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Virgilia, the girl from Mindanao |
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I would like to start this story telling from the life of this girl
who hails from Mindanao and who's fate has been torn away by the
religion and customs she grew up with, Virgilia. One will never fail
to notice Virgie in our workshop, because of her smiling face that
hides the sad stories of her life.
The longer time i spent with them
helped me to get to know her better. I was shocked when she told me
that she was once a muslim and she never knew his parents for she grew up with his grandparents. She told me that life in their island used to be peaceful and flourishing. Her grandparents have a big garden
with different fruits and a farm teeming with fishes. People from
different town would always pass by in their place to get free food.
Everybody is welcome to take home some specially the poor ones.She
said that she used to work in a health center in their town to help
distribute medicines. It is at this time that she realised that there
were so many poors people and who were also illitterate in mindanao.
She never imagined that there were people there that doenst even know
the exact date of their birth for they dont use calendar. They refer
date to incidents of the nature: like the season of mangoes, or season
of lanzones, or the eruption of a volcano.
She said she was one day
told she will marry a guy set up for her. They had two beautiful
kids, and her life was completed. But her stories to tell were not
only of laughters and good memories. The day his husband asked her to
work as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia her life changed totally.
Even if it is against her will to be far from her children she
accepted it for it is the law of their society. His husband assured
her that it will be good for the future of their children. She spent
years working abroad hoping that one day she will see again her
family. Luck or unluck there was a war in the middle east and all the
overseas contract worker living there were forced to go back home. It
was only at this time she discovered that his husband already
re-married a second wife (for this is allowed in their society) and
all the moneys that she has earned were used for this marriage. This incident
of her life was the saddest of all she told us, but she was telling this
story as if it wasnt hers. She said that her eldest daughter must be
18 years old now. For she never saw her children after that incident.
Because of this misfortune she opted to work again abroad to be
totally far from this painful memories. She continued working day
and night, until one day she fail and lost conscious. When she opened
her eyes she was already in hospital, she was diagnosed with leukemia,
and her employer doesnt want her to die far from her loved ones. She
was flewn back to Philippines in Manila for she never wanted to go
back to Mindanao. It is at this point of her life that her story
changed.
During her recuperation time , she said all the money she
earned abroad were used for her medications, until one day she met
their neighbor, and she said the rest is a beautiful love story that
ended up into a church wedding. She said that his husband accepted
her and all this stories thats part of her. She said that they maybe
poor but she is happy because she has a loving husband and children
that are always by her side. And before we started our lunchbreak she
ended her story by claiming, that each one of us have stories to tell
and lessons we can learn from them.
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