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I S L A N D L I V I N G
MY DAUGHTER LILOU
screamed every time a
Boholano spoke to her. You couldn’t blame the
kid. Three years old, she moved to this island
just a few months ago. After having spent most
of her life learning to speak French and at least
understanding English, to suddenly find herself
confronted with a third language was maybe too
much. Confused by Visayan, she demanded,
“
Pourquoi ils ne parlent pas français, maman?”
(“
Mom, why don’t they speak French?).
Sometimes, when I ask for directions from a
sari-sari
storeowner for example, or as I try to
understand our rented house’s caretaker as she
explains why we’re having plumbing problems, I
ask myself the same thing. My husband Pierre,
French and always unconventional, has a special
way of coping with the language barrier: He’s hard
at work improving his Tagalog, which isn’t even
really the language in these parts.
Writer and craftmaker Apol Lejano-
Massebieau moved her family from
the South of France to the Visayan
island of Panglao in Bohol. It
,
s not as
easy as it sounds
PHOTOS
LESTER LEDESMA
Bohol is
where the
heart is
