Learning Phase

 This is what I always remind myself of. Poverty is not a hindrance to being successful in life. If there is a will, there is a way. I was born to poor parents. My parents lost three sons because they did not provide enough for them. My brothers died of starvation and lack of medication. My parents decided to leave their hometown and went to Cebu City on the assumption that there were a lot of opportunities and a permanent means of living. For financial reasons, no one goes to college in my family. I thought that in Cebu City I would finally have the life that I had never had, but I was wrong. Poverty is getting worse, especially since the pandemic started. My mother became the lone provider for the family after my father got terribly ill. Life is never easy, and I started to give up, but then I remembered the experiences I have had.     The ultimate goal that I want to achieve in life is to fulfill my parents' dreams of having a house and a lot. Getting my family ou...

 November 26, 2021, was the exact date that I was devastated by the passing of my beloved social worker, Ma'am Riza. With that sad news, I have been mourning the loss of a role model, friend, and mother to me in the community program she handled. I was in deep grief for a week. It pains me a lot knowing that she will never be on my side, that I will not see her again, and that no one will guide me on what path to take in the future. In the past 4 years of the attachment that I had with her, I have had so many realizations, lessons, and knowledge in life that could help me shortly. She lived a good, happy life, being committed and passionate about community service. She had had a great impact on the Cebu City community and the children of Asia, especially the children's and their families lives. It was for this reason that I was in deep grief when she died.      I have a hard time dealing with or coping with...

 I consider my junior high school journey one of the aspects that molded me into a better version of myself. It is where I learned to be independent and see the world from a different perspective. Most importantly, it is where I learned that it is not the mistakes that determine a person's character, but how we take those mistakes and turn them into lessons rather than excuses.  Being in a special science class is not easy for an average student like me. There are certain moments when I doubt my capability, skills, and effort. The lackluster performance I had in school shows how incompetent I am, mainly because of the pressure and competition inside the classroom. Before the whole class started, my English teacher would start with a spelling test to evaluate a student's ability to spell words correctly. After three weeks of doing the spelling test and getting a lower score, I always wonder why my classmates have a higher score.   One day, I caught one of my classmates hav...