I am here because….

Hello everyone, how’s your Monday? Hope you’re all okay. I just want to take this opportunity to thank my sponsors @kli4d and @Maryjacy. May God shower you with more blessings in life, Thank you so much!

A while ago, as I walked in the hallway, a read a quote that says: Everything happens for a reason, and we have all our reasons to live. So while I’m walking back to my room, a topic finally popped up in my head about the reason why I’m writing here.

I know we have all our reasons why we’re on this platform, some of our is to express our thoughts, feeling, and opinions here, some are here to extend our talents in writing and some of us are breadwinners like me.

So today, I’m going to tell the top reason why I am here…

I am here because….

When I entered as a public school teacher, I witnessed my learner’s life. I know that I mentioned in my previous articles that my learners are Indigenous pupils, or what we called here the Aeta’s. I saw their struggles in going to school and their hardships just to cope with their everyday life. Some of my students are going to school barefooted in long hours of walking. They are crossing rivers to rivers and mountains after mountains. And it broke my heart to imagine them walking barefooted on a road full of mud and rocks and of course in the middle of the heat of the sun. I already know how it is because we already went up to their places during our monitoring.

Some of my students are going to school without food in their stomachs. During lunchtime, they have their rice covered in banana leaves and a pinch of salt. That’s the reason why I’m buying biscuits and food in a can for them. My heart is crying and I cannot manage to know that they only have salt just to make their rice to have a little bit of taste.

Aside from being barefooted, they come to school barehanded. Because of poverty, they cannot buy school supplies. So with the help of others, I make sure to buy some school supplies at the beginning of the school year just to encourage them to go to a school with complete school supplies.

One of the most problems in our school is absenteeism; because our students tend to work to make some money to buy food or their basic needs. Especially for those who have parents who cannot work for their family and some of their parents are illiterate (no read and no write) but we cannot blame them because they need to find food first for their stomach, so my students are forced to work for them at the very young age. Farming is the only source of their income here. So when they are running out of rice, they eat root crops as a replacement.

Sometimes I tend to rant about how life is hard for me sometimes, but then I witnessed their life make me feel guilty and ashamed about ranting and complaining about my everything.

 I am here as a teacher, I am here for my students. This is to extend my hand to help them with their needs to the extent of my capabilities. Simply, I want them to give things that are beneficial to them and lighten up their burdens, and also make them feel that they are loved and cared for by others.

This way, I know I can encourage them to pursue their education just for them to make changes in their lives. I want them to be capable of many things and to be productive in the future, not just for their family but for their own sake.

I want them not to be afraid to go along with other people and to avoid discrimination from society. That despite everything I want them to feel that they belong and they can dream and make goals on their own.

This is the reason why I am here. How about you? What are your reasons why you’re here?

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By the way, just wanna share with you guys a glimpse of my workplace, my pupil's home:

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