What's your heritage?

When I first started my blog back in November, it felt like I was this leaky faucet just dripping with ideas. My inspiration stemmed from my desire to explore the unique faces of the Pinay identity. It was a way of reaffirming my own sense of self since coming into my mixed Filipina Canadian heritage had definitely been a work in progress.

Throughout my youth, I had convinced myself that I was a Canadian that just happened to be Filipino. So being a Filipina was merely a consequence of my ancestry. Whenever I answered the well-played-out What's your heritage? question, I always felt the need to emphasize my Canadian-ness in my explanation: “I was born in Canada but my family is from the Philippines.”

It was a reflex I had developed over the years in order to convince people that I really was one of them even though I didn’t look like them. It was a second skin I had grown way back in elementary school when kids would shrug their shoulders and crinkle up their faces in puzzlement whenever I said I was a Filipino, as if this was synonymous with me saying I am a Martian. And at the time, it was my way of resolving both my Filipino and Canadian identities since I perceived them to be two diametrically opposed entities.

Complicating matters even more was the way my family always seemed to blame my teenage shortcomings (ie. cutting classes and missing curfew) on my Canadian (ahem...White) friends, convinced that all of my own free will suddenly flew out the window when I was in the company of these infamous ringleaders.

While peer pressure obviously played a large part in my teenage rebellion, I'm pretty sure that race had nothing to do with anything considering I knew a bunch of Filipino kids, and Chinese kids, and Indian kids who used to smoke cigarettes and cut classes all the time. It was like a right of passage or something. But before I get carried away here, my point is that my family had harnessed these discriminative notions of Canadian culture from their own coming to America experiences. To them, I was doing my Pinay heritage a grave injustice by behaving more Canadian. What that really meant was well beyond me and somehow I felt like I was a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.

So with all sob stories aside...

I started to figure things out. Seeing the amazing work done by Dr. Melinda L. de Jesus (Pinay Power Peminist Critical Theory: Theorizing the Filipina/American Experience) and Sabrina Margarita Alcantara-Tan (Bamboo Girl) made me realize that I was walking down a well-worn path paved away by millions of other Filipina Canadians and Americans. We were nurses, and punks, and teachers, and queers, and professors, and activists. Some of us could speak Tagalog, while others could barely utter a single sentence in our ancestral tongue due to highly held values of assimilation. Some of us were raised in strict Catholic households where girls were just girls, while others were taught the values of Pinay Power. But despite our uniqueness, we were all Filipinas.

As I began to connect the dots, I couldn't help but feel this overwhelming affinity for all of the women in my family.

So what's my heritage?

While I was the only Filipina at those punk rock shows, my aunt was the first Filipina nurse to arrive at Winnipeg’s Health Science Centre. As I crowd-surfed my way closer to my favourite band, yet another aunt carried her sister on her back as they fled from the Japanese during the Second World War. And even though I had earned my own shred of street credibility, my mother was busy earning two academic degrees and balancing the responsibilities of single motherhood.

That's who I am...

**Note: A section of this post was previously published in my article,"That's What a Filipina Is!", which appears in the latest issue of RicePaper Magazine.

International Women's Day--A 10 Year-Old Girl's Afghan Vision

At only 10 years-old, Alaina Podmorow of Kelowna, BC is proving that emerging generations of women are already becoming visionaries ahead of their time. After attending a lecture where journalist and human rights activist, Sally Armstrong, educated the audience about the blatant oppression of Afghan women and girls under Taliban rule, something all of a sudden clicked for the young girl.

Alaina couldn't believe that many Afghan girls had been denied an education under the strict religious laws. Even after the fall of the Taliban in Afganistan in 2001, many families still feared sending their daughters to school due to serious safety concerns. And since cultural norms dictated that girls be taught by female teachers, the shortage of this demographic within the work force stood as a further obstacle between Afghan girls and their rights to an education.

So from these new dark truths emerged Alaina's epiphany: "On the way home, I was telling my mom how moved I was and I decided I wanted to start my group, Little Women for Little Women in Afghanistan." And so her movement was born...

Shortly after, Alaina organized a club of the same name at her elementary school. She successfully recruited 18 members, all young girls from her fifth grade class. Meeting every lunch hour to discuss group activities, the girls decided that Little Women for Little Women (LW4LW) would organize a series of fundraising campaigns in order to raise enough money to pay for the wages of female teachers in Afghanistan. According to this reasoning, educated Afghan women would become encouraged to become teachers if they commanded a higher salary.

During LW4LW's first fundraiser, Alaina's group raised $750 by selling donuts and recycling. This initial achievement motivated Alaina to strive for bigger and better things. She set her sights on raising even more funds through a community potluck. And after it was all said and done, all of the hard work paid off--LW4LW received $1500 in donations.

From these humble beginnings emerged and unstoppable movement. Alaina's original vision inspired Canadian girls nationwide, spawning other LW4LW chapters throughout the country. While the group has collectively raised $30,000 to date, this number was about to grow exponentially.

The Canadian government had heard Alaina's story and invited the young activist to a International Women's Day gala in Ottawa on March 6, 2008. Since her enormous contributions to the community and abroad have resulted in the employment of dozens of female teachers within Afghanistan, the federal government agreed to match all of LW4LW's earnings dollar for dollar.

*******

In order to encourage other Canadian mothers and daughters to get involved with LW4LW, Alaina posted letters to Mum on the Women for Afghan Women website. I would like to leave you with one of her letters:


Dear Moms,

I would like you to take a moment and visualize a little girl in Afghanistan. In her heavy black dress, no shoes on her feet, she walks for 4 hours to get to school. She feels like she is being watched as she walks along the path. At any second somebody could attack her. She frantically looks behind her but she continues on because she has to get to school. She is not being forced to go - she would do anything to go. Now visualize her face. Now visualize your daughter is that girl. Isn’t that frightening? It is hard to imagine girls just like your daughters, are in danger. What’s the best thing you can do? Keep teaching. What’s the worst thing you can do? NOTHING!



I challenge all Moms to tell their daughters to make a difference. I would like to see little girls across this country go to meetings with their moms for women in Afghanistan. I have started Little Women for Little Women in Afghanistan in my chapter of CW4WA in Kelowna BC. My dream would be to see little girls do the same across Canada. If your daughters want to start their own chapter in your area please contact me at lw4lw@telus.net.


Sincerely, Alaina



CBC News--Video Featuring Alaina

Little Women for Little Women Official Site

Women for Afghan Women Official Site

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...The Other Beauty

Who's the fairest of all?

While we relentlessly convince North American women to be forever youthful with big breasts, teeny waists, white teeth, clear skin, fatless figures, waxed bodies, and designer jeans...

...many women of colour struggle with being too dark-skinned, squinty-eyed, kinky-haired, flat-faced, big-lipped, wide-nosed...

Judging by these impossible expectations, one can't really win!

In Filipino culture, a light-skinned ideal has been perpetuated by what I like to call, mestiza posturing. Mestiza/mestizo is a term borrowed from Spanish to mean one who has mixed indigenous and European blood, and even if individuals do not have this mixed descent, this look often governs mainstream perceptions of beauty. Just take a look at these major Filipina celebrities:

Vina Morales

K.C. Concepcion

Jennylyn Mercado

Taking this idea even further, mestiza posturing can also be seen as a bi-product of the Philippines' colonial/feudalistic legacy in which a system of white authority and brown inferiority was built upon the appropriated archipelago.

In "Emil's Big Chance Makes Me Feel Uneasy," Tricia Capistrano, reveals how much of her life has been dictated by this mestiza complex. She describes this underlying "white is right" consciousness:

I am a brown-skinned woman from the Philippines, where many people I know have a fascination with the lighter skinned--probably because our islands were invaded so many times by whites who tried to convince us that they were better and more beautiful than us. We were under Spain's rule for nearly 400 years, the United States' for almost 50. As a result, skin-whitening products fly off the pharmacy shelves.

With this notion of light-skinned superiority ingrained deeply into her teenage consciousness, Capistrano admits how she used to "hang out with the mestizas, because I wanted to be popular like them." And the quest for whiteness didn't stop there. While her grandmother cringed at the idea of her already dark skin becoming even darker at a friend's pool party, Capistrano's own mother encouraged her to start pinching the bridge of her nose everyday in hopes of "arching" its imperfectly flat surface.

After giving birth to her son, Emil, Capistrano was suddenly able to see the other side of the equation. Emil was a fair-skinned mestizo of Swedish/Dutch and Filipino descent which automatically made him a member of the most exclusive club. This became even more apparent during a family trip to the Philippines when Capistrano was continually bombarded by a slew of Filipina admirers ogling at her mestizo son. He's so cute! So fair-skinned!--they would exclaim.

Fearing the cost of Emil's future college education, Capistrano even considered moving back to the Philippines permanently, confident that her son could easily land a part doing baby commercials. When she was on the verge of booking an agent, Capistrano suddenly reconsidered her plans: "I realized that I was going to be part of the system that can sometimes make us dark-skinned people believe that we are inferior. I do not want Filipino children who look like me to feel bad about themselves....

***************

So even though I've focused the majority of this discussion on the Philippine perspective of beauty, I would like to turn your attention to another demographic--African American women. A friend of mine recently recommended this documentary featurette, A Girl Like Me, directed by a 17 year-old filmmaker, Kiri Davis. In her film, Davis insightfully explores perceptions of beauty through the eyes of African American girls. Like their Filipina counterparts, these young women reveal how they are often taught to perceive lighter-skin as more beautiful, while sometimes feeling pressured to surrender their traditional curls for the tamed relaxed look.

Without further ado, watch A Girl Like Me right here:

Related Resources

Borderlands/ La Frontera: A New Mestiza--Gloria Anzaldua

Emulated through Images: The Globalization of Misconstructed African American Beauty and Hip-Hop Culture--John Hendrick Clarke

Liminality and mestiza consciousness in Lynda Barry's One Hundred Demons --Melissa de Jesus

Metaphors of a Mestiza Consciousness --Erika Aigner-Varoz

Tagalog Movies and Identity :Portrayals of the Filipino Self --James F. Kenny

Their Lenses of Hope--"Born into Brothels"

"As an artist you are responsible to no one and to nothing, except to yourself and to the truth as you see it."

--from Chaim Potok's My Name is Asher Lev

Even the most eternal of optimists would have a difficult time finding the silver lining in their lives. They are painfully poor, unwanted, and live under extremely inhumane conditions. Worst of all, they are born without so much of a chance of transcending these grim circumstances.

So who are they?

They are the children of Calcutta's brothels.

Often born into a long line of sex trade workers who were also sold into this desperate lifestyle, these young girls and boys just exist day-by-day, dreaming of the lives they could be living had the stars been aligned in their favour.

Maybe they would go to school and eventually become India's future doctors and lawyers. Maybe they would nurture their creative gifts to the fullest to become the great writers and artists of their time. Maybe they would one day earn enough money to rescue their families from this endless cycle of poverty. Maybe, just maybe....

*******

Zana Briski was a woman with a vision.

After studying Visual Arts and Documentary Photography at both the University of Cambridge and New York's International Centre of Photography, Briski first travelled to India while pursuing a project on female infanticide. A few years later, she would return to the country with yet another trick up her sleeve.

Briski navigated through a world of pimps and drug dealers in order to capture the lives of Sonagachi's sex trade workers in her photography. But as she began to peel back the disturbing layers of Calcutta's red-light district, Briski found a source of both hope and despair in lives even more stigmatized than these brothel workers--their children.

From the time they woke up to the time they fell asleep, these little girls and boys worked. Whether it was making illegal sales for the family's underground liquor business, or playing the house maid where a hard slap and a barrage of drug-induced insults replaced a much-needed hug, these kids were painfully aware of their bleak fates.

And Briski knew she had to help.

While convincing the local boarding school to admit the children of brothel workers seemed like the equivalent of moving a mountain with one's bare hands, Briski decided to start off small. She would first, teach them the art of photography.

She gave these kids the power of sharing their world through their own eyes and this is what they saw:

**(all photos courtesy of Kids with Cameras)**

So Kids with Cameras was born.

Not only did Briski empower these children by encouraging them to learn more about themselves and the world around them, Shanti, Avijit, Gour, Kochi, Manik, Puja, Suchitra, and Tapasi, have started a movement in which children worldwide are being educated about the harsh realities of war, poverty, and sexual slavery through photography. As a result, children from marginalized communities in Cairo, Haiti, and Jerusalem have also contributed their own artistic visions as seen through their lenses of hope.

**If you would like to learn more, please visit the Kids with Cameras website. I would also encourage you to watch Briski's award-winning documentary that started it all, Born into Brothels.

Must We Pit Race Against Gender?

While Ms. Winfrey is making it no secret that she has Sen. Obama's back, her mentor, Dr. Angelou, publicly endorses Sen. Clinton. As a result, much is being made about the significance race and gender are playing in these presidential primaries.

However, is it not extremely problematic to assume that one's politics are based solely on these categories alone? Would it not be the same as asking a person of colour: Are you more loyal to your race or your gender? In the case of Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou, the more specific question would be: Are you Black first, or female first?

Is this not a ridiculous question? How would one respond if put on the spot like this?

Well, Dr. Angelou was put on that spot. Having made enormous contributions to both the American Civil Rights Movement and the Women's Movement, CBC's Evan Solomon made sure to ask her where her true loyalties really did lie. But make no mistake, Dr. Angelou made sure to give Solomon some perspective on the true nature of her politics:

SOLOMON: You’re one of the great observers of America. If you were going to say where we’re at now, how would you describe it to me?

ANGELOU: To say where we are today...we are in the throws--and I love the word--in the throws of finding out who we really are…how courageous we really are…how intelligent we really are. Sometimes we’d rather bear the ills we have rather than fly to others, and we know not ours. Sometimes we will vote for the same people our families voted for knowing very well that it hasn’t served us very well.

SOLOMON: You have worked with the great champions of civil rights…

ANGELOU: Yes.

SOLOMON: Malcolm X…

ANGELOU: Yes.

SOLOMON: -- as you say…Martin Luther King. Now there’s a very good chance Barack Obama, a Black man, has a very good chance to become the President of the United States...that Dr. Maya Angelou would see this as the fulfillment of one of the great civil rights dreams, and yet you’ve advocated for Hilary Clinton.

ANGELOU: Yes…I don’t see that as a contradiction in terms. That is to say that I have advocated for the best person. And I admire Mr.…uh…Sen. Obama. I admire him. But I also believe in going out with whom you came in with. Mrs. Clinton has earned my respect, admiration, and even affections over the last twenty years. When she was the wife of the Governor of Arkansas, I liked her then. She came into Arkansas with a fresh voice. And she didn’t try to talk down to anybody. She didn’t try to appease anybody by what she thought they wanted. She was herself. And when she stood up in the after having become a kind of joke, and she stood up. She didn’t argue, she didn’t shout, she just stood up like a woman. I thought, hmmm…If decided to run for anything, I would back her.

SOLOMON: In America, can you take out gender and race from the equation? Or are both of those movements—both of which you’ve been so intimately involved with—crucial factors to consider?

ANGELOU: I’ve taken them out.

SOLOMON: But how can you?

ANGELOU: Well, I’m an intelligent person. I don’t have to follow what is done by other people. I have intelligence and so I act intelligently. What I do, is I don’t say of Ms. Clinton that she is a woman so I support her. No, no, no. I meant she is a full human being so I support her. I support her because I admire her. I admire what she has been…and been to people in our country. Her dreams about health for all Americans are really notable.

SOLOMON: I wonder if you’re old friends, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, were sitting here and they looked at you and said, ‘We’ve finally have a presidential candidate….’ What would they say to you?

ANGELOU: I think they would say, ‘Good on you, Maya Angelou!’

**[The excerpt was transcribed from Solomon's interview, "Race vs. Gender Politics," that aired on CBC News: Sunday on January 12, 2008. You can watch the full interview HERE.] **

Aboriginal Women: State of the "Stolen Sisters"

[A nice image will appear HERE once Blogger fixes its uploading issues....]

Last night I heard the screaming

Loud voices behind the wall

Another sleepless night for me

It wont do no good to call

The police

Always come late

If they come at all

--from Tracy Chapman's "Behind the Wall"

In 2004, Amnesty International released a disturbing report detailing the state of missing Aboriginal women in Canada. The expose', aptly entitled, Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence Against Indigenous Women in Canada, reveals the dark realities plaguing this marginalized demographic, while providing individual case studies of these forgotten women.

The epidemic of domestic violence has been prevalent in Aboriginal communities, both in Canada and the United States. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, First Nations’ people describe these disturbing occurrences as “[the] consequence to colonization, forced assimilation, and cultural genocide…and behavioural patterns practised by one or more people that weaken or destroy the harmony and well-being of an Aboriginal….”

Equally distressing, “Aboriginal Women: An Issues Backgrounder” reported that twenty-five percent of First Nations women had suffered abuse at the hands of a partner or spouse in 1999. Michelle M. Mann, a consultant on Aboriginal affairs and human rights, revealed how Aboriginal women were three times more likely to experience abuse than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. According to Mann, “Aboriginal women's vulnerability to violence and sexual assault within their communities is fuelled by social and economic marginalization and a history of colonialist government policies…which have disrupted relations between Aboriginal men and women and eroded cultural identity.”

If these statistics are grim, the findings are equally dire south of the border. Like their Canadian sisters, Native American women are also three times more likely to be victims of abuse than any other female demographic in the United States. In addition, “Native American Women and Violence” reports that America’s Aboriginal women experience the highest instances of physical and sexual abuse in the country. According to Lisa Bhungalia, “The problem of violence against Native American women is exacerbated by federal apathy in law enforcement and the courts, and minimal funding for shelters, counseling, and education in Native American communities.”

But despite these grim realities, Aboriginal women have continued to use their own agency in order to ensure that their voices are indeed, heard.

In Judy Rebick’s Ten Thousand Roses, “Indian Rights for Indian Women: Changing the Indian Act” by Caroline Ennis and Gail Stacey-Moore expresses the uprising of First Nations’ women who protested the violation of their Aboriginal rights under Canada’s Indian Act. Prior to the Act’s amendment in 1985, Aboriginal women could arbitrarily lose their Indian status as well as the status of their children by marrying a non-Aboriginal man, by voting in government elections, and by enrolling in post secondary institutions.

As a result, Mary Two-Axe Early founded the Indian Rights for Indian Women group in 1971 in order to challenge the discrimination within the Indian Act. After receiving a phone call from Two-Axe Early, Moore learned that her own Indian status would be revoked since she had a married a White man. Despite being ostracized by her community because of her biracial marriage, Moore became inspired to engage in her own activism in order to end the injustices imposed onto First Nations’ women. After years of educating herself on Canadian law and politics, Moore became an aggressive lobbyist for the rights of Aboriginal women.

Meanwhile, the fire was beginning to ignite Caroline Ennis’ activism. After her best friend, Glenna, was kicked-out of her own house by her husband, she was awarded a measly $1-a-year by New Brunswick’s provincial courts.

This infuriated Ennis to the point of rebellion.

Since the band’s chief had refused to challenge the court’s ruling, Ennis, along with several other women occupied the band office in protest of the dismal housing rights of First Nations’ women . Despite the many threats on their lives, the women continued their occupation in order to gain the leverage they needed to take their activism to the next level. With their reservation facing an imminent implosion, Ennis choreographed the Native Women’s Walk to Ottawa which would successfully illustrate the solidarity of Aboriginal women in championing their basic human rights.

The bottom line is that Aboriginal women worldwide share a dark collective herstory.

However, they continue to use their strength in activism in order to bring attention to their experiences of violence and structural discrimination within their communities.

And as Toni Morrison has said, this will always be a work in progress: "Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another."

Iraq--Seen Through the Eyes of Sunshine

Behind the cloud of the rhetoric surrounding terrorism, suicide bombers, Al Qaeda, and the imminent "democratization" of Iraq, lie the countless of mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, and grandparents trying to carry on despite this deadly chaos. For this reason, I'm going to explore this issue from the best vantage point there is: through the eyes of an Iraqi....

A few days ago, a good friend of mine had turned my attention to this blog--Days of My Life--and boy, was I ever grateful! Initially, I figured it was just another one of your average-run-of-the-mill-blogs that reads like a diary, or how-to-make-$$-manual, or marketing tool...you get the point.

So I click on the link and what I find almost brings me to tears:

Days of My Life--"Talk about daily life of a teenage girl in Iraq, and days of suffer and success. My nickname will be Sunshine...."

As I read Sunshine's profile, I am left with the sense that she is well beyond her years. At just 15 years-old, this Iraqi teen aspires to be an engineer or pharmacist. And despite living right smack in the centre of American-Iraqi crossfire, she describes how "optimism is my strategy always...."

Each of Sunshine's posts, seemingly unbeknownst to her, provide a powerful commentary on the trivial nature of war and religious segregation. While eerily reminiscent of the young Anne Frank, Sunshine's youthful idealism and candid fear dramatically collide with the values detonating the mortars right outside her window.

In "Excellent Eid (part 1)," this Iraqi teen documents her road trip to Baghdad, where relatives are hosting a celebration of Eid ul-Fitr. As American troops ubiquitously line the streets of her journey, Sunshine exclaims: "Thank god we didn’t sleep in the street, when the US vehicles drive we have to stop aside, or drive 100 meters away, slowly with the lights on, if we drive nearby they point with lazer on our car or shoot!"

Once Sunshine and her family finally arrive, she enthusiastically revels in her surroundings as a delicious feast awaits all of the loved ones sharing this special occasion. And throughout her entire story, Sunshine's bright introspection never ceases to amaze me. When speaking to a family friend (referred to as "A") about the fractured relations between the Shiites and Sunnis, the teen is taken by his powerful insights. She shares this valuable lesson with us all:

'[T]he religion should gather us, not separate us, if the religion separate it’s people then I don’t want to belong to any, but I am sure this thing is made by the government, they want to see the Iraqis separated, but anyway it’s not going to happen.' I loved what he said and wrote it at once...well I celebrated Eid for 8 days, with the Sunnis, Shiites, and Christians....

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

Pakistan's former prime minister and first woman to lead a Muslim state, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated earlier today while leaving a rally in Rawalpindi. Bhutto was fatally shot twice as she greeted her supporters from the sun-roof of her armored vehicle. Afterwards, the gunman detonated himself, killing 20 others and injuring many more.

Bhutto's death has led her already unstable country down a path of further turmoil. Riots erupted in Bhutto's hometown of Karachi as a hospital, a gas station, and several vehicles were set on fire. The Army Rangers have been called to secure neigbouring areas as explosions, arson, and random gunfire have also been reported in Lahore, Sarghoda, and Sukkur.

While some analysts are quick to point fingers at President Pervez Musharraf for possible involvement in the attack, others have tied Bhutto's murder to Al Qaeda. In any case, they do agree on one thing. Musharraf did not provide his political opponent with adequate security following the last threat on her life in October. According to Bhutto's security adviser, "We repeatedly informed the government to provide her proper security and appropriate equipment including jammers, but they paid no heed to our requests."

What are the implications of Bhutto's death?

The assassination comes just weeks prior to Pakistan's parliamentary election in which Bhutto's People's Party of Pakistan hoped to end Musharraf's military reign. Her main rival, Nawaz Sharif, claimed that his party would boycott the elections following Bhutto's death as he condemned the current president: "The holding of fair and free elections is not possible in the presence of Pervez Musharraf." And as the country slips into further unrest, would it really be in Pakistan's best interest to force the upcoming election? Therefore, the prospects of a January 8th vote actually taking place are looking especially grim at this time.

Equally disconcerting is the rapidly deteriorating stability within an already troubled region. As Pakistani security will need to be vamped in anticipation of escalating post-Bhutto protests, some political analysts fear that this extra manpower will come at the price of equally crucial border security along the Afghanistan-Pakistan divide. Only time will tell how seriously this will impact NATO's mission in Afghanistan.

And as many of Bhutto's supporters continue to mourn worldwide, one senses their universal fear that the light of hope for peace and stability in Pakistan may have just gone out.

AlterNet
the BBC
the CBC

Buying a Filipina Wife: Voices of Mail-Order Brides in Canada

The Philippine Women's Centre of BC (PWC) defines mail-order brides as "a formal transaction between a man and a woman from different countries, usually brokered by an agent, who is part of the mail-order bride industry, via catalogues or the Internet. The term is also applied to situations where men go to the Philippines with the intention of finding a wife."

It is no secret that many Western men love shopping for their potential wives in the Philippines. In fact, the desire for an Island wife is so strong that a whopping 5000 Filipina mail-order brides arrive in the United States every year, while 20,000 catalogue wives already reside in Australia. And Canada is also joining this growing club as the country's large Filipina domestic worker demographic will be soon eclipsed by that of Island-bought brides.

You’re not liking Filipina dating sites? We are what we are. The Philippines is over populated with mostly women. There is a very high poverty level and Filipino do not treat their women very well. So what it adds up to is so many [F]ilipina want out! The desire to leave and the fact they are the most beautiful women in the world and treat their men better than any other culture of women. That makes the Filipina very desirable to most men around the world. (quoted from a guy that runs one of the many objectionable Filipina "dating" sites)

Well, this must mean that Filipinas are living the high-life overseas in the comfort of their new mail-order marriages. Let's take a look at some of their experiences...

"Maria" expresses the economic disempowerment she is subjected to by her Canadian husband: "We then fight. I don’t have money at all. I have to make him satisfied. We have so many incidents. I can’t go shopping. Of course it’s natural for us women to go out shopping, to buy something. He’s not giving me any money. He doesn’t know that he should give me money and he just learned from me in the long run...."

"Then the lifestyle here, there is no respect at all. Like it’s not easy for me to just ask or borrow something like the vacuum or money. Sometimes I feel shy to tell him that we need this or we need that."

"Nika" grew up in the Visayan region of the Philippines in a peasant family. Since her older sister had married a foreigner and was reaping the financial rewards of her new lifestyle, Nika was also determined to become a mail-order bride...She finally decided on her future husband, "Tom," after exchanging a series of letters with him. Tom had boasted about his booming taxi business back in Canada and had promised to sponsor Nika to the country.

Sadly, Nika's new life in Canada would be marked by her husband's incessant verbal and emotional abuse. He monitored her phone calls, he forbade her from watching TV, and even regulated how much she ate. In order to signal Nika to stop eating, Tom would simply slap her.

As a Filipina working in Hong Kong, "Perlita" met her Canadian husband, "Keith" through a "friendship" service....She decided to apply for residency through Canada's Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) in order to secure her own incomce once she arrived in the new country. However, once Perlita had the couple's first baby, Keith would no longer allow her to work outside of the home.

And his abuse would not stop there. After Perlita gave birth to their second child, Keith started to control all aspects of her life--her social life, her finances, and even her mobility. He also inflicted brutal attacks on her in which he punched Perlita in the face, suffocated her in front of their children, and cruelly threatened her by holding a gun to her head.

Right, so despite the high instances of domestic abuse, the inherent marginalization of being bought in a developing nation and brought into the First World as a wife-servant, and being caught in this devastating Catch-22 with very few options, this really sounds like a better life...

All the personal excerpts from Filipina Canadians were borrowed from Canada: The New Frontier for Filipin Mail-Order Brides as published by the Philippine Women's Centre of BC. Please note that this is only a brief overview of the issue so please visit the above links for a more comprehensive exploration...

In Memoriam: Pickton's Six (proven) Victims

On Sunday night, one long-awaited event dominated Canadian news networks: the official verdict of the Robert Pickton trial. Once the jury had spoken, Pickton joined the likes of one of the country's most prolific serial killers as he was found guilty on all 6 counts of second-degree murder. While many were initially dismayed by the seemingly lesser charges of homicide, lead Crown councel, Michael Petrie, reassured the media that the only difference between a first-degree and second-degree charge was in the culprit's parole eligibility. Pickton's second-degree sentencing means that he would receive life in prison while being eligible for parole after 10 years. A first-degree charge would also result in life imprisonment, however the accused would only be eligible for parole after 25 years behind bars. But as Pickton has 6 counts of murder under his belt, his chances for parole seem pretty dire. He will be sentenced on Tuesday and still faces 20 additional counts of murder in the first-degree.

As the media has since moved onto the verdict of the Conrad Black trial, I would like to turn your attention to the victims of Pickton's misogynistic crimes. The real story lies behind the lives of these women who were brutally murdered and soon forgotten on account of their work in the sex trade. They deserve to be remembered.

Andrea Joesbury was a vibrant young woman with a new lease on life. She had a troubled childhood and ran away from her home in Victoria in search of a better life. At only 16 years-old, Andrea had been lured onto the streets of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside by her drug dealer boyfriend. Once excelling in drama and sports in school, she was soon trapped in a world of drugs and prostitution.

But her future still looked bright.

Having spent nearly 7 years on the streets, Andrea was in the process of kicking her long-time heroin addiction with the help of Vancouver's methadone program. In her last phone conversation with her grandfather, the young woman expressed excitement in turning her life around and eventually moving back to the Island.

Sadly, Andrea did not have the chance to follow through on her dreams. Alarm bells started to go off as she missed her daily methadone dose at a local clinic. On June 8, 2001, Andrea was reported missing.

(photo courtesy of Victoria's Time Colonist)

Sereena Abotsway had a heart of gold and a hearty laugh to match. She had been raised by her foster parents until she was 17, but Sereena had started to reflect serious behaviourial issues associated with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She was then moved into a group home for troubled teens. It was there that Sereena was introduced to drugs and soon found herself on the streets of the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, using sex to support her drug habit.

But after years on this path, Sereena had found solace in Christianity. She had started attending a church, located on ground-zero of Vancouver's most notorious strip, and had even been baptized in the ocean tide of Burard Inlet.

Ironically, Sereena had also become a strong advocate for the missing women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Many of those lost were her friends and she had participated in community rallies in order to pressure local law enforcement to investigate each of their disappearances.

Sereena became one of these tragic statistics once she disappeared in August 2001

(photo courtesy of missingpeople.net)

Marnie Frey was a generous person--so generous, that she often came home from school with missing articles of clothing since she gave away pieces of her wardrobe to friends in need. Even when she became a young mother at 18, Marnie was still known for sharing her formula, diapers, and baby clothes with other moms in order to lend a helping hand.

And her bright spirit didn't stop there. Marnie loved animals. Growing up in Campbell River, her family had a little chicken coop on their property. When Marnie was 10 years-old, she became extremely distraught when one of her chickens was suddenly found dead. So in order to placate her daughter's pleas, Marnie's father, Rick, agreed to have an autopsy done on the deceased fowl. What was the cause of death? Apparently, the poor chicken had swallowed a nail.

But as the sad story goes, Marnie unfortunately got tangled up in drugs and eventually ended up on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside as a sex trade worker. The last time her parents heard from her was right before her birthday in 1997. While Marnie was last seen on August 1997, she wouldn't be reported missing until an entire year later.

(photo courtesy of the Vancouver Sun)

Brenda Wolfe was often known as a "guardian angel" as she worked as both a "street bodyguard" in order to provide protection for those working on the streets, and a bouncer/server at Downtown Eastside's Balmoral. But despite the tough exterior, many remember her as a caring and gentle soul.

While Brenda originally came from southern Alberta, the events surrounding her descent into drugs and the streets of Vancouver is highly speculated.

Like the tragic fate of so many before her, Brenda also became one of the dozens of missing women on February 1999.
(photo courtesy of Vancouver 24 Hours)

Mona Wilson had endured a heart-wrenching childhood marred by both physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her biological family. When she was finally taken into protective custody, Mona was welcomed into the home of her foster family.

At 14, the ministry moved her out of the safey of her long-time foster home into another. Two years later, Mona was walking the downtown streets of Vancouver's notorious Eastside in order to support her emerging heroin addiction.

As Mona became one of the city's many missing women in November 2001, her foster dad, Ken Garley, laments, "She would have been a great wife and great mother, she had true love in her heart."
(photo courtesy of missingpeople.net)

Georgina Papin was a loving mother of 6 who had fallen on hard times. As a child, she was bounced between foster homes and residential schools in Alberta.

Despite Georgina's downfalls as a drug addict, her daughters, Kristina and Ruth Bateman, still had fond memories of their mother. Since Georgina was a member of the Enoch Cree First Nations outside of Edmonton, she really wanted her daughters to be in touch with their Native heritage so she encouraged them to attend Cree powwows and taught them the secret to making the perfect bannock (traditional biscuit).

When she finally jumped on the wagon of sobriety in an attempt to gain custody of her kids, Georgina went missing in March 1999. However, her disappearance wouldn't be reported until two years later.

CTV's "Missing Lives" profiles

missingnativewomen.org
orato.com

Vancouver Eastside Missing Women

Vancouver 24 Hours--The Pickton Trial

Victoria Times Colonist's profiles of the six women

Storytelling Our Lives

"Home is where the heart is. My heart is at home." --from "Storytelling Our Lives" project

Last year, I had the pleasure of working on the Intercultural Centre of Victoria's "Storytelling Our Lives" project. It was a community-based program which sought to empower immigrant and refugee women, as well as women of colour, through a series of workshops appealing to a variety of modes of self-expression--theatre, music, dance, and like the name suggests, storytelling. Each of these workshops eventually culminated into a theatrical production of the same name put on by the Puente Theatre.

As you can imagine, participants came from all walks of life and represented various cultures. There were women from Ethiopia, Korea, the Philippines, China, Sweden, Chile, Bangladesh, Mexico, Iran, India, the UK, and of course Aboriginal women from Canada. Even though these women started off as strangers at the beginning of each workshop, they came out as sisters, mothers, and daughters by the end.

The essence of each event could be summed up in one word: powerful. Since I was piecing together a story about the project, I was originally going to sit on the sidelines and watch from afar. But I soon realized that was not an option as I got roped into every single activity--and absolutely loved it! Not only did you get to hear the diverse voices of women often silenced by racism, sexism, and language, cultural, or religious barriers, I had the privilege of listening to their individual songs, while learning to dance their dances.

Most notable of all the activities would have to be both the storytelling and voice workshops. As each woman was encouraged to share a special story from either her family or culture, this lovely First Nations women brought all of us to tears as she candidly took us all along on her spiritual journey. From her tortured childhood within the confines of the residential school system to her current work in building a cultural revitalization program for her band, this amazing women shared how she eventually found her own peace in her nation's special spiritual relationship with the land. It was truly moving.

During the voice workshop, an exuberant vocal coach led the group through a series of exercises that helped the women ease into the idea of singing their lungs out to a bunch of strangers. In the beginning, one would get the sense that most of the group was extremely uncomfortable with the prospect of singing...well...anything. Some participants even decided to sit-out during the first few activities. However, this all changed once the women realized how great they sounded together. Since the first language of most of the women was one other than English, the coach designed an activity to showcase their diversity. As the women were broken into various "language groups," each section was to sing "Home is where the heart is/My heart is at home" in their designated language. Working like dominoes, the first group would start, then subsequent sections would layer each of their songs until the group formed one harmonized voice. As I looked around the room, I realized that we were all sharing a very special moment with one another. And at that melodic climax, I couldn't help but think how strong and beautiful our voices sounded as they resonated together as one.

Hate's Twisted Logic

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." -- Nelson Mandela



Today, I was cruising by one of my favourite blogs and became completely struck by their last post. It was a heated response to the blatantly racist sentiments expressed by a shameless hate monger on a South African blog. While I won't shed light on this individual's identity because I wouldn't want to intentionally link him to my site, I will try to logically critique his hateful rant without dropping too many F-bombs along the way. In the meantime, I will refer to this individual as X. (Please note that the following is a highly censored version of how I really feel about X's perspective)...

So the most disturbing of X's claims is: "Blacks deserved apartheid fair and square." If that isn't abhorrent enough, he even goes on to say, "In fact, blacks were treated way too softly; [South] African authorities made the fatal mistake of thinking of blacks as HUMANS, an item of faith which has been debunked by black African HISTORY (and ‘African-American’ behaviour in the civilised world). By ‘civilised world’ I mean WHITE-ruled states."

Not only is X's diatribe downright deplorable, it blatantly disregards both the historical and sociological implications of colonialism. First of all, to have the audacity to even suggest that Black Africans deserved apartheid is just as reasonable as saying that every individual who was ever lynched, raped, or murdered somehow deserved that fate. According to X's twisted reasoning, I would imagine that even slavery would also qualify as merely a deserved consequence of the grand plan. Having your villages pillaged, women raped, land stolen, cultures suppressed, languages lost, religions vilified, and not to mention being beaten, shackled, and shipped over to the New World as a "savage" would somehow all be justified in the name of civilizing Africa. Wow, X, you really provide one convincing argument.

If X had bothered to do any of his homework, he would realize that the colonial machine can only blame itself for the social, political, and economic fall-out facing Africa and other previously colonized nations. Perhaps X didn't realize that stripping entire societies of their traditional ways of life might somehow have devastating long-term effects on the system, or how the breakdown of colonial enterprises such as cash crop agriculture would also contribute to the continent's current instability. Not surprisingly, X didn't consider how colonial cartography, that conveniently ignored traditional religious and tribal territories, might play a part in Africa's civil conflicts. What about issues regarding the forced dislocation and diaspora of traditional African communities? Couldn't this trauma also be enough to have a negative ripple-effect for future generations? But according to X's worldview, such civilized powers are apparently infallible.

And clearly, X must have been sniffing glue when he blindly questioned the very humanity of both Black African and African American communities. Perhaps the following list will help sober him up enough to refrain from passing on such blatant garbage as truth--Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Alice Walker, Audre Lorde, Malcom X, Rosa Parks, C.L.R. James, Maya Angelou, Sojourner Truth, George Washington Carver, Phillis Wheatley, William Edward Burghardt DuBois, Toni Morrison, Spike Lee, James Brown, Duke Ellington, Akua Lezli Hope, Langston Hughes, Billie Holiday, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Qunicy Jones, Carol Mosely-Braun, Sidney Poitier, Sammy Davis Jr., Derek Walcott, Patricia Hill Collins, Harry Jerome, Portia White, Mary Ann Shadd... These individuals are all a mere tip of the iceberg when reflecting the enormous social, cultural, academic, artistic, athletic, scientific, technological and political contributions Black men and women have made around the world. This truth, X, is undeniable. Neither your hate nor your bigotry will ever take that away...

Still I Rise--Dr. Maya Angelou

This goes down as one of my favourite poems of all time, written by none other than the great Dr. Maya Angelou. As you may know, Ben Harper also did a rendition of her poem in his song, "I'll Rise," off the Welcome to the Cruel World album. Learn more about Dr. Angelou here...

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?'

Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard'

Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Will the real Asian woman please stand up?

Images of Asian women you've probably seen...













Just a few of the Asian women you SHOULD have seen...

Trinh T. Minh-ha--prolific Vietnamese American feminist, filmaker, artist, writer, and scholar. Notable works: Reassemblage (film), Women Native Other (book)
http://www.trinhminh-ha.com/
http://movies.nytimes.com/person/198585/Trinh-T-Minh-ha


Vickie Nam--Vietnamese American journalist, editor, and youth leader. Notable work: Yell-Oh Girls!: Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing up Asian American
http://www.studentnow.com/people/vickinam-interview.html










Dr. Melinda de Jesus--Filipina American feminist, writer, editor, and scholar.
Notable work: Pinay Power--Peminist Critical Theory: Theorizing the Filipina American Experience (editor)
http://www.asu.edu/clas/apas/newsletter/f2000.pdf


Amy Tan--prolific Chinese American writer and scholar. Notable works: The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Hundred Secret Senses, and The Joy Luck Club
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tan0bio-1
http://www.amytan.net/

Beauty in the Breakdown...

" The Spanish struggle is the fight of reaction against the people, against freedom. How could anybody think for a moment that I could be in agreement with reaction and death? ... In the panel on which I am working, which I shall call Guernica...I clearly express my abhorrence of the military caste which has sunk Spain in an ocean of pain and death." --Pablo Picasso

Man, do I ever wish I had the eye of Mr. Picasso. Only such an artist could capture the sheer chaos and destruction of warfare for those of us so far removed from the madness. While Guernica is Picasso's reaction to the Nazi's aerial raids on Spain's Basque village of the same name, I think the mural is a true testiment to the tragic downfalls of human nature.

But seriously, what do I really know about such pain and suffering? I've led a privileged life in one of the richest nations of the world--the land of the haves. In addition to my unlimited access to food, shelter, water, healthcare, education, malls, Ipods, Wallmarts, and Petceteras, I have never lost my city in aerial attacks, I have never lost a loved one in a roadside bombing, and I have certainly never lost any of my rights so meticulously enshrined in Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedom. Needless to say, I've been lucky...VERY VERY lucky.

However, I realize that on the world stage, I am a complete anomaly. Not only have I been reminded of this by my family, whose roots are deeply entrenched in Third World poverty, I had the opportunity of recently crossing paths with a young Congolese women. For the sake of this post, I will call her Tomi, and her story is one of both tragedy and triumph. While growing up in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), she endured years of civil warfare, poverty, and the ubiquitous AIDS pandemic which has waged its own war on her entire continent. She has told me about the DRC's rampant occurrences of rape, the aggressive recruitment of child soldiers, and the overall helpless feelings surrounding such a life in turmoil. Even more heartbreaking is the fact that Tomi is only 24 years-old. But despite growing up in this inexplicable reality, her faith has not been shaken. In search of a better life for both herself and her family, Tomi immigrated to Canada two years ago, and eventually landed a career as a homecare support worker. While she had to leave her family behind, Tomi sends a big cut of her paychecks to her parents in order to help them care for their basic needs back in the DRC. If that isn't enough, Tomi is saving up her hard-earned cash in order to send her younger sister to college once she arrives in the country. This women is truly an inspiration.

In the end, while Guernica serves to remind us of the dark, and even cruel depths of the human condition, the Tomis of the world let us know that sometimes, there can be beauty in the breakdown.

Check out these related links for your interest:

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1307/context/cover/

http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/772.cfm

http://www.africaresource.com/content/view/306/68/

The Flight of the Filipina Phoenix: The Rise of Pinay Feminism

FYI: Learn more about the history of Filipina feminism. Back in March, I wrote a paper on the emergence of Filipina women's movements both in the Philippines and North America. Check out this link:
http://bamboo.blitz.googlepages.com/home

Filipina: What's in a name?

The word, "Filipina," is associated with:
a) mail-order brides
b) sex tourism (ie. White guys seeking "Filipina treasure" overseas)
c) Asian porn industry
d) all of the above

Seriously, I think our name has been dragged through the mud enough. Don't you think? I can get into the political, economic, and cultural ramifications of the Philippines' long colonial history, but that's a whole other can of worms. Basically, as we all know, the above stereotypes are a result of systemic issues regarding power, sexism, and the globalization of popular culture. But as history reveals, a lot of this is old news. Equally problematic is the lack of authentic Filipina representation within popular (Western) culture and academia known to the general public. If you don't believe me, try naming five Filipina Canadian or American actresses, musicians, artists, academics, feminists, politicians, activists, etc., that even the average Joe would recognize. See, it's harder than you think, isn't it? Allow me to further elaborate:

When I was a teenager growing up in Canada, I was really into the local punk rock/ ska scene. Folks, I'm not talking about Simple Plan here either. I followed the hardcore acts of SNFU and DOA, while skankin' away at Planet Smashers's shows. Before I get carried away and start drifting off into nostalgic space, let me get to my point. Do you think there were any other Filipinas running around in those chaotic circle pits? Nope. Hell, there were hardly any people of colour at those shows for that matter. And it wasn't like I lived in small-town-hicksville either. This was like a major urban, Canadian city in which no other Filipinas or Asians enjoyed the likes of punk rock culture. At the time, I felt I had earned a level of street cred for being the lone Filipina enjoying this subculture, but there is something to be said about sharing such experiences with those from your own culture (especially if you happen to be a "visible minority"). I can tell you that if a group of Pinay punks threw together their own garage band consisting of angst-driven lyrics, "Chelsea" hair-dos, and terribly distorted power chords, such cultural visibilitiy may have strengthened my sense of identity during those years. But I guess hindsight is always 20/20, right?