In 2006, Tejada was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She was almost deported, after her illness violated the terms of the Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP) she served under. The LCP offers permanent residence after two years of service, provided the caregiver passes a medical screening. Her case outraged fellow caregivers and immigrants’ rights activists, who protested until the Canadian government allowed Tejada to stay in the country.

Juana Tejada’s friends along with Filipinos across Canada said she leaves a legacy as the strong Filipino overseas worker who fought to amend the live-in caregiver program despite her failing health. And they say her fight will go on.

“I think it’s really important to know what Juana started,” said Marco Luciano, who came to pay his respects to Tejada. “We owe it to her to continue her struggle.”

Rafael Fabregas, another Filipino who paid his respects, said Tejada’s life has inspired him. “I am commited on this crusade until genuine reform is achieved. No live-in caregiver should go through what Juana Tejada went through.”

Now, the government is considering an amendment to strip the medical screening requirement from the LCP. It’s known as “Juana Tejada’s Law.”

The night God gave me back my Angel

It’s been more than two years now since I lost the most important person in my life to cancer — my wife Eva. It’s been two years that I have been celebrating Christmas alone with my three beautiful daughters.

You see, the pain of losing someone you love gets more painful as the day goes by. They say time heal wounds, I say time deepens the wounds. As the days, months and years goes by, the more I miss her and longed for her.

Two questions arises everytime I talk to people I meet — it won’t be easy raising three kids alone and when am I going to get married again. My answer: I am not raising my kids alone, I am raising them with my God. Marriage they say? I am married again since my wife passed away. I am married to my Lord Jesus Christ.

Since the day my wife died, there’s only one thing I want more than anything else — to be with her again, even for just a couple of minutes. Day and night, I will pray to my Lord and Savior about this desire to be with her. For me to be able to tell her how much I love and miss her, and at the same time to ask for her forgiveness for all the shortcomings I made during her brief stay here on Earth.

God indeed answer prayers especially the prayers with Faith. God answered mine after two years of praying. I dreamt of my wife just last week, the first time in two long years.

The dream went like this: Tired from work, I went home looking forward to a nice meal, only to find my wife waiting for me at the living room. She was wearing her favorite red house dress. I rushed to her side and hugged her tight. With tears in my eyes, I kept kissing her and whispering to her how much I love her and miss her.

I sat down still hugging her, her back against my chest. My arms wrap around her body. We started to reminise our life, how we met, our courting days, the day we got married, the day we became mom and dad, the hardships we went through and of course the joy of being married for 18 long years. We were just laughing and hugging each other the whole night.

Then my three daughters came into the picture. She hugged them so tight, kissing them one by one, full of love and care. My wife reminded the kids to be diligent with their studies, to take care of one another and to strengthen their love, trust and faith to the Lord.

Then she turned to me and hugged me again. I whispered to her “Mom, I am sorry for all my foolishness and shortcomings. I am sorry for not being able to show you how much I love you the way you want me to. I am sorry for all the pain that I have caused you. Please forgive me”.

My wife answered “Dad, there is nothing to forgive. You have loved me the way God wants you to love me. During my five months of treatment, you have shown me and given me all the love and care a wife wants from her husband. More importantly, you have given me my life long wish — for you to accept God as your Lord and Savior.”

I was crying profusely and said “I miss you Mom so much” for which she replied “I am with you and the kids every night Dad. I am always around. Be strong and keep your faith. God loves you and the kids so much”. She then hugged me and the kids (like a group hug) and said “I love you all so much” and then she disappeared. The dream ended with me and the kids hugging each other.

Some of you might say that it’s just a dream. To me, it’s a dream worth keeping and telling. In the Bible there are constant references to communication between man and God, between man and the angels, and between man and his higher self through the medium of dreams.

I strongly believe that the dream I just related to you is God’s gift to me this Christmas — a gift of love. At the same time, the dream conveys a strong message to all of us that Christmas is about LOVE. More than the material things, Christmas is about giving love, so make sure you give it to the one you love, to the poor and give your love to our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God … Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4:7, 11-12

I will feature a partial list of Filipinas who aside from their family are also serving the Filipino Community back in the Philippines while working abroad. They give some donations, financial help or any kind of charity assistance to those who are in need. These Pinay OFWs was featured in news, articles,  and awarded by recognized institutions. This is to inspire others and follow their path.

Partial list of names from A to L:

:: AGNES LETICIA MARERRO – She work as a maid in HK at the age of 45, but From the drudgery of house-cleaning and scrubbing bathroom floors, Manang Letty, as Marrero is fondly called, now manages a throng of family businesses based in Mt. Province: a three-pool garden resort, a dry-goods store and a banana plantation. (Phil Star/Newsflash.org)

:: AMBER MARIE ALEJO ROWLEY – Under Viva Records, Amber released her debut album that bespeaks of a unique blend of Filipino and American heritage. Amber and her songs are now gaining popularity all over the country. And with all these blessings, she does not forget to be grateful to her Maker. (Phil Star/Newsflash.org)

:: ANNA FERMIN : Filipina from San Carlos City heads famous country rock band in U.S. She is a song writer, singer and head of a famous country rock band under her name called “Anna Fermin’s Trigger Gospel” in Chicago, USA. (http://ofw.balita.ph)

:: ANNIE YANAGIDA : Filipina owns English school in Japan – A “Dabawenya” has owned and managed an English school in Japan for 20 years now. Annie Yanagida, president of the famous Annie’s English School, said she opened the school to help her husband’s colleagues learn the language. Yanagida, who is a graduate of the Holy Cross of Davao College, said Japanese are not proficient in the English language, which works against them when they get to travel outside of their country. (Goodnews Pilipinas)

:: ANTONETTE BINSOL : At one click, Binsol barrages Yahoo! email groups with numerous appeals to raise funds for an Aeta child’s scholarship, a livelihood project, and multiple other development initiatives. At another, this assistant manager at Mizuho Securities in Japan has raised the needed amounts and sends the money to intended beneficiaries. All that philanthropic effort Binsol tries to execute —from the first mile (Japan) to the last mile (the Philippines)— using her computer. She never forgot thanking 50 Filipino donors from seven countries through the website of Binsol’s cyber non-profit group Tulong Pinoy Movement, www.tpmovers. org. (Jeremaiah M. Opiniano / OFW Journalism Cons.)

:: ASIA NITOLLANO: A teenage mom from New York who is part Filipino and part African-American bested eight other contestants to become the seventh member of the all-girl pop group The Pussycat Dolls. Asia Nitollano, daughter of R&B musician Joe Bataan (Nitollano), won the first “Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll.” (Phil Star/Newsflash.org)

:: CHRISTINE AND JENNY SYQUIA -Filipina’s bags in Bloomingdale’s & Nordstrom. Their kitschy, fun styles are now carried in more than 1,700 stores in 25 countries, including Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s – a miraculous feat for a company that just celebrated its second year of business. The line is also now the fashion picks of some of the more trendy magazines and stores in the US. (Goodnews Pilipinas)

:: CONSUELO VALENCIA – A former domestic drudge in London who rose to be a successful businesswoman by setting up remittance, freight and travel services, in addition to venturing into the sales of phone cards and real estate and recruitment and publishing house business. (OFWBalita)

:: CRISTETA COMERFORD : PINAY CHEF GIVES BUSH A PAUNCH – the executive chef at the White House. The 42-year-old Comerford, a veteran of the White House kitchen for 10 years, was selected last August by US First Lady Laura Bush after screening hundreds of applicants for six months. (Phil Star / Newsflash.org)

:: DIANA RAMOS –A 20-year-old Filipino-American Skater and part of the American ice-skating group performed at the Ninoy Aquino stadium for the “Melanj on Ice” series of shows.

:: DIVINA C. PAREDES : was named best magazine feature writer (information and communications technology) during the 2007 Qantas Media Awards in New Zealand (Goodnews Pilipinas)

:: ELEANOR ODUCAYEN – Fil-Am Role Models : A role model is one who is compassionate and who feels obligated to better society and work for the common good of the community; one who has developed powerful and effective habits of the mind and soul; one who can work through challenges and is committed to what he or she does; one who has the capacity to achieve goals and obtain self-fulfillment; who possesses high standards and values; and one who is admired for courage and strength.

:: GARILANDY “GORIO” VICUNA – Barnyard: A Showcase of Pinoy Artistry – Along with Filipino musicians, Pinoy animators are the country’s best manpower exports and sources of homegrown pride. Garilandy “Gorio” Vicuna is a fine example. Bluth and Sullivan, headed by the well-known team of Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, recruited Gorio and 39 other Pinoys who passed qualifying examinations held worldwide to work on such gigantic 2D animation projects like Anastasia, Bartok the Magnificent and Titan A. E. (Phil star / Newsflash.org)

:: JANELLE SO – A broadcast journalist who worked for six years in the Philippines before moving to Los Angeles is the host of the very popular “Kababayan LA.” It is the only weekday program of its kind in the US that focuses exclusively on the Filipino-American community. (Goodnews Pilipinas)

:: JESSICA BOLANDRINA : The story of Jessica Bolandrina of Douglas, Massachusetts and a student of Boston’s Iskwelahang Pilipino is being featured in the latest best-selling inspirational book franchise Chicken Soup for the Child’s Soul 3.Her story titled, “Thinking of Others” is among the top stories featured. Chicken Soup for the Child’s Soul 3 is co-authored by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen and Irene Dunlap. Bolandrina was congratulated by the publishers and notified that her story was “rated in the top percentile out of hundreds of submissions.” (Goodnews Pilipinas)

:: LILY MANIQUIZ : Filipina nurse wins top U-S award Nurses – A Filipino-American has been named one of the Best Nurse Leaders of the United States by winning the 2006 ADVANCE for Nurses Journal’s Best Nurse Leader award. Los Angeles-based senior nurse Lily Maniquiz is the nurse manager of the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System’s Nursing Home Care Unit 213-2. Vital to Lara’s winning was the successful implementation of a program that she created for the reduction of patient fall incidents. This program has been adopted as model for other fall prevention programs. (Goodnews Pilipinas)

*More successful Pinay OFW’s in my next post (Part2) so please watch out for it. Thanks!

-o-

I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology. The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with. Her last project of the term was called, ‘Smile.’ The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions.

I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway. So, I thought this would be a piece of cake,literally. Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald’s one crisp March morning. It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son.

We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did. I did not move an inch… an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved.

As I turned around I smelled a horrible ‘dirty body’ smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was ‘smiling’.

His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God’s Light as he searched for acceptance. He said, ‘Good day’ as he counted the few coins he had been clutching.

The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation.

I held my tears as I stood there with them. The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted.

He said, ‘Coffee is all Miss’ because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).

Then I really felt it – the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes. That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me, judging my every action.

I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray. I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman’s cold hand.

He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, ‘Thank you.’ I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, ‘I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope..’

I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, ‘That is why God gave you to me, Honey, to give me hope.’

We held hands for a moment and at that time, we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given were we able to give.

We are not church goers, but we are believers. That day showed me the pure Light of God’s sweet love.

I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand. I turned in ‘my project’ and the instructor read it. Then she looked up at me and said, ‘Can I share this?’ I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class.

She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings and being part of God share this need to heal people and to be healed.

In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald’s, my son,the instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student.

I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn: UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE.

Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may read this and learn how to LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS – NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.

-o-

In life you can never be too kind or too fair; everyone you meet is carrying a heavy load. When you go through your day expressing kindness and courtesy to all you meet, you leave behind a feeling of warmth and good cheer, and you help alleviate the burdens everyone is struggling with.” — Brian Tracy