Even up to the last few hours of his elementary education, 11-year-old Rafael Russel Purihin is haunted by his family’s financial struggles.

Last March 30, set to graduate as class valedictorian among 151 graduates of Ovidio Dela Rosa Elementary School in Cavite City, Russel and parents Rossel and Jasmin cannot fully savor that moment of success.

As simple as it was, Rossel and Jasmin had no money to buy their eldest son a ‘sampaguita’ garland to use for the graduation ceremony.

“Talagang napaiyak ako ‘nung araw ng graduation dahil nagkataong walang wala kami. Pinambili namin ng gatas ng bunso namin ang huling pera namin,” shared Rossel, 30, a father of three children.

According to Russel, this is the kind of life he wants to escape from. And this is what fuels him to work hard so that when he finishes college, he’ll be able to get a good job and finance all of his family’s needs.

Struggles in school

Russel is a consistent honor student and though he may not have struggled getting good grades, he struggled mostly with the finances.

“Isang kahig, isang tuka lang kami dito. Kapag walang kita ang asawa ko sa dagat, wala kaming makakain,” shared Jasmin, 34, who added that their priority is always having food on the table.

With this, Russel resorted to working within their means to comply with the requirements in school, especially for his school projects.

“Kapag may mga projects sa school, madalas wala kaming panggawa. Minsan, lahat ng materials na ginagamit ko sa projects ko ay bigay lang ng mga kaklase ko,” said Russel.

Despite these struggles, everyone in the family is committed to send Russel to school, especially with his potentials. Rossel, who is a fisherman, alternates working as a tricycle driver to bring more income to the family.

In 2012, the family became a beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The Pantawid Pamilya is a human capital development program that invests on the health and education of children age zero to 18 coming from qualified poor families. Beneficiaries are provided with cash grants in exchange for their compliance to program conditions such as monthly health checkups of children and at least 85 percent monthly school attendance of children.

Russel is one of the more than 500,000 children being supported by the program in the CALABARZON Region.

“Malaking tulong para sa amin ang programa dahil sa natatanggap namin, naibibili na namin ang pangangailangan namin lalo na ang mga gamit sa school,” shared Jasmin.

Staying in school

At the age of 11, Russel still has no clear vision as to what profession he wants to pursue when he grows up. However, he is firm in his dream of taking his family out of their current situation.

“Kailangan lang po ng pagtitiyaga para makamit ‘yung mga pinapangarap ko,” said Russel.

At his age, Russel dreams of finding a good job where he can earn so they can afford their daily needs and save enough money so they can afford medicines when someone in the family is ill. Further, he wants a comfortable house with enough rooms for the five of them as compared to the cramped apartment they are renting today.

Seeing Russel’s potentials, his parents vow to do everything to help him succeed and reach his dreams.

For Russel, he’ll use the gift of knowledge to change their life. And even if there may be struggles along the way, he’ll go on and never stop until he can embrace his dreams of a better life.#