In Loving Memory

Education is the key to eradicate Poverty. Takbo para sa libreng edukasyon.

A man in his late forties was walking along the street of a local province carrying a wooden woven basket filled with different types of desserts. He is literally moving from one house to another to sell what’s in his basket and tries to finish it before noon time as the sun gets too hot by then. He will shout at the top of his lungs so people will hear him coming. He does this every single day.

The man is a friendly and cheerful person by nature and everyone knows and likes him. He loves to tell jokes and chat with anyone who talks to him. He is a man of honor and dignity. In his looks, you will easily understand that he came from a poor family.

During his young age, he started working in order to help his parents support the family of twelve, he is the third child. He did not even finish elementary as he is forced to work. There was not enough money to send him to school too. He is smart and even he did not finish school he is able to read and write. He read books that he borrowed from friends during his free time. Growing up, he did not have so much fun as he is task to take care of his little brothers and sisters too.

During his teens, a stroke of luck comes his way, once he had a friend who introduces him to a Chinese Chef who taught him how to cook Chinese food. From there, he was able to earn for a living. He was first hired to cook for a wealthy Chinese family who was kind enough to teach him how to dress up well and talk appropriately to people. When the family moved back to China, he started using his earned skills. He was then invited to cook for weddings, birthday parties, baptism, debut and he was even ask to cook for fiestas with big crowds and was paid a decent sum of money. He sometimes takes one or two of his sisters to work as helpers and was paid too. However, this kind of service he is giving is also occasional. Sometimes, he is not receiving any invitation at all.

Life goes on as usual, a veterinarian befriended him who used to come to their neighborhood to take care of some animals, and this guy had a pretty sister whom he gets married to later on. He married at the age of thirty three and the girl was at her late twenties. They were blessed with three healthy children. Life was not very easy when they started their own family. His father-in-law who is also a veterinarian used to earn good money and he was always there to help them. He even helped him to put up a decent Nipa Hut for the couple. This became their love nest and a home to their family.

For years, they spent working in order to make both ends meet and they try hard enough to send their three children to school. Debts are here and there. Poverty did not stop them from giving the best gift they could give to their two daughters and son -that's EDUCATION. He and his wife together with their kids were full of dreams. They wanted them to have a beautiful life better than what they have right now.

After years of hard work, their children finished school and are now having decent jobs abroad.

The man passed away even before the youngest child could finish her studies in college and so the sister promised her father that she will support her studies until she graduates. She did not disappoint him as the youngest child did finished school as promised. She even helped her brother to get a job abroad. His passing left the family devastated; they could not accept the fact that the man who supported them all the way in the most decent way he knows already left them. They have so many plans for him, his hardships must be paid off, the children plan to give him a comfortable life but his tired body gave up. He died of cardiac arrest, and there was nothing the family can do about it anymore.

It’s been 10 years ago when the man died, the life that his children have right now is very far from the life they had when they were young. All credits to their parents especially to their father who live up to the saying that “the best gift parents can give to their children is EDUCATION.”

Indeed, education eradicates poverty; it elevates the lives of people from one step to another. When a man is educated, he is able to get a better job, a higher salary that can buy good food, nice clothes, and a beautiful house, send kids to good schools, and it definitely makes his life easier. He also becomes a beacon of success to his parents, a trophy for their hardships.

The man’s children are able to acquire a concrete house for the aging mother, decent enough for her to stay cozy, a lot at a pretty landscaped memorial park for the remains of their father, and all three of them are now having their own families with them abroad except for the son who decided that his family is better off in his home country. They all have good lives now better than what they have when they were young. All of their kids are going to school, living up to the saying that their father lived up to, THE BEST GIFT PARENTS CAN GIVE TO THEIR CHILDREN IS EDUCATION.

This post is in support to one of our fellow blogger Stacey 's campaign for free education "Isang Araw Lang: Takbo Para sa Libreng Kolehiyo" (Just One Day: For Free Education) - a fun run/marathon event that will grant Free College Education (which means free tuition fees, free books, free uniforms, and free meals) to Filipino students who want to study but cannot afford to do so.