In 1986, Jason DeParle, now a reporter for The New York Times, began his Luce year abroad in the Philippines where he met the Comodas family. In his new book, A Good Provider is One Who Leaves—a gripping tale of 21st century global migration—DeParle follows their journey from the slums of Manila to the Middle East and eventually to Texas, recounting the sacrifices they made and challenges they endured to escape poverty.
In an interview with the Asia Foundation, DeParle elaborates on his book and discusses migration as an economic development strategy in the Philippines as well as “the world’s largest antipoverty program.”
When Jason DeParle moved into the Manila slums with Tita Comodas and her family three decades ago, he never imagined his reporting on them would span three generations and turn into the defining chronicle of a new age–the age of global migration. In a monumental book that gives new meaning to “immersion journalism,” DeParle paints an intimate portrait of an unforgettable family as they endure years of sacrifice and separation, willing themselves out of shantytown poverty into a new global middle class. At the heart of the story is Tita’s daughter, Rosalie. Beating the odds, she struggles through nursing school and works her way across the Middle East until a Texas hospital fulfills her dreams with a job offer in the States.
