Kay and Venna (Philippines): A Simple Life

I'm Byron Harris, and this is when I got here. Untold stories of those who have come to the United States to begin new lives, a podcast of literacy achieves in Dallas. K. Jupratum had it all. He was a celebrity. He had his own TV show, was treated like royalty at restaurants, got free travel all over his country, the Philippines. So why would he leave it? Two reasons, love and a legend. Love for his wife and the legend of the United States. I'm hopeless romantic, always have been. I've always told her that she she'll tell you about it, that she was she was my piece, and I found her. Kay and Venna were born in the Philippines. After college he began a career in broadcasting. I was, I just started doing TV. I was a newly established local TV station. It was called Amazing Planet Channel. They had a travel show called Detour and they hired me to travel around Philippines, feature islands and show you the food, the culture. In the Philippines there's 7,107 islands. You can only explore so much in each of those regions and there's different kinds of languages being divided that much, you get the different different types of people and I mixed it with radio. It was 92.7 Wild FM, I don't know what it is now. Their lives meshed. She'd be working in the morning, I'd be on air 6 to 9 p.m. So by 4 I'd figure out what to do, 4 or 3 p.m. I'd figure out what to say in the radio, what's my topic. Again, sometimes, you know, she'd be with me actually in the booth. I'm just quiet, I don't say anything, I'm on air. And he has listeners, you know, he would say in the radio like, okay if you have a question or you want to be greeted by me, text at this number. People love to talk to somebody in the radio, they're going through a breakup. What will I do? I just broke up with my girl and I saw her going out with another person already. How do I handle this? You know, as a young kid, I was full of experience already by that time. So you know, I'd give them, you know, work on yourself and sometimes she's moved on and don't be lonely because women don't see it, they don't find that attractive. It was always me and Vena together, we did everything together. It was a fun time for me and Vena. Vena was working on a career of her own in medicine, her father's wishes. He always wanted me to become a doctor, you know, to stay in the Philippines and take care of them but I had a medical condition that I said I can't be a doctor but I can stay as a med tech to help you out, like that. So I think my parents' goal and it applied to me is to be in medical field. She trained as a medical technician. For decades, the United States has relied on the Philippines for healthcare professionals and offers green cards to immigrants with medical skills. Nearly 400,000 Filipinos work in healthcare here, far more than any other country. Kay and Vena got married and had a baby girl. As a couple, they decided, as so many Filipinos do, to use Vena's healthcare career as the core of a new life in the United States. Kay would give up his budding career to be a stay-at-home dad. Vena would be the breadwinner. It was a radically new way of life. In the Philippines, we have our family with us in the house, we have our mom, our aunt. So when we got here, we only have each other helping out to grow our family. So we have to do everything on our own, especially we're working full-time. We didn't know how to cook, she didn't know how to cook, I didn't know how to cook back home. We always had help with cooking. And I had found a job in Wariqa, Oklahoma, population 2000, near the Texas border. The closest big town was Wichita Falls. When I got into Oklahoma, we were surprised, like everybody was so warm. They were so welcoming, they were so welcoming. Never felt once that we were different, actually they were just Heather and Michael Bryant, they showed us around town. They're always there when we need help, like just getting social security. They would drive us to displays, driver's license, people were really nice. Granted there was no restaurant, we had one or two, one grocery store, we had Sonic, that was the only fast food there. As the dependent of a person with a green card, Kay was not allowed to work. But like many of their countrymen, they had a mission, to send money back home. Because he's a dependent visa, so he has to wait for a bit to get the AED card to work. I prepared myself for that mentally, when I was in the Philippines, me and Vena, she was constantly, you're going to be okay, we always talked, we were very big in communication. She said it's okay, we're going to figure it out. It was a time for me, they spent time with my daughter, it was humbling, I didn't know what to do at the house at that time, I was, it was a good start, I worked and he takes care of our kid, it was really good. I would bring her to work, I just get bored at the house and I'll bring her to work, I'll pick you up. And then it was just us, it was just us in a super small town. Honestly, before I came here, I was scared, being in a foreign land, it's a different place, different people. The goal is always to go outside of the Philippines to work, save up a lot of money, invest, help family members if you have some that you need to help with education and all that, and then goal is to retire back home, so you've saved up all that money, the exchange rate just goes up because really a dollar equals to 51 pesos, that's a lot of money if you calculate it. Because everybody's been doing that, right? Yeah. Because when the Philippines, the salary doesn't compromise with the cost of living, so I don't blame like most of the Filipinos want to go abroad to help their family, they're really hardworking people because it's the salary, the income that they make is not only for themselves for their family, but also for their family back home, that's what we always do. Usually we always have a partition, oh this is for my mom to send to them. My dad got sick with diabetes, my parents' goal and it applied to me to, is to be in medical field and it just followed that opportunity came in to help my parents some more because my dad was in dialysis and you know, being a med tech, being just in the Philippines with our employee salary, it's not enough to help them out, so I grabbed the opportunity to help him with all the expenses, unfortunately because of COVID, he passed away. They still support Vena's mother back in the Philippines. Not obligated, like hey, you have to give this, I think it's on us, to give back to our parents, you know, I think it's part of our culture already to help people, most of the Filipinos want to go abroad to help their family and then I'm just amazed with the Filipinos I know too in the healthcare, the way we care for one another, yeah, it's different, it's not just about work. All of Vena's siblings, three brothers, work in healthcare jobs around the world. Filipino diligence and networking are well known in medicine, that's how Vena found her new job in North Texas. Now a family of four, the juper tombs expect to spend the rest of their lives in a suburb of Dallas. Kay's life as a TV host is long behind him, he now uses his infectious personality to sell automobiles and he's won awards from his employer. This country has provided us with so much, it has given me and my wife a means to buy things for me and her, for our kids. Our thing is people who need help, the Philippines because we know how much they need, especially when it comes to medical expenses, yeah, we help them out. So giving back, we've always deeply admired America, this is where we wanted to be, we're there. Their version of the American dream is pretty simple. My goal has always been, everything I do is for my kids and my wife, I work a lot of long hours, I'm home and work, I'm home and work. The goal is to someday make her part-time in what she does, financially, we're financially responsible, when that time comes I would like her to work less, and just me, and eventually when the kids are in college, save up enough for them, and just live a simple life. You've been listening to When I Got Here, Untold Immigrant Stories, a podcast of Literacy Achieves, where we provide English literacy programs for immigrant and refugee families. To learn more, visit our website at literacyachieves.org.