For the Sake of Education

"Wake Up!, Wake Up!" This is our mom, yelling early in the morning during our school days. We don't have the luxury of having an alarm clock like what most kids now have in their bedroom, but I am telling you that  you cannot shut off our mom and doze again in the morning. She is the best brand of alarm clocks not available in stores.

The rule is, we have to eat first before we go to school. And it is not always the best food you wanted to eat for breakfast.    And mom used to say, "Hey, you're brain is not going to function well when your stomach is empty!" True enough. So, whatever food we have on the table, we have to eat it without any complain.

Being the youngest in the family, my experience of poverty while in school is far less than what my siblings had. And I believe and understand that it is very hard to raise nine children, yet my parents were able to send all of us to school. I see the struggle and the hardships to look for food, and to look for funds to buy our notebooks, pens, and papers and to have a book bag is not so important at that time. We carry our school materials by hand and it teaches us to be responsible with our stuff.

Feeling the poverty in those critical times, each of the siblings have our share. For several times, I walked the 6 miles walk after school to go home because I spent my money to buy materials for school projects or I used the money to buy food because I was hungry. At times, I made projects for some students to earn money. Yes, they will pay me. And its a big help  on me every time I get those extra cash because I can skip a day of asking money from our mom.

When I saw this picture of kids crossing this old hanging trail on a rainy early morning without minding that the water underneath is dangerous and they might fell, just to go to school, my heart just fell for them. I felt what they feel at that moment, they just want to get to school that day..whatever it takes. 

This is an example to the rest of children around the world who value education. This is  an eye opener to agencies in charge that they have a work to do. This is a reminder to some children who are fortunate to have been provided with everything that they need and yet did not bother to take advantage with the opportunities they have in hand.