and you worked really hard to be where you are. But did you ever feel like, there were expectations set up for you to like, accomplish? And if so, like, what were they? How did they? How did that make you feel? Like maybe, I don’t know, from other people, family, anything like that?

RC- 06:44
From the Philippines people?

JC- 06:45
Or, I mean, just in general, like maybe your parents or, yeah, maybe Philippines people?

RC- 06:50
Yeah, they, they expect that you’re going to be when you come to America, that you’re gonna have a lot of money, that it’s a better life. That, you’ll be popular. And you’ll be successful. But I mean, at the same time, you also are aware that when you come to America, you have to work hard to get all of that. So that met my expectation that I’m only going to be able to get what I want if I work hard for it.

JC- 07:27
That makes sense.

RC- 07:28
But, yeah, the expectation that they’re asking are looking for you for me. They didn’t get it because it’s not that easy. They don’t know that. You have to earn what do you you got to be. You know, it’s not like you get the money from a tree or something.

JC- 07:48
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get you. So were there any challenges that you faced with the dominant culture that was different from your own?

RC- 08:00
Well, of first, is the the language barrier. I mean, when I first worked in McDonald’s, like, I mean, that’s also my first job. So the challenge is is like communicating with people. And sometimes when they talk fast, I can’t understand what they’re saying. So I ended up like, not giving them the right like right food and they complain and that’s one of the challenges also is, um, like, living with relatives that you have to learn how to, what do you call this? You have you have to- what’s the word? Oh, you have to be part of what you know like their cycle like what they’re like they have to go to bed a certain time and you have to clean up after your mess. Because in the Philippines we have also maids and sometimes we don’t you know, we don’t really have like a chore that you have to do right away. Unlike here they’re more discipline like you eat you clean up and and of course like entertainment, I have to also adjust because like, I don’t really watch all this stuff that they’re watching here and I have to entertain myself I’d be like started to start to like what they’re like, You know what they’re also what do you calll that? Are- what’s the word? Trying to adapt to the uh, the, the new I guess new surroundings new environment. Yeah.

JC- 10:08
So you already had like family here when you came?

RC- 10:11
Yeah.

JC- 10:12
Did did they play a part in you being able to come here or?

RC-  10:16
They helped with the paperwork but the first one who helped is, you know is my nanay, my grandma and my grandpa, my dad’s mom and dad. They are the ones who petition us from the Philippines. So we had to wait 12 years because my dad is married. If you’re, if they petition you, they call it petition, your kids, they have to be not married for them to come over right away. But if they are married, they have to wait 12 years. So when we waited 12 years. So when they when it was already time for us to to get all our papers approved, I’m the only one was under 21. Also with their kids, your their kids kids have to be under 21 to come over. If they’re over 21 They have to wait another 12 years.

JC-  11:11
Okay.

RC- 11:12
Yeah.

JC-  11:13
So you were the only way out of like your siblings stuff to be able to come?

RC-  11:17
Yeah.

JC-  11:18
Was it was that hard?

RC-  11:20
Yes.

JC-  11:21
Why? Like…

RC- 11:22
Because I’m used to having them around? I depend on them.

JC- 11:27
That’s fair.

RC-  11:29
And, of course, you miss them. And they’re so far away. Like before, I mean, before that we don’t have internet than we do have internet, but we don’t really know about video calls. I mean, we can only call them but it’s so expensive. Because of long distance, I mean, overseas rate. And so we write each other, that’s the only thing we can do at that time. And I’m youngest, like, I don’t really know. I mean, I’m, I’m like used to being you know, like being asked all the time, like, “Oh, do you need this? Or do you need that?” But that this when I came here, I have to be independent. I have to, like, do everything for myself.

JC- 12:23
Um, okay, well, I only really have one more question. So I guess to end if you could give. So you’ve How long have you lived here now about like…?

RC- 12:37
96, 98…

JC- 12:41
About 28 year? So now that you’ve lived here for so long, if you could give advice to either your younger self or other young girls who are going through a similar experience, and they have to, like adapt to a new environment, what would you tell them?

RC-  13:01
I’ll probably from my younger self first, I mean, I’ll tell her Don’t, don’t be in a hurry to earn money. Be, be patient, at least finish school so you’ll have better, better job. And for the the younger, I mean, like teenagers who’s gonna come here also, this from a different country. My advice is to be strong. Just be like that. Be patient, persevere, and I mean, just just try to better yourself. Don’t, don’t, don’t get what do you call this? Don’t get embarrassed if you you can’t do everything. I know that you can’t adapt right away. Just do it, you know, one step at a time and learn everything on your own. And Just, just don’t get what do you call this? Don’t get caught up with your emotion. Just say that, just think that you’re going to be better. You- I mean better yourself all the time. Don’t just settle for, for what you what you know now. Read a lot of books we listen to and we watch. Watch a lot of American movies. So you can learn. You can learn how to communicate. And just always pray.

JC- 14:47
Mhmk

RC- 14:47

If you don’t have God, you can’t. You can survive. So hold on to him.

JC- 14:53
Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Interview/Transcription Process

This interview was conducted in person in the living room of my home. I recorded the conversation using an interview feature on my phone’s voice memo app and was then transcribed using Otter.Ai. On other fronts, however, I had to pay attention. On parts where the audio was harder to hear, I had to remember what was being said and implement it into the transcription, as well as fix any errors the transcription may have made. It honestly was fairly easy to do though besides that. I enjoyed interviewing my mom and learning more. I also learned things I hadn’t known before!

Bibliography

1. The University of Texas at Austin Department of History. “Immigration Act of 1990 – Immigration History.” Immigration History, 3 Feb. 2020, immigrationhistory.org/item/immigration-act-of-1990. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.
2. “Submit a Petition.” Travel.State.Gov, travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-1-submit-a-petition.html. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.
3. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “How Do I Help My Relative Become a Permanent U.S. Citizen?” USCIS (Gov), Oct. 2013, www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/guides/A1en.pdf. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.
4. Cruz, Hazel Jane. Jeepney: An Icon of Filipino Culture. 30 Dec. 2023, www.gmanetwork.com/lifestyle/news/108351/jeepney-an-icon-in-filipino-culture/story#:~:text=It%20is%20an%20icon%20in,vehicles%20that%20can%20transport%20passengers.
5. “What Are the Causes of Power Interruptions in the Philippines? | 3 Answers From Research Papers.” SciSpace – Question, typeset.io/questions/what-are-the-causes-of-power-interruptions-in-the-3wk8tjd2pk.

6. Gutierrez, Jason. Philippines Closes Schools as Heat Soars to “Danger” Level. 29 Apr. 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/world/asia/philippines-heat-schools-jeepney.html.