A Young Immigrant Queer Pinay Tells Her Story

The testimony of Clara Santos (not her real name) about being a young immigrant queer Pinay:

My senior year was coming to an end and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. After those rigorous exams, I finally packed my summer clothes and headed off to the island of Boracay. That was pure fun! All I cared about was my nine full days on the beach under the blazing sun and nothing else.

Then August came.

I was scheduled to fly to the US on the twenty-second. I was thinking, “Hey, I could take a little break, relax, and look for potential colleges while I’m here.” I wasn’t so worried because I knew that I was going to come back after a few months. My friends were crying their eyes out the night before I was scheduled to leave and all I said was, “Ano ba yan?! Todo naman and drama ng mga ‘to! Babalik naman ako after a few months, ‘no! Tama na ang iyak!”

But I never came back.

Separated from my family and friends, I found myself living in a foreign land full of roaming monsters I never knew existed–in the streets, in encounters, in the media, and in the system. Given my limited options, I began to work for minimum wage. I had to force myself to understand everything that was foreign to me. My belief was, “If I just go with the flow, I would be okay. I would survive.”

Read the full article at PinoyCentric.com