{"id":32,"date":"2026-04-15T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/?p=32"},"modified":"2026-05-21T02:23:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T02:23:44","slug":"beautifully-arranged-sol-and-liz-ocampo-this-kenyan-filipino-family-is-steeped-in-a-love-that-began-as-strangers-in-marriage-part-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/?p=32","title":{"rendered":"BEAUTIFULLY ARRANGED: SOL AND LIZ OCAMPO \u2014 THIS KENYAN-FILIPINO FAMILY IS STEEPED IN A LOVE THAT BEGAN AS STRANGERS IN MARRIAGE (PART 2 OF 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In part 1<\/a><\/strong> of this interview with Solomon and Liz Ocampo, the couple talked about how the first met and went through an arranged marriage. In this part, they talk about Liz\u2019s pregnancies and raising four cross-cultural kids.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy first [pregnancy] was my worst, compared to what I just had right now, which was my fourth one,\u201d Liz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018HYPEREMESIS GRAVIDARUM\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Liz suffered a condition called \u201cHyperemesis Gravidarum,\u201d where a woman\u2019s morning sickness is elevated, \u201cyour hormones are completely off the chain, off the hook, you can\u2019t smell anything, you can\u2019t afford to smell anything, even water has a smell. So I would just throw up 40 to 50 times a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was literally skin and bones, and so every three days I would have to go for an IV just to get fluids into my body,\u201d Liz continued. \u201cI was in a wheelchair for the first seven months, I couldn\u2019t walk, he would have to carry me to the restroom, and immediately you know I cannot smell anything, so he has to carry me back and go back and flush. And so he\u2019d have to feed me but I would throw up absolutely everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sol
Sol and Liz Ocampo with three of their four kids (Photo courtesy the Ocampo family)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Liz\u2019s delicate condition during that first pregnancy caused \u201csmall things\u201d to irritate her, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHearing Tagalog being spoken would just have me throwing up, and so I would be craving Kenyan food, I would be craving snacks and Kenyan smokies, stuff like that, [so when my mother visited], her bag was just full of Kenyan food. Liz\u2019s mother stayed one month and the food she brought ran out. Liz  was crying every day. \u201cSo she asked my father to come, so my father comes, again with food, and he\u2019s like, \u2018No, we have to take our daughter back.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I was literally skin and bones, and so every three days I would have to go for an IV just to get fluids into my body.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So Liz and Sol went back to Nairobi and moved in with her parents so they can nurse her back to health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring that time, because Sol had just got to know me for two weeks, I am looking horrible, constantly throwing up, so I\u2019m constantly smelling, I couldn\u2019t take a shower because the water would just make me throw up in the shower and in the bathtub so I\u2019m going for weeks without a bath, I can\u2019t brush my teeth because if I see a toothbrush I would just throw up, and so he dealt with all this smell and stuff,\u201d Liz said with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Ocampos with three of their four kids (Photo courtesy the Ocampo family)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

PERSEVERANCE LEADS TO LOVE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was Sol\u2019s perseverance during this time that really won Liz over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just like, completely broken,\u201d she says. \u201cWhich man would have taken care of me like this? This just had to be God. And he was just patient the entire time, he left everything in the Philippines and came to Kenya, was staring at me 24 hours a day, you know? He was like my 24-hour nurse. And so, the whole night because I had such bad heartburn, he\u2019d hold me up, and we\u2019d just sit up the whole night. During the day [we would] try to catch some sleep but it was just so horrible, the whole pregnancy, I was like an AIDS patient, most people thought I had AIDS, I was just so thin,\u201d she remembers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which man would have taken care of me like this? This just had to be God.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was very, very difficult, extremely difficult, and we didn\u2019t think we\u2019d do it again [have another child], and here we are six years later with a fourth,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"(Photo
(Photo courtesy the Ocampo family)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sol chimes in, \u201cNow that she\u2019s retelling the story, I don\u2019t even remember how it was, I just know that I had a shocking experience, I was just like, this is not what you thought a honeymoon was supposed to be. And again, you\u2019re just strangers and immediately it\u2019s a medical, life-and-death situation. So we were on survival mode.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE GALLANT HERO?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say I was a gallant hero, I was just an angel there, overjoyed doing it all, you know, whistling my way through,\u201d Sol continues. Of course it was sludge, it was dread. It was sleepless nights, I would carry her around upstairs and everything, and it was tough, it was difficult even for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I knew I had to do it, yeah to this stranger, she was still a stranger. We hadn\u2019t known each other before this, so I\u2019m just fortunate that I was able to go through it,\u201d he says . \u201cIm not claiming that I was a hero or a pure, good-hearted guy, it was difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was difficult, but I\u2019m just glad that the grace came for me to see [it] through, but looking at someone who was suffering \u2026 it was breaking my heart to see \u2026 my newly married wife carrying my child \u2026 it was not that she partied and drank herself to death it was because of the baby she was carrying for us. But it really broke my heart seeing her go through a near-death experience, so when it was over, we were just overjoyed and I\u2019m proud of her that she pulled through it \u2026 because [although] she\u2019s thankful for me being there, she\u2019s the one who suffered through it. So I can never know the pain and suffering that women go through carrying a child, bringing life to the world, so I salute all women and mothers around the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PARENTING<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once the child was born, \u201cParenting, it was fun,\u201d Liz laughed. \u201cIt was fun in the beginning, having your first child is everything, every milestone, you\u2019re just so celebrating and excited. We went back to the Philippines and so just ready to start over again, and \u2018OK, let us press play now.\u2019 The baby is here, we\u2019re a new family, let us start over again, and everyone was excited to see a mixed-race child\u2026 The Philippines really likes mixed-race children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I can never know the pain and suffering that women go through carrying a child, bringing life to the world, so I salute all women and mothers around the whole world.\u201d — SOL OCAMPO<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

One year to the day after the first child was born, Liz and Sol were pregnant again and back in Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExactly the same story,\u201d they both say simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Interestingly enough, they wound up finding out they were pregnant with the second, third and fourth child exactly one year after the previous kid was born. \u201cThere\u2019s something about the first birthday,\u201d Liz said with a laugh. \u201cNow we know, the first birthday we will [be in] separate rooms.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be roommates or brothers and sisters in the Lord,\u201d Sol quips with a laugh.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GETTING EASIER OVER TIME<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With the first two kids, Liz suffered the same constant morning sickness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe third one got better because the smell didn\u2019t affect me as much,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I was eating more. And then this fourth one became totally opposite, where [with] the first one I couldn\u2019t eat anything, with the fourth one if I stopped eating I throw up. So I was eating 24 hours. I gained almost 50 pounds. (Laughs) I would lay down in the bed and if I just wake up at night like for two seconds if I didn\u2019t dump food in my mouth I would just go and throw up and throw up so I was constantly chewing. [For] 24 hours, you\u2019d see me anywhere \u2014 if I\u2019m in a meeting, if I\u2019m in an interview, constantly just eating my food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done countless interviews where she was eating,\u201d Sol laughed. \u201cI\u2019d have to tell the producer or editor, \u2018Please just edit it out.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all the trials of childbearing, it\u2019s still worth it, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a lot of work, since there are now four and they\u2019re all five and under,\u201d according to Liz. \u201cThey\u2019re at the age where they really need a lot of attention. So we can\u2019t wait for them to grow up and relax. The older kids help \u2026 and thank God in third-world countries its easy to get nannies \u2026 so we thank God for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FULL-TIME PASTORS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While both had plans to be in non-ministry careers \u2014 Liz in radio broadcasting and Sol in engineering \u2014 they both wound up following in their parents\u2019 footsteps and working as full-time pastors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d been ordained in 2010 in America,\u201d Liz said. \u201cSo yeah, I was doing that but not full-time. Part-time pastor, part-time radio presenter. But when I got married it became too much, because in the media you cant keep coming and going and coming and going. And so that\u2019s what kept happening when I would get pregnant. Because after my first pregnancy then I came back to the media and then I left again [for my] second pregnancy but when I came back, they were like, \u2018Ok you\u2019ve been replaced.\u2019 And so I just dived full-time into the ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THIRD CULTURE MEETS CROSS CULTURE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As for Sol, he had grown up as a Third Culture Kid (TCK) as a result of his parents\u2019 missionary work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spent his formative years moving within many islands of the Philippines as well as in the United States, Canada and Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom age zero, every year was just moving around, even within the Philippines, we never stayed in one city,\u201d he says. \u201cWe moved from city to city, province to province. The challenge, you know, was you\u2019d make friends and have best friends and you have to leave them, and then you get new friends, best friends and you feel nostalgic, melancholic of leaving your old neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen you\u2019d move again, and you\u2019d move again maybe two years, three years, five years, and then we went international, we went to the U.S. when I was lets say 11, 12, 13,\u201d he continued. His family \u201cwent to Canada, lived there also for about a year, then came back to the U.S. again and lived there another maybe a year, came back to the Philippines, moved around again everywhere in the Philippines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have three regions so its like going from west coast to east coast, then moved to America again, now to Africa to Nairobi in 2006-2009 then went back to the Philippines again, moved around there again, then back here to Nairobi. So just all over the place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sol
Sol and Liz Ocampo with three of their four children (Photo courtesy the Ocampo family)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

LIZ IN BOARDING SCHOOL<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While Liz grew up in Nairobi, she went to a boarding school from age eight until she finished high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, Liz\u2019s parents sent her to bible school in Dallas, Texas, where she lived until age 21, after which she began pursuing mass communication at one of the universities in Nairobi. \u201cAnd that was until I was 24, and at 25 I married him. He married me. We were both 25.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liz also noted her cross-cultural upbringing, spending holidays in Uganda and Tanzania. \u201cMy mother\u2019s from Uganda, so during holidays she would send us to go learn the language. My mother is a princess in Uganda. She\u2019s from the Kingdom of Toro.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Sol, living abroad as a kid \u2014 as well as an adult \u2014 has taught him \u201cto have an open mind. It\u2019s not really just about embracing only your own culture of course, everybody\u2019s culture is wonderful but it doesn\u2019t mean that your culture is superior to others. There are great things about your culture and then there\u2019s some not-so-great things about your own culture. Learn from the other culture and when you combine it, you have a richer, new culture, combined culture or hybrid or whatever you wanna call it \u2014 intra culture in your family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNDERSTANDING IDENTITY<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Since they now have a biracial family, Sol Ocampo said they do have to talk to their kids about who and what they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs young as they are, fortunately or unfortunately we do have to talk to them about these issues because they get picked on sometimes,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen they\u2019re in Kenya, they\u2019re not fully Kenyans, and when they\u2019re in the Philippines they don\u2019t look fully Filipino. They\u2019re mixed-race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s like their sense of identity, of belonging, they don\u2019t fully belong, so we have had to address it and we continue to address it, definitely those unique challenges to them that maybe other, non-mixed kids wouldn\u2019t have,\u201d he continued. \u201cThis is the odd one out of the class, their eyes get picked on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir nose,\u201d Liz chimed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir nose, their eyes,\u201d Sol said. \u201cThey get called Chinese when they\u2019re not, so we have to tell them no, you\u2019re Kenyan because sometimes they would say, \u2018No I\u2019m only Filipino, I\u2019m only from the Philippines\u2019 and we would have to tell them \u2018No, you are African, you are Kenyan, and you are Filipino at the same time. Because your father is Filipino, your mother is Kenyan, so you are both.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo it takes work,\u201d he continued. \u201cYou can\u2019t just do it on autopilot, or parent them the same way you would parent a non-mixed child. Of course then, the usual issues of parenting and growing up are there, but on top of that are those unique issues that mixed-race kids face. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out Liz and Sol\u2019s YouTube channel, WeAreOcampo<\/a>, as well as their Instagram<\/a> and Facebook<\/a> pages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Ocampo family (Photo courtesy the Ocampo family)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In\u00a0part 1\u00a0of this interview with Solomon and Liz Ocampo, the couple talked about how the first met and went through an arranged marriage. In this part, they talk about Liz\u2019s pregnancies and raising four cross-cultural kids.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,26],"tags":[27,28],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-crossing-cultures","tag-cross-cultural","tag-marriage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions\/108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.cultursmag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}