I am a middle child with an older brother and a younger sister. I was born in a small town in the Philippines to a young struggling couple who struggled to make ends meet ever since I could remember. My father worked for a rich neighbor who owned several businesses, one of which was a pallet production line. Back then these pallets were manually put together. Pieces of lumber cut, planed (smoothed) and nailed together by hand. That was my father's job and he made less than minimum wage.
My mother at first was a full time homemaker. Because of our growing needs and lack of finances, she tried to help augment the family's income by many different means that she could find. She did laundry for other people, did some babysitting, buy and sell of "barter goods"(food, clothing and other items imported from the neighboring countries, Malaysia and Indonesia), and had a mini sari-sari store. Years later she even became an OCW (Overseas Contract Worker) in Kuwait for a few months until that country's invasion by Iraq in 1990 forced her to return home. All failed ventures that didn't amount to much. These attempts probably helped at the time to just get by but not enough to elevate our financial status in any way.
We were dirt poor. We barely had enough money to eat three meals a day, if we were lucky. Needless to say, there was never any extra money to buy anything that can be considered "luxury" like toys, clothes, nice things, fast food, etc. Almost all the things we had were hand-me-downs from relatives who were well-to-do and were generous enough to dole out their cast-offs to poor old us.
To this day I remember the HUNGER --- not just the physical pang brought about by insufficient nourishment but even more so, the yearning for a better life. I was not contented with what we had. Surely I was born for something bigger, meant to make something better out of my life. Even as a little child I thought I was special and that feeling stirred enough in me to know that I had to do what I could to rise above that lowly station. I knew that someday, I would quelch that hunger.
At age four or five my paternal grandmother discovered that I was smart. She had a small store and she rented out Philippine komiks (comic books) and magazines. She said I stayed at her store for hours everyday devouring these reading materials even before I went to kindergarten. She also said they didn't even know until then that I could read. She said that I learned how to read all by myself. I had a thirst for knowledge and I was a quick learner.
The school system in the Philippines was (still is) very competitive. At the end of the school year there would always be a commencement program where academic and extra-curricular awards would be given to select students who excelled, not just in their classes, but in their grade levels. For example in the elementary school I went to there were about six sections (classes) in first grade. Each section had about 45 students on average, so the total number of first graders was around 270. This would be true for the rest of the grade levels. The "honor" section was where the smart and/or rich kids were assigned. At the end of the school year, the academic awards were given out and the recipients were ranked first honor, second honor, etc.
I was always in that honor section my entire student life. Furthermore, every year I was a recepient of an academic award, usually first honor. I also always received other special awards such as best in math, best orator, quiz bee champion, and so forth. This destitute child who went to class in faded uniforms, who couldn't afford to buy food at recess and who had to scrounge around and even beg classmates for pencil or paper to use during quizzes kicked her classmates' butts academically!
I knew then that if I were given this intellectual gift, perhaps this would be my vehicle to get out of the hovel in which I was born. It would prove to be a long and arduous journey and I'm still on that ride.
My subsequent blog entries will depict my sojourn via memoirs, lessons I learned, philosophical musings, and maybe even senseless ramblings. Read along and come journey with me.
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