Why We Are Here.
Imagine yourself growing up in the United States and being Filipino.
You’re afraid to speak your mother tongue; afraid to bring your home-cooked lunch to school or the office. You’re worried about having to explain yourself; your customs, your heritage, your identity. You’re taught to be proud but no one really explains why. You ask yourself, what is there to be proud of? What is it about being Filipino that I should know? What is the story of my people? What is my history? Who am I?
Now imagine finding a place where you can discover yourself.
A place where you can connect with your ancestral homeland. Imagine reading, learning, and sharing stories that sound like your own.
Imagine being in a place that makes you feel that you are not alone.
That is The Filipino School.
Bayanihan
The spirit of cooperation, work, and unity to achieve a particular goal.
The word derives from the concept of villagers in the Philippines uplifting and moving on their shoulders, a traditional Filipino house, known as bahay kubo. Without asking for anything in return, the volunteers transport the house, made of bamboo and nipa leaves, onto a new location. It is an impossible task made possible only by the strength and unity of one people determined to uplift the livelihoods of their neighbors.
This spirit lives within each of us. We are here to awaken it.
We are the first chapter of our greater story.