Written to me by Jodi Tobman Hagedoorn
Last week was Philippine Independence Day, or as they say in Tagalong “Araw ng Kalayaan”.
I have 17 Philippine employees at Salamander Holdings and for that reason, I received an invitation from the Philippine consul to attend the official celebration which was held this morning. I want to share what I saw and how amazed I am that I get to live here in Aruba and have these kinds of experiences.
First of all, I was honored to have my Philippine Operations Manager, Alma, attend with me. When we arrived, there were a number of ministers and dignitaries including consuls representing the various consulates both here and in Venezuela in attendance along with members of the local community and many proud Philippine Faces, most dressed in national costumes. People rushed to get Alma and I chairs, insisting that we sit in the front row as VIP’s, I being an invited guest. I was overwhelmed by the fuss and secretly grateful to see myself seated out of the sun!
There were speeches, there was flag raising, there were more speeches and there was wreath laying, there was singing and joy and what I saw, I could feel – a tremendous sense of community and immense pride, as speaker after speaker praised the kindness and the work ethic of the Philippine National. After the first half of the celebration, held in Wilhelmina Park ended, we all crossed the street to Fort Zoutman for the second part of the ceremony which focused on honoring the Philippine Nurses who have served the hospital for the past ten years.
There were again speeches and as speaker after speaker told stories of care, kindness, warmth and success, I found myself borrowing Kleenex from Poor Alma whose boss was sniffling softly beside her. A story was told about how the first nurses ended up at the hospital (short recap to a very entertaining story: the new director of the hospital was sitting in his office contemplating how to decorate it when he saw a bunch of nurses in the parking lot of the hospital. He asked his secretary what all the nurses were doing in the parking lot. “They are on strike Dr” she responded “and we will have to close two wards tomorrow.” Scrambling for a solution, someone mentioned that Ling & Sons (local supermarket for those of you not on Aruba) had 4 Philippine nurses who worked as cashiers… Ling & Sons was called, the nurses were interviewed and the rest is history as more nurses from the Philippines were recruited to Aruba to work beside the local nurses in our hospital.
The nurses spoke of the difficulty adapting to a new culture and in learning all the languages (more than one speaker mentioned how the nurses had struggled and learned both Papiamento AND Dutch) and of other challenges. I see first hand some of those challenges among my own kind and generous employees – it is the story passed down in family after family of immigration – of moving from the ancestral home to a different land and through hard work and commitment, creating a better life for yourself and your family. I am surrounded by this story daily, it is not something we speak of, but it is there in our stores, there in our office, the pride and perseverance of the immigrant.
Today I was able to be part of the Pride and I felt honored to be not only included, but to be so sincerely welcomed by everyone I met.
What a wonderful life!!! Malagayang Araw ng Kalayaan”!!
