‘People think I either have to be Irish or Filipino, but I can be both’

Shane Andaloc was dressed in her school uniform and waiting for her dad to arrive home from work and bring her to school the morning the guards rang. It was 2005 and Andaloc had been living in Ireland for just over a year. Her father, who was a policeman in the Philippines, had been working in security since coming to Ireland and was starting a new job that week.

“It was actually his first shift on that new job. Usually he’d bring us to school after the night shift and then go to sleep. We were waiting for him and calling but he didn’t answer and never showed up.”

Andaloc’s mother eventually received a call from the Garda to say her husband had been in an accident. The family rushed to hospital and discovered he had suffered a brain injury along with numerous other physical injuries after a steel gate fell on him.

“He was covered in blood and had bruises everywhere,” remembers Andaloc. “It was really scary – we couldn’t see his face he was so bruised. He was in a coma for weeks.”

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Andaloc and her three siblings spent Christmas at their father’s bedside. When he eventually woke up he didn’t recognise his family. “We kept bringing in pictures to help him remember and he did remember in the end. He came home after three months and we thought everything was going to go back to normal. But his brain injury didn’t go away and his personality changed. It was a really dark time.”

Andaloc was 14 years old when she left her home in Iligan city in the southern Philippines and travelled to Ireland. Her father had moved two years previously after receiving death threats.

“He was a policeman and worked in exposing drug cartels so he started receiving threats. I remember he’d keep a gun under his pillow and there was a rifle in the wardrobe. When they started recruiting nurses to come to Ireland, my mother moved here and then my dad decided to move too.”

The move to Ireland had changed a lot for our family. My parents went from being well-connected and having supports to knowing no one

In March 2004 the four children arrived. Andaloc was enrolled in the local secondary school where she was one of only two Filipino students in her year. “Those first two years were miserable. I wanted to go back to the Philippines. But I also knew our future was here.”

Andaloc’s younger siblings adapted quickly while she worked hard to make friends. However, her older sister struggled, particularly following her father’s accident which happened the year of her Leaving Cert. “She didn’t get the points she wanted. She had to work full-time in a nursing home to help with the bills. I think it had a lasting effect on her. She lost some of her childhood.”

Movies

Andaloc, who cleaned people’s homes at weekends to earn money for extra food at home or a trip to the movies, also struggled after her father’s accident.

“I was much closer to my dad than my mum. The move to Ireland had changed a lot for our family. My parents went from being well-connected and having supports to knowing no one. I think that put pressure on their marriage, and my dad was depressed even before the accident. But then never talked about it.”

After secondary school, Andaloc secured a scholarship to study science at UCD, which covered her international fees. She threw herself into the college experience, attending numerous social events each week while working 12-hour shifts at a nursing home on the weekends.

“I wanted to be more Irish so I did everything. I knew subconsciously that I had to work harder to fit in, and I was willing to do that.”

Andaloc transferred to Maynooth University for the final year of her degree, taking on a debt of €8,000 in fees which she spent the next few years paying off while working in an ice-cream shop. "I had an honours degree in biology, and all my friends were doing a master's or travelling. I couldn't afford to do that – I had to ask myself what can I do in my life that isn't impossible."

She signed up for a Level 5 healthcare accreditation, and around the same time decided she wanted to start a family with her long-term boyfriend whom she had met at UCD. “He was completing his master’s so we were both still in education. We wanted to start trying but it happened immediately. We were completely unprepared but had to embrace it.”

Challenging

Breaking the news to her family, who were quite religious, was challenging, admits Andaloc. “They don’t agree with unmarried mothers, but I don’t believe you need to be married to have kids. I was in a loving relationship, and we were really happy together.”

Her daughter Jasmine’s birth in August 2016 actually “healed a lot of the trauma within my family. She’s the first grandchild, she’s like an angel to them. My dad always wants to see her.”

Now I'm older I truly believe in embracing what's different about ourselves, and knowing that what makes us unique is our power

After Jasmine was born, Andaloc started working as a home carer, a job she loved. She also started a part-time master's in health services management at Trinity College, which led to her current job as a social enterprise development worker at the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland. She also recently co-founded the Great Care Co-op – Ireland's first migrant-led co-operative for home carers, which seeks to give migrant women in these roles a voice.

“Home care is so important. It’s really at home where we recover and rest. You can’t pay carers minimum wage, treat them badly, send them all over the place and expect that people will be looked after well. We need to pay the carers well and treat them well. It has to be both.”

Having spent most of her teens and early 20s trying to be more Irish, Andaloc says she is now learning to listen to her own voice.

“Now I’m older I truly believe in embracing what’s different about ourselves, and knowing that what makes us unique is our power. I think that gets easier when we find people who appreciate and love us for who we are.

“It’s up to me what I identify as, not other people. People think I either have to be Irish or Filipino but I can be both at the same time, equally.”

She is also raising her daughter to “speak for herself” and be proud of her Irish and Filipino heritage. “I want her to know you don’t have to feel isolated for wanting to be more Filipino. It’s completely her choice.”