by: Norberto Betita
She walked approximately 10 kilometers back and forth each day from her home in Sitio Tumanday, Surigao City during school days. There were no easy rides during those days. It was be very seldom for her to be able to take a jeepney ride. Her parents’ farm had been destroyed and had not yet recovered from the devastation of Typhoon Louise in 1964 and life had been too hard for the family.
However, SNNHS ‘69er ADORA GOLIAT tried to take the pains of a long walk each day if only to be educated and attain her bright youthful vision to cross the chasm of poverty. Her brilliance was tested through a mental ability test required of all first year students and despite her rural educational background she qualified to be in the elite section. She maintained to have a seat in the special class during the next four years of her high school life. Her family’s very difficult circumstances was never a deterrent for her to pursue with eagerness her desires to finish high school with hopes to one day acquire a college degree. She’s a very good and kind young woman that many of our prominent classmates loved her and were close friends to her. She was among the few who took and passed the scholarship examinations of the Marawi State University. With such achievement the future looks bright for her.
She moved off the gateway of the Surigao del Norte National High School full of hope that she would be able to pursue her academic dreams. During vacation she helped work in the farm and assisted her parents in whatever that she can do. Her enthusiasm for advancement remained aglow and burning together with youthful hopes. Then the delightful reverie and aspirations crushed before her as she was informed by her parents that they could not support her desired college education. She was deflated and disheartened. Her optimism disappeared and the bridge to cross the chasm of poverty collapsed. She was left dejected and discouraged. She lost every single desire to find other avenues upon which to pursue her college education. She initially blamed her parents for their unsupportive disposition, but she later realized and understood their predicaments for she has been a witness of their difficulties. Since then she had been working and living in the farm.
The farmerette married at an early age of 22 to a farmer which gave her the name of Cato. Together they settled in the farming community where she was raised. They existed and survived with the little subsistence that their little farm could provide. She felt no regret about her poverty stricken life. Forgotten are her youthful dreams for herself and the bright prospects that should have been realized through her intellectual brilliance. As five children were born, her perspective and direction were concentrated and strongly focused on her family. Her goals and plans changed and were structured towards the future of her children. In her thoughts are lessons learned from the pangs of poverty which she wanted her children to overcome and defeat. From early childhood she motivated her children to study and obtain the highest education that they possibly can attain. She gave all her support to them. When resources failed she finds relatives who can help. She wanted to do the things which her parents failed to do for her to make sure that her life’s failed journey may not be repeated in her posterity.
The farmerette married at an early age of 22 to a farmer which gave her the name of Cato. Together they settled in the farming community where she was raised. They existed and survived with the little subsistence that their little farm could provide. She felt no regret about her poverty stricken life. Forgotten are her youthful dreams for herself and the bright prospects that should have been realized through her intellectual brilliance. As five children were born, her perspective and direction were concentrated and strongly focused on her family. Her goals and plans changed and were structured towards the future of her children. In her thoughts are lessons learned from the pangs of poverty which she wanted her children to overcome and defeat. From early childhood she motivated her children to study and obtain the highest education that they possibly can attain. She gave all her support to them. When resources failed she finds relatives who can help. She wanted to do the things which her parents failed to do for her to make sure that her life’s failed journey may not be repeated in her posterity.
Her daughter struggled through thick and thin and made it through a nursing course with the help of her brother Ronnie Goliat. Her daughter is now a registered nurse. Another child was able to find an opportunity to work abroad. The three other children were so drowned in difficulties that no matter her motivation they just forbear and desist. They seemed to have been strongly resistant and immune to poverty.
Now she remained to be a very humble farmerette in a little farming community of Tumanday, Surigao City. Her life is a wonderful lesson in its entirety, typical of a resilient poor Filipino woman. She wanted her story to be told to teach the younger generations, including her posterity that failures should not be taken as an end but a new beginning; that frustrations should not be a deterrent to move ahead but should be treated as a bridge that will connect both ends of the wide crevasse of trials towards the expansive open plateau of success.
She was very happy to have met me and she intends to attend our 2019 SNNHS ‘69ers golden jubilee reunion.
Now she remained to be a very humble farmerette in a little farming community of Tumanday, Surigao City. Her life is a wonderful lesson in its entirety, typical of a resilient poor Filipino woman. She wanted her story to be told to teach the younger generations, including her posterity that failures should not be taken as an end but a new beginning; that frustrations should not be a deterrent to move ahead but should be treated as a bridge that will connect both ends of the wide crevasse of trials towards the expansive open plateau of success.
She was very happy to have met me and she intends to attend our 2019 SNNHS ‘69ers golden jubilee reunion.
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