Rudy and Marilyn Lim
Working hard and moving up
By Heidi M. Pascual
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how it is to live in Canada first, then go from there. I went back for a short while but it was to sell our property, file my resignation,
and get my separation pay."
Rudy said he wanted to settle his family in Canada, then go back and resume managing his growing company, "Synergy," which
did powder coating of grocery carts, restaurant benches, and other commercial items. As it turned out, however, he realized it
wasn't that easy to move to another country and "come back home."
In an interview with Asian Wisconzine, the couple recounted the difficulties they encountered in Canada, as compared to their
relatively financially stable position back in the Philippines. "It was a struggle to start over again," Rudy said. "We were back to
square one and we didn't know anybody there." While Marilyn started as data entry operator and gradually moved up to better
paying jobs with only one "layoff" in her work record, Rudy wasn't as lucky.
"I started as a technician repairing electronic parts and was paid by piece," Rudy said, adding that when there was no work, he
had no pay. "After almost a year, I almost went back to the Philippines. I wrote to Bro. Andrew Gonzales, the head of LaSalle
University, and he wrote back promising he'd give me the head position at the College of Computer Science. So we prayed and
prayed and we joined the Couples for Christ. I knew that it would also be difficult to be away from my family should I go back home.
The same month, I got a call from a 'struggling' company making communication devices, and because I was desperate, I agreed
to work for that company for three months without pay, helping them improve their processing system." Unfortunately, after six
months, the company folded, but another company that manufactures connectors took over and Rudy was eventually hired. Rudy
and Marilyn saw this as the answer to their prayers, that Rudy wasn't destined to go back to the Philippines.
More than two years into the job, however, Rudy was again jobless because of the emerging and inexpensive 'outsourcing' of
jobs abroad. It was during this time that he applied, and passed, the professional engineer's licensure exam in Ontario, hoping to
be able to land a good job. Marilyn, meanwhile, reviewed for the U.S. Accounting Board Exam, took it in Chicago, and got her
license (which was eventually honored in Canada). Little did she know that she would use the same license when the family
moved to Wisconsin.
The frustration of not getting a good paying job in Canada forced Rudy to seek his fortune in the U.S. He worked as an IT
consultant in Milwaukee for more than two years, in Maryland for a few months thereafter, and back to Canada after dot.com
companies, his clientele, fell one by one. With an introduction to Elino Munsayac (a Filipino) at Madison National Life by friend Ed
Escall, Rudy was eventually hired by the company in its networking system.
That was 2002. Today, Rudy is still working for the company in the networking security area, and will teach College Algebra at
MATC starting this fall. Marilyn, who started in Madison as a temp in a financial services company, is now an accountant at the state
of Wisconsin Employee Trust Fund (ETF).
Their two children, Mary Sherlyn and Jan Einstein, are doing well. Mary graduated last December with a degree in Biochemistry
from UW-Madison. She's now working as an assistant scientist at Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc. in Middleton. She's
planning to pursue graduate studies in Pharmacy. Jan is in his sophomore year, also at UW-Madison, taking up Genetics. He is
on a federal government grant and a partial scholar. Right now, he's working part time as a research assistant at UW- Genetics
Lab.
"We raised our kids in an environment for them to develop interest in reading books, particularly science and math," Rudy said.
"Even during winter time, when they were still kids, we drove them to public libraries in Canada and the U.S. to borrow
science/math books and educational videos. We thank God that so far, we haven't had big problems with our kids. We consider
them disciplined children because they know the value of education."
Grateful to God for the blessings they have been receiving after years of struggle as immigrants, Rudy and Marilyn agreed that the
family values they both grew up with helped them persevere and develop patience.
Looking back more than 30 years ago, Rudy and Marilyn both credit their parents with helping them focus on college work. Both
graduated from one of the oldest Catholic universities in the Philippines, the University of Sto. Tomas in Manila, although they never
met on that campus.
In some ways, the way they raised their kids mirrored how they themselves were raised.
The spouses recalled with laughter how they met, fell in love, and got married. "I was an internal auditor at the Elizalde Company
so I was auditing Asian Business Corporation, a sister company where Rudy worked," Marilyn said with a big laugh. "He was
always dressed up, with an ironed trubenized shirt."
"When I saw her, I told myself 'I need to have a girlfriend, and she's it!" Rudy exclaimed.
The courtship was short because Rudy left for Saudi Arabia as a contract worker in 1981. Upon his return for a vacation, the
lovebirds decided to get married and the rest was history.
Rudy and Marilyn left this message for Asian Wisconzine readers:
"Life is full of mysteries and struggles. We should have the heart to handle the struggles and pray that God will handle the
mysteries."
Why do you have to immigrate to another country when you're already doing well
here in the Philippines?" asked some close friends of Rudy and Marilyn Lim when
they decided to leave for Canada in 1994. The couple's professional careers were
at their peak: Rudy was an assistant professor in engineering at De LaSalle
University while Marilyn was the accounting manager at Manila Broadcasting
Company (MBC). In addition, Rudy had just partnered with a friend to establish a
manufacturing company in Manila. There was really no reason to leave the country.
The Lim family was on its way up.
"We planned to go back to the Philippines after we received our Canadian visas,"
Marilyn recalled. "I didn't resign from my job yet at that time. Initially, we just thought
we would see