Poverty cannot stop me, I can stop it!

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." - Confucius

         Mark Joseph S, Fajardo is one of our library aides in the PLMar. He is 28 years old and the fifth of the eleven siblings. He started to work in the university library as a volunteer for four years (2008-2011) and from a volunteer he became a library aide, a casual worker from 2012 until now. 
       I’m amazed because whenever I go to the library, I noticed that he always accommodates students patiently, attentively and with smile on his face. He never got angry to the students even they were noisy instead he just talked to them with serenity and respect.
       I asked him what is his dream, he told me that he really wanted to be an engineer but because of poverty and having a big family, his father couldn’t send him to college. However, he was still thankful that his father did anything for him to finish high school and also his siblings as well.  And because he really wanted to go to college he enrolled in PLMar taking up BA Public Administration.

      What keeps him going? “Inspirasyon ko ang aking tatay, dahil sa kabila ng kanyang karamdaman na polio ay pinilit nyang makatapos ako ng kahit high school lamang”, he said. He also told me that all of his siblings also graduated high school because of his father’s determination to give them education. And because of this, he wanted to finish his college for his family especially for his father.

        I also asked him about his work as a library aide, he told me that it’s never been easy as others thought it could be. He always make sure that’s the books are arranged in order. Although our library is just small, it is still difficult to organize especially with just two library aides every day. Despite of this, he still works hard while studying to have a better future.

 Poverty cannot stop him, but he can stop it. I salute you Mark! Keep it up!