Synopsis

Where do you feel you belong, when you were born in one country, but grow up in another? These are exactly the questions Awi Rabelista is facing. Born on an island in the Philippines, but raised in Holland, he doesn’t know where to feel at home. Although he felt out of place for most of his younger years, it wasn’t prevalent until a specific moment. On november 2013, typhoon Haiyan makes its landfall on the eastern Philippines. When Awi hears of this, he immediately tries to phone his Philippine family but doesn’t have any luck reaching them. Obviously he is scared, but after a couple of days, the word comes everything is fine with them. The same can’t be said for the rest of the country though. Government officials estimate that 1.2 million people are displaced, and 3000 killed. (Actual numbers might be way higher, since most poor people are unregistered).

Awi sees the whole western world spur into action and feverishly collect money for the survivors. He is really happy to see this compassion. But as it goes with disasters, the world forgets as quickly as it helped: A couple of weeks later business is back to usual, and nobody thinks about the many still in need of help.

This is when Awi’s internal struggle really gets swung into motion. He suddenly feels more Pilipino then Dutch. Awi decides to sell everything he owns and travel to the Philippines. Diaspora documents both Awi’s personal search to where he belongs and shows the world what it means to be a Philipino in times of extreme distress.