Foreigners Who Made Philippines Their Home
The Hungry Syrian Wanderer
Basel Manadil also known by his Youtube personality The Hungry Syrian Wanderer, is of pure Syrian descent living in the Philippines and has been a favorite of Filipinos for his positive vlog content about the country. During the Syrian Civil War in 2013, his family were forced to evacuate on their own, so his parents along with his sister and their dog went to Lebanon while Basel fled to the Philippines alone and has been living here ever since. He graduated in Computer Engineering at the University of Perpetual Help and started his youtube video in 2016 reaching up to 4.9Million subscribers after 4 years. Because of the positive response for his help in local communities during crisis, he was dubbed the “Adopted son of the Philippines”.
He obtained Filipino citizenship via naturalization in 2019. When asked why he decided to do so during his interview with Toni Talks, he says that it was purely unintentional. He says that he loved Filipino food and culture and unintentionally started to act and lived like one. Like he said, “it all came naturally”. Also asked why he loves to help, is because of his family who believes in good karma, he says his parents were both generous people and as kids, they were raised with the same values.
Being a naturalized Filipino only made him feel like he’s not a foreigner perhaps more like one of us. He also purchased a home which only affirmed his plan to stay here for good.
Watch the interview here: