When I finished high school, all I had in mind was to get a degree that I can afford since I am self-

supporting. It was a no-brainer which course to take up in college since I only have one thing in mind –
get an education degree. This by far was the easiest that I could pursue given my resources at that time.

I took things one step a time never realizing I was ahead closer to what really prompted me to
get an education college degree. Then things started to clear up – it was family that made me do this. I
could have gotten another degree had I not thought of bringing my family to a life of living in less
misery. With a stable job that I had right after graduation, I started to send my siblings to college as well.
So you see, little by little, we were indeed rising from the ashes of poverty.

Getting that education degree still gives me more blessings than I could ever ask for. I was
offered a teaching job in the US. It was then that I realized the importance of having my family beside
me all the time. I got homesick. There’s also one thing that gave me a better thought – I felt like my
teaching skills is far more needed in hometown rather than in some far away neverland! Then I
promised myself to be a better version of me when I teach in my hometown.

A part of me realized that poverty is almost present in every corner in the globe. In my
experience as a teacher in the US, one of my students opened up about he managed to earn money just
for him to afford a laptop for his parents could not give him one. I even offered to buy him a jacket
because he only had one to use for the cold weather.

Then I thought of myself that poverty is not an isolated case in the Philippines. It opened up my
eyes that if I was able to help this American school guy, then why can’t I do it my own hometown? So I
started it in myself. In school, I don’t collect any amount for a project that my students will make. I know
how hard it is to have nothing. Because one thing for sure, students stop going to school because they
don’t have money to spend for fare or for projects. As much as possible, the materials and equipment
that will be used in my classes are those that are shouldered by the school’s MOOE.

And then I continue to inspire students that life does not end in finishing a degree or getting a
diploma. Life is so much more than that. They could enroll themselves in skills training and still end up
successful in life. I just hope that I handle these fragile souls in the best way possible and that I have
never pushed them for life’s destruction.

And so I dare say that my family and my students have become my enablers of passion.