I have very strong women in my family [following the lead of my Seesters' posts on strong women] and I start with my Lola Conchita. She was widowed at a young age with 5 kids to boot right around the second world war. She was a homemaker and a seamstress at the same time making a living with her hands - crocheting curtains, bedsheets and just about anything you can come up with. Left with 5 kids she took them to Nueva Ejica when WW2 broke out at they watch Manila burn from their hideaway. She raised them without a husband but with very supportive family members and relatives from the Ilagan-Mendoza-Reyes-Castillo families in Pandacan.
My mother, the youngest of the five is also another strong woman I know, raising 3 kids in Manila while my father was abroad. In 76 they separated and came home from Africa with two daughters. Our eldest stayed behind to give her two sisters a better chance at a decent education and married a wonderful Pakistani engineer. My mother tried to finish her education as an accountant and landed various jobs while supporting me and my sister Leah. She helped set up Liz Claiborne Ptd. Asia in the early 80s.
Another strong woman is my eldest sister Amina [Mary Anne] who at 18 faced the uncertain prospect of being in another country and another culture by herself. She chose to stay behind to give me and Leah a better chance of getting a decent education and she continued on with her married life with my brother in law. She has managed to raise 4 wonderful responsible children, maintain a house and still work with the ADB and then with the BBC as their administrator based in both Kabul and Peshawar.
The next strong woman is my other sister Leah. A fighter, a silent 
fighter. Unlike me, she's rarely very vocal but her quiet strength is infectious. I almost lost her in 88 to a very rare form of Hepatitis. She lost her eldest child since she was pregnant while the virus ravaged her frail body and it was a miracle she survived a 10% chance of recovering. After being in a coma for 2 weeks, one of her cornea was damaged and left her with partial sight. That never stopped her. She finished her degree in Interior Design and went on to becoming an instructor/professor for the college she graduated from. With 2 kids and a husband in tow, they braved migrating to Canada and with the help of friends over there, managed to settle in and find their niche. Now, raising three wonderful children, she owns a daycare center and is also an instructor in a nearby college.
Another strong woman in my life is my second mother although for the life of me, I prefer to call her a friend. She is the second wife of my dad, Rhoda whom I have great respect for. She sacrificed a lot being with him, suffered the presence of our grandmother's quirks as well while she stayed with Rhoda and my dad. She made him a better person if not a better father and helped him form a Christian church rescuing lost souls and living the life Christians are supposed to. Humble, beautiful and caring, she stayed with my father until his last minutes on earth. I am grateful that in his waning years, she was beside him, always a smile and a silent strength about her that everyone who knew them saw. When I finally got to spend some time with her, I saw what I guess my father also saw in her and I appreciate the woman and who she is that as unorthodox as it may seem for others, she is part of our family. They gave us a brother Jayjay who grew up to be such a responsible wonderful young man as well and when I falter at the feet of our Lord, I know she prays not just for me, but for me and my sisters as well and our children. She came out of her cocoon eventually and now owns a spa in HK with her new husband and family who have also adopted us into the fold. Love is her strength, the strength I see in most of the strong women in my family.
fighter. Unlike me, she's rarely very vocal but her quiet strength is infectious. I almost lost her in 88 to a very rare form of Hepatitis. She lost her eldest child since she was pregnant while the virus ravaged her frail body and it was a miracle she survived a 10% chance of recovering. After being in a coma for 2 weeks, one of her cornea was damaged and left her with partial sight. That never stopped her. She finished her degree in Interior Design and went on to becoming an instructor/professor for the college she graduated from. With 2 kids and a husband in tow, they braved migrating to Canada and with the help of friends over there, managed to settle in and find their niche. Now, raising three wonderful children, she owns a daycare center and is also an instructor in a nearby college.Another strong woman in my life is my second mother although for the life of me, I prefer to call her a friend. She is the second wife of my dad, Rhoda whom I have great respect for. She sacrificed a lot being with him, suffered the presence of our grandmother's quirks as well while she stayed with Rhoda and my dad. She made him a better person if not a better father and helped him form a Christian church rescuing lost souls and living the life Christians are supposed to. Humble, beautiful and caring, she stayed with my father until his last minutes on earth. I am grateful that in his waning years, she was beside him, always a smile and a silent strength about her that everyone who knew them saw. When I finally got to spend some time with her, I saw what I guess my father also saw in her and I appreciate the woman and who she is that as unorthodox as it may seem for others, she is part of our family. They gave us a brother Jayjay who grew up to be such a responsible wonderful young man as well and when I falter at the feet of our Lord, I know she prays not just for me, but for me and my sisters as well and our children. She came out of her cocoon eventually and now owns a spa in HK with her new husband and family who have also adopted us into the fold. Love is her strength, the strength I see in most of the strong women in my family.
Their biggest achievements are not what they were but what they did with minimal resources, facing the fear of the unknown and looking at the future with children in tow, making the most of what was on hand and still manage to raise their children to become responsible members of society. My Lola and mom are gone, leaving behind a legacy we continue from three different points of the globe and still manage to make life easier, laughable for each other and I would be lost without them. I get my strength from them. I was born into a family of strong women and their blood runs in my veins.
