An Open Door. An Interview with Miguel Ignacio by Fatima Ignacio

“If given an opportunity, grab it and take it, because if not, then you’ll fall behind.”

                  

Miguel Ignacio with his college sweetheart, Marivic Ignacio.

 

The person that I interviewed is my father. His pursuit of keeping his family together drove him to many different experiences and opportunities. He was given the chance to migrate to the United States in order to keep the family together, which opened many doors for the next generations. As a result of leaving the Philippines, he realized that his parents’ decision to bring him to the United States would benefit mostly his own family. Now he understands and acknowledges his parents for migrating in the first place. My father's family is one that has never been separated ever since they came to the United States.

 



Table of Contents

I. Living in the Philippines

II. Leaving the Philippines and Arriving in the U.S.

III. Settling in the U.S.

IV. Living in the United States

V. Reflections



I. Living in the Philippines


Miguel with his family back in the Philippines

Miguel Ignacio explains how his life in the Philippines was like and how he grew up. 



 

II. Leaving the Philippines and Arriving in the U.S.

Miguel expresses his feelings upon leaving the Philippines and how he was able to be brought to the United States by his two older sisters.

 

III. Settling in the U.S.


Miguel after a week of arriving in the U.S.

Miguel talks about how life was settling in the United States and the comparison between America to the Philippines. 

 

 

IV. Living in the United States

Miguel reveals how he was treated by other Filipinos in the United States and how he was able to grow a family which might've been harder in the Philippines.

 

 

 

V. Reflections

During this last part of the interview, Miguel concludes with the lessons he's learned throughout all of his experiences living in the Philippines, leaving the Philippines, and having to live in a new country.

 

 

 

 

 

Miguel with his family of seven.

 

"Try to make something of where you are, whether you're here or in the Philippines, and you'll be a better person."

                                                                      -Miguel Ignacio