REFLECTION (My Early Childhood)

I was born to a Maranaw parents, who earned their livelihood to a Christian area.I grew up with Christian friends, though my upbringing was purely on a Maranw Culture. My interactions with friends gave me chance to understand both sides of the Catholics and Muslim. This situation played significantly to my existence and as a leader presently. There were good sides on the way Christians lead, and was true for a Muslim. Integration of the two was a perfect combination on leadership. I spent my life in that area until my Elementary Grades and a year of my high School. Since then, I was accommodated as scholar to the nearest University in our place and the vicinity of that University owns my account in being.

My mother got married at an early age, thirteen for she was an orphan at age three. None-the-less, she has to strive and experience bitterness in life. My father descended from a Royal-Blooded family, with four wives including my mother. They were married not for material things, but to save my mother from her struggles for they are indeed relatives. My mother was just a daughter to my father in relation to their age. The differences in their age affect my life as student. Their relation was rear, because she was afar from understanding on running a family. Despite stern relation, she has to exchange blows to him and brought me to school.

The continuous struggle of my mother originated from a crowd of wives that my father has. They have to met only once in a week. The rest of the responsibilities were left on to my mother. She has to be the father and a mother while my father spent the rest of the days with his three wives. We have learned a living at an early age, though we belong to a middle-class income. The sharing of income is inadequate on the crowd of four. Hence our educations were not covered in this sharing. We resulted into earning additional income to keep going.

We divided the time in a day, especially on school days. Our school was a four-and-a-half kilometer away from home. That was from Grade one to Grade four. During our intermediate grade, we used to walk six kilometer every day from our house to school. Our source of income was farming, along with, we must finish the work assigned to us in a day. After the early call for prayer in the morning, we have to depart to our farm. If our time for the morning is not enough, for we used to set off before 6;30 am, we must finished the tasks after school. Usually, we were home at 5:30 pm, speeding up to work again awaiting for our farm tasks. Those sequence of labor cycles, pending my elementary graduation. The adversity we have increases as we walk to High School.

I live together with our close relatives in a nearby City just for my study. My brother has to continue the string of farming until College. On my way, I live in an environment which was a stranger to me. Pastoral area is different from inner city. Consequently, I have to adjust. I have to bend to fit with my new atmosphere. I still have to wake-up early to finish my daily chores, to facilitate from scrubbing the floor to kitchen effort. Together with the one of my relatives, we accomplished washing during weekend, though the unclean clothes were ton to tackle. Regardless of those undertaking, I am satisfied and meant for my study. I regret to complain though feeling home-sake was the hitch.