Growing up Filipino !

In our textbook Filipino American Psychology, Kevin Nadal talks about four major Filipino cultural values that Filipinos live by. The first cultural value is "kapwa" or fellow being, this means when a group of people feel a togetherness & connectedness to each other. For example, Filipinos tend to gravitate towards other Filipinos because they feel more connected to one another through culture, language, interests etc. And so they feel comfortable being around each other or getting together.  The next value is "utang ng loob" which translates into debt of reciprocity, or simply put .. returning or compensating for favors to others. A good example of this could be me taking care of my Lola now that she is getting older, in return for her taking care and raising me when i was little. Returning the time and care my Lola gave me, back to her.

"Hiya" is the third value that Nadal talks about. This is defined as shame or loss of propriety; it is important because this also means to represent oneself or one's family in the most honorable way .. Basically not to bringing shame to your family. The last value is "pakikasama" or social conformity, for FIlipinos this means getting along with everyone and not causing conflict and if there is conflict, it is ignored just for the sake of getting along. These values are important to know to better understand the dynamics of Filipino families.

My Lola & Me !

I say it is important to understand these values to understand Filipino families because I see these in many families, especially in my very own. Growing up, my family (mom, aunts, and Lola) instilled these basic values in my cousins and I. The first value that immediately made me think of my family was "utang ng loob" because of the example of my Lola, I used at the start of the post. When my cousins and I were born my Lola spent everyday with us. She fed us, dressed us, taught us tagalog .. even though we didn't realize it, and walked us to school. And now that I'm older, I take care of her. Which I'm more than happy to do because she's my grandma! I don't feed or dress her but I take her to doctors appointments, I help her cook, and do things around the house that she has a hard time doing. Just by doing little things for her, I feel that I'm slowly repaying her.

It always felt kind of normal growing up with these values in me. I always knew about them but when i read and saw them through Nadal it made them more real in a sense to me. He gave me names to put to things I already knew. By "real" I mean that reading about it made me realize that it's instilled in not just my family but many other families. Knowing that other Filipino families also live by these values makes me proud in a way, because it shows me that there are still original (indigenous) Filipino values being shared worldwide. And that even though the Spanish and American values are an important parts of growing up Filipino, I'm glad that those values stuck and can be passed on.

Just a small part of my family.

Til next time .. Happy readings (: