Together again
Filipino siblings share first Christmas since 1984
Annie Lincoln spent Christmas Day at her home in Jacksonville with her brother, sister and friends, sharing a meal, singing songs and playing games — a celebration that was 31 years in the making.
It was the first Christmas the three siblings have shared since Lincoln married and left the Philippines in 1984.
“It was what we hoped for,” Lincoln said.
She became an American citizen in 1988, and in March 1989, she petitioned to get her brother, Conrado Ramirez, and her sister, Carolyn Cuspao, to the United States from Naga in the Philippines.
It took 23 years for the visas to be approved.
Her brother, who lives with her, was able to come to Jacksonville in September 2013, but her sister didn’t make the move until January 2015.
“It’s my dream; when I am a little boy, it is my dream to go to America,” Ramirez said. “The living here is nice. … The life is better.”
“For me, it is a real good reuniting,” Lincoln said. “Our childhood dream is to come to America, so I’m fulfilling my siblings’ childhood dream to come to America.”
The middle of the three children, Lincoln fell in love with a U.S. Air Force pilot who was stationed in the Philippines, and they married and moved in August 1985 to the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville.
Although the union did not last, he encouraged her to study for her citizenship test, she said. “I appreciate him. Without him, we would not be here,” she said.
Lincoln, who earned an engineering degree in the Philippines, is a project/program manager for the Myeloma Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock.
She said she has gone on medical missions to the Philippines in the summers, and she was there for her sister’s college graduation, but she hasn’t spent Christmas in that country since she moved to America.
The last Christmas that Lincoln had with both of her siblings, “I remember we had our picture made; we were holding candles in front of the tree,” she said.
Lincoln found the photo after the interview among her family keepsakes.
Cuspao, whose nickname is Florence, said she doesn’t really remember that last Christmas. “It was a long time ago,” she said, laughing.
Christmas in the Philippines always included midnight Mass for the Catholic family. Lincoln went to midnight Mass this year, but her siblings went on Christmas morning while she was cooking, she said.
Even with the heightened anticipation after waiting so many years, Christmas didn’t disappoint, Lincoln said.
“It was wonderful. We had Christmas together, and our friends made a good meal. We played 12 Days of Christmas and had Christmas trivia,” Lincoln said.
She said there were five Filipinos and three Americans in her home.
Ramirez said he was “overwhelmed” and “very happy” to be with his sisters during the holiday.
He said his favorite part was “the togetherness.”
Cuspao said the holiday was everything she could have asked for. “We had a nice Christmas party here. We were singing; we had games. Annie was a very good host. We were singing the 12 Days of Christmas; we were having some kind of a religious quiz.”
One Filipino friend made siopao, a popular dish in the Philippines that consists of dough with meat inside, Cuspao said.
“We had a cake for my mother and Jesus Christ, one cake,” Cuspao said.
Their mother was born on Christmas Day and died of a heart attack in 1984, when Cuspao was 18.
“Annie is a very responsible sister, because I think she made a pledge to my mother before she died that she would take care of the two of us; this is the fulfillment of me and my brother to come,” she said.
“Oh, yes, I did that,” Lincoln said.
“I am blessed and lucky to have a sister like Annie,” Ramirez said.
Cuspao said they knew it would take a long time for the visas to be approved, especially since it was a sister petitioning for siblings, not a parent for a child, for example.
Lincoln said that even after the National Visa Center gives a person the green light to apply for a visa, the process takes “another year or two.” She got the go-ahead in 2012 for the visas. She said her siblings had to go for physicals and were interviewed at the U.S. Embassy in Manila. “It takes time,” she said.
However, Cuspao said she was uncertain if she wanted to come to the United States. She and her husband have a son and a daughter, both of whom are in college in the Philippines. She is supporting them financially, and her husband, a seaman, is overseeing their care. Cuspao said she had debts in the Philippines that she has paid off since arriving in America, where she
is a companion and caregiver for an elderly woman.
Cuspao said she is happy in the United States. She said Americans are friendly, and she has Filipino and American friends.
“I like America; the food is delicious,” Cuspao said, laughing. “I like the sweet-potato casserole of my sister; I like the steak.”
Cuspao said that at this time her husband does not plan to come to the United States, but she will visit him in the Philippines.
Her goal is to become a U.S. citizen, and she hopes her children will join her in America one day, with her sister’s help.
“My next big project is to get my sister’s children here,” Lincoln said.
Ramirez, who works at Maybelline in North Little Rock, said his wife is still in the Philippines. “Annie asked
her to come with me. She doesn’t like America,” he said.
Still, he said he doesn’t miss his former homeland. “No, not really,” he said. Lincoln is honest about the sacrifice it took to bring her brother and sister to the United States.
“For me, in the beginning, once they get here, you have to provide for everything — food, clothing and shelter — till they get a job,” she said. “Of course, their English is not that good, yet. We can understand better than speak [English]. It’s been a challenge for me.”
Lincoln is quick to add that the result was worth all the work and waiting, and she has a message:
“People who are waiting for families to come — there is hope,” Lincoln said.