RISE BEYOND
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RISE BEYOND
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I left the classroom, but I never stopped learning. I boarded a ship going to Manila. I was still very young, leaving the simple place I knew and traveling toward a world I had never experienced before. When I arrived, everything seemed enormous. There were so many people at the harbor. Cars filled the roads. There was traffic everywhere. The roads looked wider and longer than anything I was used to.
Sometimes the hardest thing wasn't being poor. It was watching an opportunity you wanted slowly move beyond your reach. After everything I experienced as a child, there was one thing I desperately wanted: I wanted to study. Every time I went to school, I noticed my classmates. Some had shoes. They had complete notebooks and pencils. Their uniforms were clean and neatly ironed. Sometimes I looked at them and silently asked God: “Lord, why do other children have these things while my family doesn't?” I was only a child. Of course I wanted nice clothes too. I wanted shoes. I wanted complete school supplies. I wanted to go to school without worrying about whether there would be food waiting for us afterward. But another voice inside me would answer: “It's okay. As long as my family is healthy and happy.”
Despite everything, I did well in school. I received recognition as an honor student. Those ribbons meant so much to me. They told the barefoot girl who smelled like fish: Maybe you can become something more. My mother dreamed that one day I would become a teacher. But I had another dream. I told her I wanted to become a lawyer. I wanted to help poor people who couldn't afford lawyers and who sometimes couldn't fight for themselves because they didn't have money. I didn't know how such a dream could possibly happen. We were struggling just to put rice on our table. But still... I dreamed.
