Filipinos in Alaska

For the first time since before the pandemic, a Philippine diplomat visited Kodiak on last week. The consular team provided services that people would otherwise have to leave the island, or the state, to receive.

On Saturdays in George Gress’s workshop, guitar enthusiasts bond over wood flames and handmade instruments.

On this episode, experts from SEARHC, Bartlett Beginnings, and the Juneau Family Birth Center discuss National Breastfeeding Month, plus Juneau Community Garden’s Harvest Fair, and a special conversation on Filipino culture and food in Juneau with guest host award-winning chef Pati Jinich.

Diosdado Valdez has been coming to Juneau for over 30 years, and in that time, he’s found another family off the ship.

Hans Javier, has participated in Juneau’s Independence Day parade since he was a kid. Twenty years later, Juneau Ati-Atihan is his way of giving a shoutout to his culture.

“I consider this already as my family, the community here, the kids here,” said special education teacher Dale Ebcas, who moved from the Philippines to Upper Kalskag in 2020.

Local music producer Joshua Laboca and his daughter, Harmony, create songs together on YouTube as Harmony & jboaudioe.

Local rappers Miko Montoya, also known as OKIMS, and Grayson Rebustes, known as WordPlay the Flyest, on performing in Taglish and opening for Afroman in Juneau.

Marilyn Lumba is the director of nursing at the Juneau Pioneer Home. While she loves her career now, she didn’t think health care would become her passion. 

At one point, Filipinos from elementary schoolers to elders learned and shared the story of Filipino history through dance. But it’s been more than a decade since those dancers took the stage.