At first I saw it as a hindrance that the flight back to Honolulu was booked right after the mission and I would be stranded in the Philippines for a couple more days. But then I realized that it gave me a chance to visit my family in Ilocos Sur, which was only over the mountain from Tuguegarao but turned out to be a 10-hour drive. I saw my grandma Dominga “Mirang” Manog for the first time in about eight years.

She is 88 years old and cannot walk anymore because her legs have wrapped together. She doesn’t speak english anymore but her eyes speak a million words.

 

 

She had two pigs and two goats butchered to throw me a party that she wasn’t even able to attend because of a mandatory hospital stay just to run basic tests.

 

I don’t think she wanted to stay in the hospital. Here my Manang “Sugar” begins to wipe the tears from her eyes.

 

My Manong Chester explains the situation to my grandpa Manuel “Manning” Manog.

 

My grandfather sits alone in his house. He gave me the gift of land in the Philippines with, what I believe, is a secret motive to ensure that I will return to till its soil one day. He was mad that I could only stay for such a short time, three days, that he didn’t even want to tell me “goodbye.”

 

He is a proud Filipino Veteran and did not hesitate to make it known.

 

One of the nurses called my grandma “napigsa,” an Ilokano word meaning “strong.”

 

She was very happy to come back home. I told her “umisemyo” Ilokano for “smile” and she grinned from ear to ear.

 

She was greeted instantly by my Grandma Oring, who is also visiting the Philippines from Germany.

Grandma Oring is my grandpa Manning’s sister.

 

It kind of broke my heart to see my Aunty Mila feeding my grandma the same food that my grandma used to feed me when I was a child, a bowl of banana and rice.

 

Saying goodbye to her was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I tried to take selfies with her but never once did she look into the camera, she just watched me the entire time.

 

Seeing them was an unexpected part of my journey to the Philippines but moments that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Agyamanak (thank you) to the UH Manoa College of Social Sciences for sending me back to “the motherland.”