A Letter to my Mentor

Warm Greetings to all my Fellow Correspondent!

I am sharing with you my letter to my mentor about what’s going with me for the past few days. This letter is unedited and please forgive me if my letter is not so organized. My mentor also gave me her permission to share this letter with you all. I hope even for this small way I can still connect with you. I'm still struggling to write my frontline journal but i will try my very best to submit it on Sunday.

miss you all,
Malaya

A Letter for my Mentor

August 5, 2009

Dear Jeanne,

Today is a very sad day for the whole Filipino people as we pay our final respect to our former President Cory Aquino, the first woman president in Asia, an icon of democracy not only in Asia but of the world. She was laid to her final rest tonight in Manila (the capital city of the Philippines) after a long battle with cancer. Thank you for extending your condolences to us in this times when we’ve lost a great leader and where democracy is trampled upon by the present government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Two faces of women leaders in full contrast with each other, Former President Cory Aquino, was a woman leader, an icon of democracy who ousted a dictator in 1986 and consistent to her democratic ideals up to the very end while President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a woman leader faced by so many scandal of corruption, human rights violations just to cling in power and named as the new dictator of our times.

I really cried as we join the whole nation mourning and I wish I had this luxury of time to write spontaneously to express all these feelings in my Pulse Wire journal. This morning, we braved the rain going to an religious gathering in tribute to the former president and in late afternoon today we did some organizing for a another tribute tomorrow and on Friday.

I really wanted to write all these turning events in our country and share this with you and the Pulse Wire community. However, life her in the Philippines is not really this easy, aside from all these political events, we’re also bombarded by so many natural calamities. Since August 1, the day our former President Aquino passed away, we evacuated from our house because our place is under state of calamity due to heavy rains and the danger of another flashflood which killed hundreds of people in June last year. For almost three days, the city was in complete blacked out, we didn't have power and we've lost connection. We stayed with a relative during this period and it was only yesterday that we came back here in our place and it was also only today that we had power . What a great joy for all of us having the electricity backed to normal operation, We were able then to witness this historical moment of our nation as a Filipino even in television. We had joined the whole Filipino people in our mourning as well as thanksgiving for former President Cory Aquino's life as a bearer of restoring democracy from a dictator in 1986.

It’s also a great relief for us that we're backed here in our place after the ordeal of evacuation but the threat of flashflood is always there due to another storm coming in the region. . Though, there's the feeling of anxiety of the uncertainly of weather forecast . So my dear Jeanne, I’m afraid I lost the notes from our conversation because of all the packing of our belongings to save it from the flood. I still need to organize my time and routine again- everything is mess here in our place and I don't know where to start organizing and fixing our things.

Thus, I’m writing you to remind me of our dates for keeping me at pace. Thank you so much for listening to my story and making me a part of you. I'm happy to know despite the limitations I have in the program. When I think of times when I can't engage my self in our Pulse Wire community as a correspondent, I really feel guilty - I feel I'm being unfair to my fellow correspondents of my absence. But I know they understand my limitations.

Hugs,
Malaya