TOGETHER AT LAST—Amelia Gamboa, bottom center, worked for 30 years to legally immigrate all 10 of her children to America from the Philippines. Her whole family was finally together again when her eldest child, Ramonito, to her right, arrived in Simi this week. The Gamboa family are: front row, from left, Greta Asuncion, Amelia Gamboa and Ramonito Gamboa. Back row are Delfred Gamboa, Natalie Clark, Annabelle Gamboa and Patricia Wight. Four of the siblings are not pictured. Ramonito Gamboa had been waiting 32 years for one moment—the moment when he would touch down in Los Angeles, finally on American soil.

While flying standby from the Philippines delayed that moment for three days, it was nothing compared to the three decades he’d already spent waiting.

But even better than walking out of LAX into the California sunshine Aug. 11 was knowing he was going to see his mother for the first time in almost 10 years.

THERE’S NOTHING LIKE FAMILY—Simi Valley resident Amelia Gamboa, bottom center, is surrounded by six of her 10 children and half of her 24 grandchildren. Amelia Gamboa, 77, was downstairs in her Simi Valley home when family told her Ramonito had arrived.

She began to make her way up the staircase when she saw her son, looking bigger than she remembered and yet, still the same. The tears flowed.

“We both cried. We were hugging each other,” Ramonito said.

Though he is the oldest at 55, Ramonito is the last of Amelia’s 10 children to immigrate to the United States.

“Just the fact that he’s here is just complete for me,” his mother said. “After a long wait he’s here and that’s all that matters now.”

Born in Bauang in the Philippine province of La Union, Amelia came to the U.S. in 1977 when she was 46 years old. The trip was an attempt, she said, to escape from marital problems back home.

She spent the majority of her stay visiting her ailing sister in Virginia. Accompanying her was her youngest daughter, Greta, who was just 7 at the time.

Amelia intended to stay for only three months, but another sister in Los Angeles convinced her to extend her visit. Rosewood United Methodist Church in L.A. sponsored Amelia and she obtained an immigrant visa through the church.

It would be five years until she would see her other children again.

“I was so homesick for all nine of them because just Greta and me were here,” she said.

Work kept her mind busy during the day. As assistant organist, youth choir director and secretary for Rosewood, the former housewife wore many hats. But to make ends meet she held down a second job as a secretary at a Presbyterian church.

But at night the loneliness would get to her, and she’d scream her children’s names into her pillow, sobbing herself to sleep. Amelia called home every day and her spirits lifted when the kids rushed to the phone. But while they missed her, they didn’t exactly want their mother to come home.

They wanted to join her in America.

For the next 30 years, Amelia and her children followed the often difficult and time-consuming protocol to legally immigrate to America.

Twenty-year-old Gregory came first in 1982 since it’s easier and faster to obtain a permanent visa if you’re under 21.

Next came Natalie, Caroline and Amelita in February 1983. Delfred made it later that year, after obtaining a visa through marriage.

Eight years later, Ramon Jr. came to the U.S. with his father, Ramon Sr., who’d traveled to the States to have openheart surgery. Ramon Jr. was able to secure a visa through work; his father returned to the Philippines and he and Amelia divorced soon after.

Patricia, the oldest sister, came in 1996 after marrying an American man. It would be 11 more years until Annabelle would make it to the U.S. And while Amelia petitioned for Ramonito and Annabelle at the same time, they didn’t come together.

All the while, Amelia was able to return to the Philippines only four times since her initial visit, the last time in 2000. She said it was difficult to go years without seeing her children and then to see how much they’d grown, sometimes from teen to adult.

But despite the sadness, each short reunion was a relief because she could see that they were “fine and healthy.”

Ramonito was 23 when his mother left the first time. Though he had to wait the longest to join her, he said he didn’t get frustrated.

“If they didn’t give up, why should I?” he said. “I waited. I prayed. I knew finally I’d be able to come here.”

Although separated by an ocean, the distance didn’t diminish the family’s bond.

“We’re such a closeknit family that being apart never broke us apart,” said Greta Asuncion, now 39 and living in Minnesota. “Our spirits have always been with each other but it was tough not to be together.”

Now local family members attend church together every Sunday. And with Ramonito finally here, the large clan—which includes Amelia’s 24 grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren—is looking forward to a “complete” family gathering this holiday season.

Amelia also comes from a large family and a sister, Elisa Joaquin, wrote a poem about her aptly titled “Diligence and Faith.” Joaquin says in the seven-stanza work that despite hardships, her sister “Melly” never lost faith and “courageously” moved forward.

“Leaving country and home, forgetting discord and strife/ She braved the unknown, determined to seek for her and children, a new life.”

Today, Amelia’s kids are thankful for their mother’s determination.

“She’s a supermom,” Greta said. Her older sister Natalie Clark agreed.

“She didn’t give up,” the 41-year-old Simi resident said. “She wanted to, but she thought of our future, because there was no future where we were.”

With a Social Security number in hand and a California ID in the mail, Ramonito thinks his future is looking bright. He’s on the hunt for a job and also for “Mrs. Right,” calling himself Simi’s newest “most eligible bachelor.”

But the most important thing right now is catching up with family. “I can’t describe how I felt or even how I feel now,” he said of the long-awaited reunion. “I’m just very happy to be with my family.”