Rowena was born in Daet, Camarines Norte, in the Bicol Region of the Philippines. However, she spent most of her working life in Manila. Darwin was born in England but has lived many years in Canada.

Rowena and Darwin first met in Manila in 1996, and
they were married the same year. It took a long
time to process Rowena through immigration but she
eventually arrived in Canada in April 1998.

Lindsay is Darwin's daughter by a previous marriage.
He also has two grown up children, Janine who lives
in Toronto, Canada, and Darrell who lives in Los
Angeles, USA. Hadleigh was born in May 1999 and
has brought great joy to all of the family.

Rowena has a love child in the Philippines. Jonie
who is 12, has always lived with his grandmother
while his mother has worked to support him Jonie
doesn't seem to want to move from his familiar
surroundings at the moment and so there are no
immediate plans to bring him to Canada. She also
has a brother and a sister living in Bicol.
Reynaldo is a fisherman, and Lorena has just
graduated from college where she studied computer
science.

Darwin works as a writer, mostly for television.
At the moment he is working on scripts for a
children's program called "Pelswick", which will
be shown on Nickelodeon and other channels. His
last series "Ned's Newt" is now seen in 78 countries
- so keep a look out in your area !

Rowena loves to do crossstitch and to trading on
Ebay. She also likes to bowl and is a member of
the local Ladies" League.

When it comes to languages Rowena is the clever
one in the family, speaking Tagalog, Bicol and
excellent English. As they intend Hadleigh to
be bilingual, Rowena speaks to him in Tagalog.
Darwin is also trying to master the language but
Rowena says he speaks it with a Chinese accent.

In March 2000 Rowena and Hadleigh travelled to the
Philippines, via Japan, for a three week vacation.
Hadleigh was introduced to his Lola, and a host of
other relatives and friends, including his
Philippine Godmother Elsa. He loved all the
attention he was getting.

When they arrived back at Saskatoon Airport they
were loaded with Philippine delicacies, including
dried mango, pili nuts and that liquid gold -
Tanduay Rum.

Rowena and Darwin would like to hear from people
in various parts of the world, in particular those
couples who are of a Filipina/Western mix. Please
sign our guestbook. Salamat.