Faroese Filipinos form fellowship

About 400 Filipino citizens currently live in the Faroes.

Arriving in the Faroes in 1985, Jean Dela Cruz Guðjonsson and her mother were the first ones. Jean has lived in Klaksvík ever since.

“Although in my heart I will always be a Filipino, I also feel that I am Faroese. The Faroes are my country,” she explains in perfect Faroese.

Jean and a few friends have now formed “Kabayan” (meaning “Fellow countryman”), an association aiming to help Filipinos settle in the Faroes.

 >> SEE ALSO Filipino nurses pushing for the right to use their skills

“We want to build a stronger Filipino community and help each other with practical matters such as passport renewals, name changes, power of attorney, etc.”

Although the home country is far away, it is relatively easy for Filipinos to feel home in the Faroes:

“Faroese people are not that different from Filipino people. We are friendly and cheerful people who value our family very highly, just like you.”

 >> SEE ALSO Most immigrants are from the philippines

Her friend, Winda Tesoro Petersen, who co-founded Kabayan, agrees:

“When I go back to the Philippines, I sometimes say ‘I need to go back home’. When they ask me why, I simply tell them that I miss the Faroes,” she says.

Jean chips in: “I am Faroese – but with one exception: I don’t like skerpikjøt (air-dried, fermented lamb).”

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

English version by prosa.fo.

More Faroese News in English.