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Life of a teacher

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  • Post last modified:October 13, 2024

Hi. We interviewed a teacher who works at Capitol University,same as Teacher in Phillipine#1. And even though they work at the same place, their lives are really different. I didn’t realize until I started this vlog how interesting people’s lives are to listen to. I hope you enjoy our article!

Who are you?

So let me introduce myself first: my name is Mary Main. Students call me MM. We Filipinos often like to call with the initial of your name. I graduated Bachelor of Arts and Philosophy in Xavier University, and after that I’m a philosophy teacher in Capitol University. I was raised in CDO my whole life. Most of fucalties here are raised in CDO. I think many people live in their hometowns throughout their lifes.

“Migration in the Philippines”

M: I also grew up in XU throughout my whole student life, so working at CU is very new to me. But CU is very homie. I love this place. Principles really care about not just students but also employees. This is why I’ve been here already for 8 years.

Why did you pick a subject of Philosophy?

Upon entering college I couldn’t think of taking a class but philosophy because I really wanted to be a nun. So while studying Philosophy I just wanted to be a nun, and no other plans. But because I got a boyfriend, I couldn’t be a nun. So after I explored a lot of other jobs to do and found out an option to be a high school teacher. Although it was very hard for me about a decision that I hadn’t planned, as I spent my time teaching students I really noticed the enjoyment and the satisfaction of the job.

“How to become a nun”

1. Be a female 2. Be single or widowed with no dependent children 3. Talk to nuns to learn more about 4. Apply to become a pre-postulate and take temporary vows 5. Take your final vows to fully commit to life as a nun

About your volunteer experience?

But I was just not walking as a teacher throughout the whole 8 years. When I finished working for 3 years, I got 1 year off. During that period, I volunteered for “Jesuit Volunteers Philippines Foundation Inc”. Because my biggest dream was to be a nun, this volunteer activity was very exciting for me.

“About JVPFI“

It started in 1980 by 9 young Jesuit Volunteer

They send volunteers to marginalized areas. These volunteers will support the communities as teachers, formators and so on.

During the volunteer, I was a community enterprise officer. I worked with the fishermen’s wives to increase their income or start small businesses so that they could afford enough livestock, because fishermen in the Philippines are quite exploited. This is a sad reality, so our goal there was to help uplift their lives. Many fishermans are having a financial problems.

What they earn is not enough for their work, so many of them have no option but to borrow money from rich people to make their families live. And that’s why they need another route of income. But in those areas, people are not good at saving their money. You know, if they have income, their wives or children will soon spend it all. So it was also my job to help the family save their money so they don’t have to borrow money from rich people anymore. For example, every Saturday I met with the children, watched over them, and made them deposit 100 pesos of their income to prevent overspending during the weekend.

Day of fishing man

So I once went fishing with them, and their lifestyle was very harsh.

2:00 am→wake up, eat breakfast and get ready for the departure(for example their lunches to eat)

3:00 am→ Go fishing

12:00am→ come back from fishing

But during rainy season, they will need a money. For their sustainable livelihood, we started a small business that could provide an additional income during the rainy season.

“about fisherman income in the Philippines”

Average salary in the Philippine is early 537,000PHP but average salary of fisherman in Phillipines are only 189,241 PHP a year. The Philippines has a rich sea reasources but the fishermans are poor. They are not getting equivarent income to their work.

About the small buisness

Are you familiar with the food called “Bulad”? It’s a dried fish and very salty. We dried a fish called danggit and sold it at the market.

How to make danggit

1. we catch the fish (detail)

2. we half it like this and wash it so we can remove a stink of it

3. put some salt so it’ll get some taste

4. Dry them literally under the sun, no special machines. remember it’s just a small business. so when it starts to rain, it is very hard to bring them inside. Like right now is the rainy season so I think many fishers are busy.

“season of Cagayan de Oro”

5. If it dried, that is the dried danggit that is on the market

We chose this fish and buisness model because the danggit fish is very abundant in the Philippines it is very available. Best for starting a small business right?

“Danggit fish”

Danggit fish in English is rabbit fish.

It is very abundant and native to the Philippine’s shallower sea, especially in Cebu.

Fun fact → You can often find Danggit fish in an aquarium because it often cleans a seaweed which covers the rocks and the window of the aquarium.

Message for young people

Pursuing your dream is very important. After ending up not well with my boyfriend, I was able to dedicate my 1 year to volunteering (what I dreamed of). so right now I don’t have any regret of not being a nun and I can enjoy my new career from my heart. So keep dreaming and moving for your life is very important for you.

What is your favourite word?

My favourite world is eudaimonia. It is one of the Greek words from Philosophy.

“About Eudaimonia”

Eudaimonia is the highest human good. It is described as the “happiness” or “flourish” of an individual in English.

Thank you for reading our first article. I hope you enjoyed it. See you in the next post! If you want to watch at other blog that we interviewed on other teacher, read Life as a teacher | job and voice

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