Poverty is difficult to deal with. Those who experience being poor will surely understand the hardships of having less to none.
According to her twin sister, they were really poor back then. Her mom will just buy one pack of noodles then cook with a lot of water so they will have lots of soup. They are 4 siblings. It's already a big number of family if the parents are less capable of providing their needs. They will use public restroom to dump and swim in the river to bath because they don't have restroom in their house. Most of the time, all they have is rice no viand. Despite all these, Meann is a child with dreams. She still wants to continue her studies. They walk from home to school because they don't have money both for fare and snacks. They spend noon at school and won't eat lunch so that they can still come at class during afternoon.
She lost her dad when she's in college, months after, she lost her mom. Her life crumbles and she want to give up with her dream to finish her studies and have a better life. She started to think what's the point of going forward. She decided to stop and look for work instead for them to live. Even though she's not the eldest in the family, she took the responsibility. How've passion do die hard. Her desire to continue studying is still there, after a year she went back to her province and study again. She's a scholar of the school because she's part of the band. After years of juggling between studies and struggles of life, she finally finished her studies with a degree in Information technology. She started to work at the office of the same department and her boss love her so much. She learned a lot of things and let her boss learned a lot too.
Her life is changing little by little, but the hardships are still there. Her cousin is living with them too because her mom passed away so she decided to take her and let her study. Even though she has work, her twin sister who has now a family live with them and it seems her salary won't suffice so she decided to study again and take the Licensure exam for Teachers. With her perseverance and Faith that God will help her, she passed the boards. It's not easy to be assigned and have a regular position in Department of Education but she put all her trust in the Lord and soon enough she was given a position as a senior high school teacher. Life is slowly getting better, but struggles are still there. Her youngest sister was diagnosed to have cyst in gallbladder. She need operation immediately. After months of medication and her operation, her hospital bill rised to ₱100,000 excluding the daily expenses like food. It's devastating to have a problem one after another. But her resiliency was already honed by her past struggles. To stand up back up knowing that God is with her let her face these problems head on. They went to different government assistance and also she loaned money from the bank.
Her sister is now well, she's still a teacher, and her twin sister went back studying to teach elementary students. She's an inspiration. Her strength, resiliency, and faith are all admirable. I am so blessed God gave me a sister in Christ like her.
Meann, a name that will always made me think of a strong lady with a humble heart.
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