My name is Filipina, and I am 39 years old. I was born on February 28, 1981. I am from the Philippines, and I studied Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English at Holy Angel University.

I came from a big loving family. My parents are the kindest and caring parents every child could ask for. My mother is a dressmaker, and my father was a merchant, but sadly he passed away when I was just in high school. I have four brothers and four sisters, and I am second to the youngest. We were struggling at that time, especially when my father died, but we survived because of the love and support of one another. I was a working student and a government scholar when I was in college. I worked in some restaurants, and I was tutoring children during my free time. All the hardships are all worth it. These experiences made me stronger, determined, and valued my family more than ever. Our family is getting bigger because eight of us got married and have children already except my youngest sister.

I am happily married for 17 years. I married my funny high school friend named Joey. But I am telling you, he is the most loving and responsible husband and father to our children. We are blessed with four beautiful boys. Our eldest is Justin Paul, 16 years old, a very mature and trustworthy child. The second one is Jowen Paulo, 15 years old, the friendly and outgoing one. He also got his father’s humor. The third one is Jansen Philip, 11 years old, the jolly and according to him the most handsome of them all. I don’t know if his brothers will agree on that. The truth is they are all handsome, but 11 years after our little Joey Prince came and he is the most adorable. Our baby is less than a year now. I am very hands-on with my children from birth until now. I was the one who did everything because my husband was working on the ship. I mastered the art of multi-tasking. I managed to take care of the babies while doing household chores and cooking healthy meals for them. I even experienced being awake the whole night carrying them when they were sick. I was their first teacher, and I am proud to say that my children excelled in school. Even when I was working abroad, I made sure that I regularly talked to them and checked their activities at home and in school. And when I am on vacation, I made sure to devote my time with them to compensate for the time that I was away. I usually spend my time in the kitchen because they always say they miss my cooking.

I took education because I believe that teaching is a noble profession. I feel great when I see my students learning something from me. I don’t only teach them the subject matter, but also the values of how to be a good person. I don’t treat them as my students, but as my own children. I am their parent, their second mother outside their homes. After two years of teaching, I had to stop when I gave birth to my second son. When I returned to work, it was already in the City Government. It’s not because I didn’t want to teach anymore, but because I was given the opportunity to help more children in a different venue. I worked in the City Government as a Youth Development Officer. In this position, I offered scholarship programs to students, sports activities, employment for students, out of school youth, and youth with disabilities. I offered training and livelihood programs as well to the out of school youth and youth with disabilities. Feeding programs for disadvantaged children is also one of my programs. These are only some of the services that I offered to the children and youth of our City.

The time came that I had to work abroad on a cruise ship to be with my husband and to support our growing family. It was not easy to leave my job, my friends, my family, and my children. But I had to sacrifice to secure their future. In my first year on the ship, I worked as a hotel stewardess under the housekeeping department. My duty was to maintain the cleanliness of the guest and crew areas; this includes dusting, vacuuming, polishing surfaces, mopping, and cleaning the restrooms. These are just a few things that I regularly did, aside from cleaning the guest and crew cabins. After a year, I was allowed to change my position, and I was so happy to work with my favorite people in the world, the children.

I worked as a youth staff/worker for six years. I was able to handle children ages 0-17 years old. I did babysitting for children under two years old. I fed the babies, changed the diaper, read stories, sung baby songs, played with them, put the babies to rest, to name a few of my responsibilities. And children ages 2-17 are divided according to age groups. The different age groups are 2-5, 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, and 15-17. Activities are according to age groups. I did different educational and enjoyable activities with them, including arts and crafts, story time, games, team competitions, dancing, singing, and hosting parties, to name a few. I do want children to enjoy, but their safety is still my priority. That’s why constant monitoring of the children and the facility is very important. I served them meals as well. But before serving the food, checking of allergies was mandatory. During registrations, it was very important to ask all the details about the children. Getting information like allergies, special needs, dietary restrictions, and other essential information to the children’s health and safety. I want them safe, and I want them to enjoy at the same time; that is why asking parents about their children’s favorite games, activities, likes, and dislikes is also important. I enjoyed what I was doing, and that is what kept me to continue. I am glad that my supervisors appreciated my hard work and dedication to my job. I was chosen several times as the best employee in our department and was nominated several times as the best employee on the entire ship. I stopped when I got pregnant and still planning to go back once the baby is big already. Unfortunately, this pandemic changed everything.

My husband and I can not stop. We have to look for other jobs. I found out about the new Caregiver Program of Canada, the Home Childcare Provider Pilot Program. I saw the light, hope amidst uncertainties. I would also love to know the Canadian way of life and my desire to know more about your country and its culture. I love children, and it is my pleasure to render my service. It will be a wonderful opportunity for me to help your family and an opportunity for you to help my family by giving me a chance. My family, especially my husband and my children, support me in this journey, and they are happy for me. I can’t wait to hear from you and meet you soon.