Thousands upon thousands of students are graduating this year. And it is customary for media outlets to churn out graduation stories that are really of interest in this country that puts so high a premium on education. We are sharing with you this moving story we just read in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Poor, brave Belinda tops Grade 6 class
Written by Tonette Orejas
City of San Fernando – The story of Belinda (not her real name) is a story of hope.
Her father died of a heart attack in 2000. Her mother was twice arrested for selling shabu (metamphetamine hydrochloride) and has been doing time at the Women’s Correctional Institute in Mandaluyong City since 2004.
Her eldest sister entered the same illegal drug trade and landed in the Pampanga provincial jail in 2006.
On March 26, Belinda, now 14, graduated salutatorian from a public elementary school here, earning two awards for academic excellence and a medal for “best in homework.”
She has been working as a maid in a neighbor’s house since she was 11, and with her wages not only put herself through school but also helped in the upkeep of two younger brothers.“I think I was the happiest graduate,” she tearfully told the Inquirer in an interview on Monday.
Belinda’s determination to complete her primary education was known only to some of her friends and teachers. Her personal circumstances went unannounced during the graduation rites, to protect her and her family from stigma.
“She knows where she stands. She’s clear about her aim: To finish college, to rise out of poverty and give her family a decent life,” said Leoncio Vergara, the school principal.
No surrender
Other young people with a weaker will would have given up. Belinda did not.
The family was originally from Meycauayan, Bulacan. Her father moved his wife and eight children to this Pampanga capital, to a shanty by a riverbank near the Baluyut Bridge, hoping to do well in his small jewelry-making business.
Belinda was 6 years old then.
When her father died, her mother tried to keep the family afloat by selling native snacks in the neighborhood—until a woman named Vangie, who lived by the old railroad tracks, enticed her into selling shabu.
“I don’t blame my mother,” Belinda said. “She finished only first-year high school. We received no help from our relatives.”
People came to buy the stuff right in their home, said Belinda.
“It’s white, like alum,” she said of the substance that her mother had packed in plastic sachets.
Belinda said she and her siblings were constantly in fear: “We were very scared whenever we saw a policeman. We could not tell our mother to stop what she was doing because we knew she did it because of us.”
Before dark one day in February 2003, policemen raided the house.
Recalled Belinda: “I saw them coming. They had guns tucked in their waistbands. I wanted to shout to alert my mother, but I could only cry and rush to her side. She was repacking the shabu and two men were having a smoking session in our house.”
Go to inquirer.net to read full story.
Filed under: The Present | Tagged: general readings
