𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐎,𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐎 𝐍𝐎𝐎𝐍,𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐆𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐍!

𝙱𝚢 𝚁𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚎 𝚃. 𝙷𝚒𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚗 𝚂𝚂𝚃-𝙸𝙸, 𝚃𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚐 𝙽𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚂𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝙷𝚂 𝚃𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚐 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 “𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙪𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣.” My mother was a babysitter (or yaya), my father was a farmer, and I am the youngest of six siblings. In my elementary years (2000-2006), I experienced what real pain was! I had to walk some distance to take a bath in a stream. I sold candies and cassava cakes to provide for my "baon." I did my homework without electricity, using only the dimmed light of an old-fashioned kerosene-fueled lamp that often turned my nose into a soot depository in the morning. I felt like I was living in an ancient civilization. At school, my classmates often mocked my unkempt uniform and messy get-up. I endured this embarrassment for six years, with all the disappointments weighing me down. I did not sulk at the corner, though. I chose to rise above the pains and let everyone know what I could do. It enabled me to develop greater compassion and determination to succeed. During my high school years (2006-2010), I continued bathing in the stream, walked a kilometer to school, studied under the same lamp, and sold candies. I spent my Saturdays selling vegetables around the town. Dried fish and young coconut were the stuff of our dinners. Nevertheless, I completed my secondary education with flying colors. I became strong. I have grown and bloomed. I never harbored guilt feelings nor blamed anyone despite the seasons of poverty, sickness, and loneliness. In college (2010-2012), my parents were already in their 60s and getting weaker by the day. I realized I could no longer allow them to work harder to support me financially, so I had to quit school. I was sickly too. I had to stay in bed for a month because of it. Added to these burdens were the mental sickness in my family, the abject poverty, and episodes of losing hope. But the agony continues. As a college student, I worked for a company for almost four years, working during the day and going to school at night. On some occasions, I skipped dinner to come to school on time. College life is not easy, unlike the good times we often see on TV or in movies. Michelle Obama said that nobody gets into college without help. It rang true for me because I, too, needed help from many people. I am proud to say I was a working college student. I even went as far as doing laundry services for my boss and earning some money for my needs. Indeed, my college life was the hardest of my journey. Life may be unfair for some, but not for me. God designs a fair plan for His children, and everything will fall into place when we follow it. Finishing college and reaching goals is not easy, and it gives no guarantee of a good life for lazy ones - precisely because success requires patience, perseverance, and a lot of creativity. Nelson Mandela said that education is a weapon that can change the world. Thus, I used education to change my world and probably the world of others I may encounter in my profession. 🅴🅽🅳 NB. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒏𝒐𝒏-𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍, 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔, 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔, 𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒎𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒆𝒑𝑬𝒅 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒂’𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔. 𝑨𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕 (𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔) 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒗𝒊𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑷𝑴) 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒂𝒕 𝗽𝗮𝘂_𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗮@𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗱.𝗴𝗼𝘃.𝗽𝗵