By: Vince Vilan

Hi. My name is Vince. I am Filipino from the Philippines. I came here last February 19, 2001 with my parents and lived with my relatives in my aunt’s house. I lived there for about 3 weeks and transferred to another house because my Mom wanted to. We lived there for 8 months and transferred again because the payment for the rent was so expensive.

This was an experience here. My experiences here are related to a TV show that I’ve seen which is about 5 immigrants who came to the United States. The show is called In the Mix and the episode was "Teen Immigrants: Five American Stories." The teens didn’t really have the exact experiences as mine but I could relate to how they felt.

The TV show was about 5 immigrants from Guinea, Russia, China, Tanzania (originally from India), and the Dominican Republic. They were retelling their stories when they first got here. Most of them felt fear of how the Americans would be treating them.

Also, back when I was still in 8th grade and just moved here, I felt so angry and down when people would say things that were bad, like insults and jokes about me. They thought I was so dumb that I couldn’t understand or speak English.

Even until now, they don’t want me to correct corrections, when teachers get something wrong. They think I am just too smart and they don’t like people like me. However, I got used to it and I don’t bother to listen to them or to what they say for I know the truth that I can fully understand and speak English. I just ignore them.

“Ang hindi ko lang maintindihan ay bakit sila ganito at bakit sila nagkakait ng opurtunidad sa mga tao. Parang hayop na sinasaktan."

“What I don’t understand is why people are like this and why they prevent opportunities to individual persons. It's like hurting animals.”

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