When we see a lot of homeless children roaming the streets of Manila, or kids who have lost their parents tossed from one house or orphanage to another, we can’t help but think about well-off American couples who may have all the material wealth in the world but have not been blessed with children of their own. If only these lost kids could find their way to these couples…
The good news is, some orphaned children have found their new homes, their new loving families, and their new hope here in America. That is the subject of the new Balitang America original documentary “Lost and Found,” written and produced by LA correspondent Steve Angeles, and filmed by Emmy Award-winning cameraman Jeremiah Ysip.
“Lost & Found” presents the stories of children who were orphaned in their home country, and who have found welcoming homes and their new forever families in a snow-covered community in the Rocky Mountains of Montana.
How did these orphans find their way to their new homes? How did they feel about their new lives in America? How did they adjust to a new country, culture, climate, and people who do not look like them?
How were they treated by their adoptive parents? And how did these Filipino orphans change the lives of their new families? Have they finally found the homes and belongingness they used to only dream about?
Steve Angeles spent several days in Bozeman, Montana to get to know these orphans and their new families. As he was filming the documentary, he shared these insights: “These are difficult times in America right now. The country seems divided on certain issues, hate crimes are so common, but it was refreshing to see how people here are so open and willing to help someone in need.”
BA Executive Producer Troy Espera said this is a “story that resonates with that universal search for home, stability and family – all things that those who are far from home can relate to.”
Angeles added that “Each family’s story shows acceptance and unconditional love regardless of culture. These families are just everyday people who’ve opened up their lives and homes to strangers.”
Ysip, who filmed with Angeles in Bozeman, shared that his lens captured children who, while removed from their countries of origin, still have kept a big chunk of their culture in their hearts. Ysip observed, and was able to capture this on camera, that “even while they have learned to assimilate to their new surroundings, they are still Filipinos at heart and this is what they are also able to impart with their new families.” Both the former orphans and their adoptive families gain from the new family environment as it mutually expands their horizons to new cultures and experiences.
WATCH the encore presentation of “LOST and FOUND” on Saturday, March 17 at 4:25 p.m. across time zones on The Filipino Channel.
