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Welcome to The Tropical Breeze
A silent
tear, wiped away by your generosity ™ |
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The Tropical Breeze: Mariel's story
Following is the story of a rescued girl,
Mariel. Told in her native Philippines
dialect of Ilongo, it is translated here for
you.
September 2014
One month after my little sister was born,
our mother abandoned our family, moved to
Manila and lived with another man. We've
never seen her since.
Living with our father, our derelict shack
was beside the road. When our father came
home drunk, he kicked the walls, the floor
and even destroyed the grass roof. When it
rained, it leaked so bad that everything in
the house, our few scraps of clothing and
ourselves would be completely drenched. Most
of the time we were forced to sleep on the
ground in the wet mud.
My sisters and me tried picking vegetables
to sell at the market to make a few pesos to
buy rice. Our father would take our money to
buy rum for himself. Sometimes we would
catch a couple small fish, but if our father
saw it, he would eat the fish and give us
the bones. He told us that children are not
allowed to eat fish or meat, but only bones.
When generous people gave us rice, fish or
meat, our father would take the food and
either cook it and eat it by himself when we
were away, or he would give it away to his
friends and neighbours. Often we would have
nothing to eat for several days. When our
father brought rice home, he would cook it
for himself and, if anything, give us a few
scraps.
From an unknown age, until we were rescued
by our benefactors, we were maltreated by
our father. Even my littlest sister was
subject to this maltreatment before reaching
3 years old.
Thank you for reading my story,
Mariel |
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