My life has changed when I became a grandmother , suddenly a new window in my heart opened up for a love different when I became a mother. There is this compelling desire to transfer my culture to my grandchild. I was transformed into a “grandma lola” with a mission. Somehow the country that I left behind is now a cornucopia of information and excitement. I am now an invisible bridge and a secret passageway of language and culture to my grandchild.
I believe that as grandparents of Filipino descent living outside the Philippines, it lies in our hands to make sure that we can tell stories about where we came from, our roots and experiences that made us who we are. Our culture is a tapestry of foods, myths, language, dialects, family traditions, the old ways, and a lot more . Yes, not everything is good but life has taught us to look at the bright side and be flexible. We are thriving where we opted to plant ourselves , now we can start the process of picking the integral parts that are good and let go of the ones that we deem better left forgotten.
Come and join me in my mission; LOLOs and LOLAs , PARENTS, AUNTIES and UNCLES, let’s spread the Filipino/Tagalog language and continue what made us amazing GLOBAL FILIPINOS.
Jennifer Suzara-Cheng
Grandmother, Educator, Environmental Activist
Los Angeles, California, USA