Elaine Villasper Dizon, Undocumented by Marielle Beltran

Video segments from an April 2014 interview by Marielle Beltran with her cousin 

Elaine Villasper Dizon

Table of Contents:

Segment 1: Introduction

Segment 2: We're moving to America?

Segment 3: We're here! America vs Philippines

Segment 4: Undocumented, gotta hide!

Segment 5: Finally documented, but why do I feel bittersweet?

Segment 1 (2:34) Introduction- Elaine introduces herself and talks about how it was like growing up with a middle-class family and how education was like in the Philippines. 

Elaine posing with her younger sister, Joan, in the Philippines.

Segment 2 (4:50) We're moving to America?- In this section, Elaine talks about how she found out she was moving to America, and how it did not bother her because she was so young.  

Segment 3 (4:32)- We're here! America vs Philippines- Elaine discusses how she felt when she first arrived in the Philippines, and how America turned out to be versus her expectations.

A picture of Joan Villasper (left), Elaine Villasper Dizon (middle), and Normita "Meng" Villasper's (right) excited faces when they first arrived in the United States. 

Segment 4 (14:17) Undocumented, gotta hide!- This video is the most important video. In this video Elaine shares her experiences about being undocumented, how difficult it was for her to live a "normal" life due to the fact that she had to hide a part of her identity. This whole experience is what gave Elaine her perspective on Filipinos and Filipinos living in America, also it introduced her to her passion, which is helping Filipinos survive in America. If it weren't for this experience, she would not be the person she is today. 

Segment 5 (2:45) Finally documented, but why does it feel bittersweet?- In this segment Elaine talks about being documented and how it made a big difference in her life. It made a good impact, however, why does she not feel as happy as she should be? 

Her experience living in America does make her miss home, so her way of "returning home" to the Philippines is through helping the Filipino community and paints vivid pictures of images you may see in the Philippines. Today, Elaine works for the Filipino Community Center in San Francisco. She works in the domestic violence program as a coordinator and a women's advocate.