| Place a Classified | Subscribe today | July 10, 2009 |
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Daughter, mother reunited
POCATELLO - The communication gap spanned 18 years. Angelita Harris spent the brunt of the time traveling alone, trying to make it in the United States.
She wasn't even sure her mother back in the Philippines was still alive when her new husband convinced her to embark on a search. Looking back, it was perhaps the best advice Harris ever received. Via the Internet, she tracked down a family friend she had known long ago. That friend gave her a mailing address for her mother, Lilia Palis.
Palis picked up the phone as soon as she finished reading the first correspondence from her oldest child in nearly two decades. ''I was jumping up and down,'' Angelita said. ''She was crying.''
In February of 2005, Angelita and her husband of a year, Bill Harris, traveled to the Philippines for a long-overdue reunion. They spent 21 days there, and Angelita got to meet nieces and nephews she never knew existed. ''We catched up on a lot of things since those 18 years,'' said Angelita, head housekeeper at Ridge Wind Assisted Living Community, 4080 Hawthorne Road, Chubbuck.
Once reacquainted, the mother and daughter didn't lose touch again. On Aug. 5, 2005, Bill flew to the Philippines and came back with Palis, who got her visa extended and spent the better part of a year living in Southeast Idaho before heading home in July of 2006. Today, Angelita and her husband are providing the funding to send her 10-year-old niece, Aira, to school. They eventually hope to find a way to finance an education for Angelita's 17-year-old niece, Rhea.
''The living conditions for 90 percent of the Philippines are terrible,'' Bill explained. ''These little kids had no kind of schooling whatsoever. Now they're getting a basic schooling.'' But the top priority is to move Palis to the Pocatello area.
''She likes it over here,'' Angelita said of her mother, who especially likes the cleanliness of the U.S. On July 24, Angelita achieved another milestone - again at her husband's suggestion - that could facilitate that goal. Angelita was among 33 foreign-born people to become naturalized citizens in a ceremony in Boise. Her taking the oath of citizenship means she can now petition to bring her mother to the U.S. permanently.
Bill explained he and Angelita share their home with his 83-year-old father. Both men are veterans of the U.S. military and are pleased that Angelita would pursue citizenship. Angelita, nicknamed Sunshine by her husband, said she initially came to the U.S. to experience touring and working in a foreign land. Now, she's proud to call herself an American.
But she said she also won't forget about her heritage and family in the Philippines. Article RatingReader CommentsSubmit a CommentCommenting RulesWe encourage your feedback and dialog. All comments are subject to deletion by our Web staff.
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