[9 days to go for my Kickstarter Campaign] This place is most unique, eye-opening, and life changing things that had happened. If it were not for meeting Georgiana Rose Tutay, I might not have come across this place or certain events may not have followed because of it. My first few trips coming here brought back nostalgic memories of both the language of familiarity and tastes of the Philippines. I could recall the tastes and say I’ve eaten the foods before. The salty vinegar taste of chicken adobo was so foreign yet so familiar.
The voices were familiar. I could hear people speak Tagalog and could recognize it. But, when I just so happened to hear someone speak Cebuano, my island dialect, my body would freeze and it was as if the language with me all along. I knew it was something familiar but I couldn’t express it. I could make out a Cebuano dialect among a sea of Tagalog tongues as if they were calling to me. It just was that innate. I call it a “ping”, like a tuning fork when it resonates with another that is the same tune.
I felt home. Yet, I felt alien.
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I invite you to join me on the rest of this journey to reach back as I move forward.
9 days to go for my Kickstarter campaign.It was not until 2007 that I had first met Filipinos since the time of my adoption. This is one of many homes of “Little Manila” in Michigan. It was my first culture shock, or taste of it, If put in any simplest words. It was the first time seeing other people who looked just like me. It was the first time looking similarly to someone else, ethnicity-wise. This is the Philippine American Community Center of Michigan. Although coming here, I feel at home, at the same time I have an internal struggle of belonging. Something is missing…
From here is when the ball was set in motion for a chain reaction of events and a series of things fell into place.
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I invite you to join me on the rest of this journey to reach back as I move forward.
“James Beni Ronde” etched in crayon by foster family member named “Yami”.
Who am I? Well before, I was born without a name or identity. I was given the name James Beni Ronde by the DSW RSCC of Cebu, Philippines.
James Beni Wilson, June 2013
Who am I now? I’m an ordinary college kid just like many of you. I wake up to a nice cup of hot coffee every morning which is the best part of waking up.Coffee is my drug, keeps me sane and also unites me with friends, family and colleagues. As you can see the background in my picture, my profile picture was taken at Starbucks. I also like to support local coffee shops as well.
Leche Flan
I enjoy cooking but only as a hobby. I’ve learned how to cook various Filipino foods in my past 6 years of being en-cultured among Filipinos. My best dish which I’ve altered a bit to my own taste and made my own was my friend’s grandmother’s recipe, Lola Berenguer.
During off campus hours, on Sundays, I facilitate a class known as Filipino Youth Initiative. It’s a class that was founded under Filipino American National Historical Society Michigan Chapter. It uses a two sided trans-formative learning style where both the facilitator and the mentees engage in dialogue about aspects of the history of Filipinos in America via visual and audio media, self reflection, and oral history where they interview their family members to tell their life stories.
One of my mentees, Georgina.
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I invite you to join me on the rest of this journey to reach back as I move forward.
