𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄. 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍. 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍

𝙱𝚢: 𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘 𝚁. 𝙴𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚊𝚗 𝙹𝚛. 𝙰𝙻𝚂 𝙱𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟻 𝙹𝙷𝚂 𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝙱𝚊𝚑𝚊𝚢 𝙿𝚊𝚐-𝚊𝚜𝚊 𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙲𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚊𝚘 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗿. 𝗜 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻. 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞 I looked up to my father as a great provider for the family, but he left us for another. Yes, I am a product of a broken family. My mother did everything to feed us, her two children. Eventually, she decided to work overseas. Thus, my elder sister and I were left alone and struggling. At times, due to the delay of the allowance from my mother, we had to sell the properties of our parents to sustain our daily needs. Letting go of our valuable items was hard enough, but having no food on the table was harder. Survival was the name of the game. 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 My world slowly crumbled when, in my second year of high school, hanging out with my friends became my priority instead of attending classes, made worse by my addiction to computer games. It went further downhill when I broke the law and committed a crime. Instead of third-year high school, I spent time at a rehabilitation center, the Bahay Pag-Asa in Brgy. Anomar, Surigao City. This separation deeply saddened my mother and sister. Yes, I felt stuck in the middle of nowhere, badly missing my sister, who, at that time, became a mother. My mother risked her job to return home just to be close to me and monitor my condition at the center. Not knowing what to do, I sometimes sat in bed crying and asking God why he confined me in a room with only walls as silent witnesses to my grief and many wishes. But I learned valuable lessons in my two years in this rehabilitation facility. Instead of hurting myself too much, I focused my energy on productive engagements with children in conflict with the law. I had my first experience eating sardines with them - sardines being regular stuff on our meals. Sometimes, a Social Worker named Michael Caban would give us something for our needs. Over the next year, things improved, though, especially our meals. In the facility, offenders like us learned to recite from memory the holy rosary. We also attended bible study sessions and engaged in sports activities. I did gardening, too. Brotherhood was the buzzword in the house. In my second year at Bahay Pag-Asa, I met ALS Teacher Ma’am Maricar T. Lisondra. It was my best chance to continue my studies. Thanks to her big heart. She paved the way for my access to education in this alternative setup. Her patience and sacrifices helped me pass the A and E Assessments and Certifications. I can say my new life began inside the facility. I could not imagine what my life would have been without ALS. As they say, "sa ALS, may pag-asa." And Teacher Maricar, for me, is MariCARE, for I knew she truly cared for me. 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 I survived the trials. I realized my shortcomings and embraced the lessons. Indeed, God works in mysterious ways. To Kylie Francis, I fulfilled my promise to be a born-again Rolando. The broken me is back, yet I am putting the pieces together. Thanks to the unconditional love of my family. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in information technology from Surigao State College of Technology in 2020. I am now wiser, bolder, stronger, and committed to breaking new horizons and facing the challenges, whatever comes my way. Life is still unfair. I still didn’t have a perfect family, but I chose my fate and made things happen.   🅴🅽🅳 𝘕𝘉. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘱𝘰𝘦𝘮𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘋𝘦𝘱𝘌𝘥 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘢’𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘦𝘣𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵 (𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘴) 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘢𝘵 𝗽𝗮𝘂_𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗮@𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗱.𝗴𝗼𝘃.𝗽𝗵