Success in the U.S; Christina Ridad interviewed by Rjay Pola

Success in The U.S.
(Christina Ridad)

I interviewed a woman by the name of Christina Ridad. She has been living in the United States since 1960's and has accomplished much since then. Mrs. Ridad migrated from the Philippines to the United States at a young age for a better life due to the lack of resources and opportunities in her homeland. Struggle is a common term that most immigrants can relate to. It is something that drives people to push their own limits and persevere in order to live successful lives. In terms of being successful, success has several meanings. People in our society may define success by having a lot of money and owning fancy things. On the other hand, for immigrants like my interviewee, she views success as something that is intangible and must be worked for. Like most immigrants Benito Vergara interviewed, my interviewee shares the same experience. Contrarily, the perception and attitude towards achieving economic and material success greatly differ between them.

Segment 1 (Life in the Philippines)

According to Christina Ridad, life in the Philippines was not easy. In Illocos Norte, Philippines; where she is from, there is more agricultural land. Being unable to find work, other than farming or housekeeping, Mrs. Ridad felt the need to leave her home in hopes of finding something better. 

Segment 2 (Leaving the Philippines)

After a few months of living in the United States, she found a job fairly quick that required her to do simple tasks. Within the first year of living in the United States, Mrs. Ridad was able to obtain a job and live sufficiently as she hoped for. 

Segment 3 (Homesickness)

By the time Mrs. Ridad arrived to the United States, the routine she left from the Philippines such as feeding her chicken and the lifestyle was the most thing she missed the most. She mentioned about not wanting to live in the Philippines anymore but to just to visit and have a vacation since all of her relatives and families are all in the U.S.  

Segment 4 (Being Successful)

The way Ms. Ridad expressed the way she became successful was based on her patience and willpower to keep on learning. With all that she had accomplished, Ms. Ridad said “God came along and gave me the strength to achieve this success, everything that I gained is a blessing and that is my success” (Ridad). Though everyone has a different way of becoming successful, the insight I gained from Ms. Ridad is that patience and persistence will lead you to become successful."If you like to work, there is work" (Ridad) Mrs. Ridad stated.