I was about 11 years old when I and my dad went to the great big island of the Manila Philippines. My dad told me a few weeks ahead of time that he was going to the Philippines, and that I could come if I wanted too. He said, “It would also be a great experience for you. You can see my side of the family, and you see how easier life is in the U.S than it is in the Philippines.” “Sure, I’ll go,” I said in a confused yet excited voice. The flight to the island was a long boring 29 hours. I was drained from the flight, it was almost like I didn’t get any hours of sleep in.
Beep.
“Now arriving in Manila, the Philippines” When I heard that all I could think of was, Yes! Oh My God Yes! I had a breath of fresh air when we got off the plane. My joy came to an end when I was greeted by what was outside. I was hit in the face by heat, and I saw homeless people laying out on the streets. I looked over in the lake that is right next to the airport, and all I saw is trash everywhere. I turn to my dad and say, “Man, you said you lived here for like 15 years, and you’re still alive?” My dad laughed and said “I know right. I don’t think you would last a day out here.”
A bus pulled up and let all of these people out and my dad pulled me close. He said to me, “Stay close, and don’t go wandering off without me.” People in the Philippines are nice, but because they aren’t the wealthiest people, some of them tend to steal and rob people.
It was worse for me because everyone could tell that I came from a different country. If some managed to kidnap me then there was no way out for me. Right away I could tell that this country had its fair share of problems.
Finally, my family came to pick us up from the airport. When I went inside the car it was like a weight had been lifted. I didn’t feel like I was in a 120-degree sauna. When we arrived at the place that we were going to be sleeping at for the next 2 nights I was confused.
“Wait, is this the place where they live?” I asked my dad.
“Yep, this is the house where they live, and we’ll be sleeping here for the next two days or so.” The house looked people got clay and just started to form a house out of it. The outside walls were broken and crusted, and the inside was like the size of a small garage. I was ready to go home after the first day.
My great Uncle came up to me and my dad and said, “Come, come let's go to the mall and show Justin a good time yeah?” So we went to the mall. There were a lot of people there, I guess it was because it was cool and the Philippines was hot. Those people needed AIR CONDITIONING TO COOL THEM OFF.
Do you ever get that feeling that there is someone watching you? Well, I got that feeling a lot, and it wasn’t really a feeling because everyone in the mall was looking at me.
“Dad, why is everyone looking at me?” I whispered to my dad. “Well, it’s not every day that people see some black kid walking around the mall. People here love people from America.” “Well, it seems like I’m a celebrity or it’s like these people saw me on T.V.” It was like I was Dwayne Johnson or Michael Jordan.
In a few days, we went to the countryside of the Philippines to go see my dad’s cousins. The worst part of that whole trip was the 3-hour bus ride. It took us 2 hours to get to the bus, and it took 3 just to get to the countryside. It was dreadful. That whole day was just filled with a lot of riding around to get to point B. When we arrived at the place that we would be sleeping at I just couldn’t take it anymore.
“A HUT!” The place where my dad’s cousins lived was a hut. No WIFI, no electricity, no nothing. I looked at my dad and said, “come on, a hut really. Can we just stay the day here and rent a hotel room for the night.” Do you guys know when you say too much in front of your parents and they give you that look? That was what I got, I got that look. As in you better stop talking or else. Trust me, you would be complaining as much as I was if you didn’t have a toilet. Now that I look back at it, I think that was a great experience for me to have. Other people complain about their life, but they’re lucky to have electricity and a toilet. Like we can just go to the store and buy some food, but other people have to hunt for their food. So me spending the day and night at the hut was a life lesson that I’ll never forget.
When it was the day before it was time for us to go everyone wanted to spend one-on-one time with me. My dad’s cousin wanted me to go play basketball with him, and my dad’s other cousin wanted me to go ride on a motorcycle with him. Everyone wanted me to go with them, and I didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings by saying no. All you could hear is “No Justin is Coming with me.” “No, he is coming with me.” Back and forth. Back and forth, will this ever end? Then my aunt with my two cousins pulled me over to them and asked, “you want to go hang out at the mall and get ice cream.” In my head I yelled, I’M SAVED. We all go out to the mall and hang around the food court having fun and getting stares from people. Next thing I know, it was night time so head back to the house for the last time.
When we left I was happy that we were going home, but I was sad that we were leaving. I felt bad for them because they have to work so hard to barely make it in life.
This is an experience that I’ll never forget. People don’t know how easy their life is compared to others. I learned to never take my life for granted because other people would love to switch places with me.
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