How COVID-19 Brought Filipinos Closer Together | One Down | Sponsored by Kumu

June 11 passed not too long ago — marking 3 months since coronavirus was labeled a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. 

Imagine that. Just 3 months ago, we were planning our Pilipino Culture Nights, our 18th birthday debuts, our vacations, our plans to get our lives together, and everything else in between. For many of us, we really thought 2020 was going to be our year. 

Then a week passes. All of a sudden we’re scrambling to stock our pantries with spam and corned beef, or watching toilet paper run out as we bask in the comfort of our tabos. Soon enough, the distance really began to sink in. 

Well, we’ve made it this far — and now that we’ve had a moment to settle and come to terms with this virus, it’s important to recognize the ways that we held onto each other and refused to let ourselves fall through the cracks.

COMFORT FOOD WHEN WE NEEDED IT THE MOST

Filipinos and food go together like pan de sal dipped in a hot cup of coffee; it’s an essential piece to our cultural starter pack. After all, as the saying goes, “the best way to a Filipino’s heart is through their stomach.” In a world continually ravaged by COVID-19, food has been a point of connection for many of us.

The pandemic may have ruptured the food industry, with stay-at-home orders ripping through restaurants and leaving local mom-and-pop shops (who weren’t as savvy at digital marketing) suffering the most. But despite the challenges, we also saw an incredible outpour of support surge for our small Filipino businesses. We rallied together to organize meal drives for the community or fundraisers for frontline workers. We created and widely shared Facebook groups and other online initiatives to support local restaurants. Most importantly, we ate and shared stories together, perhaps in a way that we couldn’t have before. 

Filipino-Egyptian writer Malaka Gharib believed so much in the power of storytelling and connectivity of food that she organized a global Filipinx recipe exchange. While some people were using their newfound quarantine time learning how to make sourdough bread, Gharib’s project had Filipinos around the world learning how to make bibingka, pinakbet, and vegan sinigang. For Gharib, the recipe exchange was an opportunity not only for sharing food, but our stories and lived experiences as well.

In fact, as we find ourselves constantly stuck inside our homes, the more opportunities arise for sharing stories and asking questions that we may not have had the time for otherwise. 

QUARANTINE CONVERSATIONS (AT HOME & ONLINE)

It’s no surprising fact that Filipinos talk a lot. I mean, we’ve all seen the chismis memes, right? With so much happening in our world and quarantine disrupting the factory settings of our daily lives, Filipinos do what we do best to fill up the extra time: we talk. 

“How are you doing right now?”

“Let’s talk about colorism in the Filipinx community.”

“Have you heard back from your kuya lately? I heard he’s working extra shifts at the ICU.”

Amid all the uncertainty and pandemonium, we are checking in on each other more, listening to each other more, and (for those of us living with older generations of Filipinos) challenging each other more to open up our minds to a wider worldview. A collective of Filipinx student leaders from across the country - craving that space for community care and interaction - even came together to organize a nationwide, week-long virtual conference to engage in deeper dialogue around the events in our world which we can no longer ignore.

It’s not just the face-to-face (or face-to-screen) conversations, either. Considering that the Philippines is the social media capital of the world, there is a case to make that Filipinos are connecting more online now than ever before. Whether it’s spamming group chats with memes, making TikToks with family or sharing quarantine snapshots on Instagram, social apps have surely kept us close during a time where connection to others may seem dim. 

One app in particular, Kumu, has opened up a space for Filipinos to get creative and innovative with how they spend their quarantine time.

It’s a live streaming app with over 5 million registered users, and it’s creating a platform that empowers its users to connect, play, and make a living in the most authentic and imaginative ways. Kumu has essentially taken concepts that exist in public spaces and brought it online. Take street performances, for example; when you see a performer on the street - playing guitar, dancing, or singing - you might show your appreciation and support by dropping some change in their guitar case or hat. Well, Kumu has found a way to digitize this online through virtual gifts — which then translates to actual money (yep, you read that right)!

This exchange of sending and receiving gifts happens thousands of times a day on the app, amazingly resulting in more than 200 online creators being able to sustain themselves with a full-time income, all because of Kumu. 

Just as the quarantine has in some form paved the way for important dialogue to emerge in family settings, so too has Kumu done for Filipinos around the world. Kumu has fostered a safe space where topics like mental health, body positivity, and acceptance are very much hot topics during user live streams. And their technology is so well-developed that even in a country with slower internet connection, such as the Philippines, their streaming is real time, as compared to the roughly 20-second lag that exists on larger platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Want to see it for yourself? Try it out here and download the app!

All in all, quarantine may have initially felt like isolation, but it gave us all the opportunity to deepen our relationships both with the people in our homes and in the online community that is just beginning to emerge in the global Filipino diaspora. To visualize this even more, we made an entire music video, across 50 different individuals, completely online.

WE MADE A MUSIC VIDEO — COMPLETELY REMOTE!

Quarantine undoubtedly can have a huge impact on your mental health. One beautiful way that we’ve seen Filipinos overcome their anxiety is through creative hobbies and artistic expression! So we worked with Kumu to come up with a music video that would bring Filipinos across the globe together in song and dance, and we did so to the amazing tunes of Jessica Louise’s ‘GPS.’

The video follows Jessica Louise as she performs her song across different online mediums - based on common ways that Filipinos nowadays are using to stay in touch with their friends and families. She dances with her friends on Zoom, Facetimes her family, and performs a piece of her song to the “Kumunity” on the Kumu app.

The making of this production required our team to teach choreography to over 50 participants, instruct them on how to cinematically film themselves, then piece everything together into a seamless rendition of melodic synchrony. And the best part? YOU can join in! The chorus of the music video is super simple and honestly, a bit addicting. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be dancing along in no time. Just be sure to use the hashtag #GPSChallenge when you try out the dance so we can see, too!

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So, here we are. 3 months into the pandemic. We watched hand sanitizer fly off supermarket shelves, nearly escaped an invasion of ‘murder hornets,’ and everyday we pray that our loved ones working on the COVID frontlines (from hospital rooms to vegetable fields) come home safe and healthy—but still, here we are. 

Despite everything that has happened, we are doing our best to thrive in the midst of chaos; we are doing our best to remind ourselves of our humanity. The Class of 2020 still crossed the finish line, families are spending more time together, and we are directing our energy more into our creative passions and other outlets for self care. 

None of this to say that there hasn’t been any loss or immense challenges, but we must recognize that there is a silver lining; one which lies in the greater thread of connection we have all woven together. And we will continue to weave, looking beyond the pain—not to romanticize suffering, but to find the hope in every experience we face.

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Thank you to Kumu for sponsoring this content! Kumu - Your Pinoy Livestreaming App. Connect with Millions of Filipinos around the world, in the most authentic way possible. Thousands of content creators are earning income with the support of generous followers in over 50+ countries. Download the Kumu app here: https://app.kumu.ph/OneDown.

Leo Albea is the Creative Director of One Down and has worked with Beatrock Music on several occasions, including social videos for Rocky Rivera and Klassy, and most recently, as Director for Klassy’s Power Trip featuring Ruby Ibarra. For inquiries, he can be reached at leo@one-down.com. Follow him on Instagram!

Abby Pasion is a Filipina American storyteller and community organizer based out of Portland, Oregon. Abby completed her B.A. degree at Oregon State University in 2019, studying Education and Ethnic Studies. She currently works for the Portland Public Schools District while also serving as Advisory Board Chair for the Northwest Filipino American Student Alliance. Follow her writing and creative adventures on Instagram!"

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