For the love of family

In one way or another, I was moved by everyone in the film: the children, the parents, and the rescuers. I find it impossible to not have felt for anyone after watching the entire movie.

But the person who particularly struck me was Lore Segal, who was 10 years old when she was taken away from her parents. She was a very obedient child that even though she didn’t like to or didn’t know what was happening and what will happen to her, she still followed her parents’ order: she still rode on the Kindertransport.

It seems to me it was a gift–didn’t think so at the time.

Other than the fact that had I undergone the same experiences as her, I too would produce a book about it because it was the only way to express myself and let go of the emotional baggage I have long carried, I thought she was one of the few children that didn’t lose hope about getting her parents out of the catastrophe in Vienna.

Being on the first Kindertransport to leave her country, she felt obliged to bring everyone else to safety, “Before long, I had a list of people who I, at 10 years old, had promised to save from Hitler.”

She made it her top priority to rescue the people she loved as if she had nothing else to do but that. The whole plan dominated her thoughts and deeds, “I think I had a sense...while I was playing, while I was laughing, that was the moment in which I could’ve been and should’ve been doing something about this demand on me that I should bring my parents out.”

She was the one who wrote letters to relatives that eventually reached the Refugee Committee in London and helped to get her parents a domestic service visa. She did whatever she could to be the hero of the family.

Had that happened to me, I too would do the same. I would do whatever it takes to have the rest of my family with me, even if it meant asking strangers for assistance. In the face of adversity, I would step up and make sure that our family is safe from harm.

To this day, I feel responsible for the welfare of my family after the separation of our parents. Despite technically being the second eldest (my twin sister was born a minute before me), I have made it a point that as I am about to finish college here in Ateneo, I will help paying the debts of my mom and give my family the life we deserved—free from fear of not being able to pay the bills on time, enjoying everyday together in our peaceful home.