Bright Lights Student Success Story
Omar’s Story
My situation as a young Filipino is not unusual in that I had to stop my education in my crucial years due to a lack of finances in our family. My mother in the end had to find work overseas and leave our family.
Eventually I graduated from high school but wondered:
Where do I go to from here with limited resources and very little support?
My friend Joseph Felicilda, was a student at Bright Lights school and introduced me to the staff and program. I was eventually accepted and began my journey. I am so thankful for programs like this that assist young people to realise their dreams and pursue studies which will eventually release them from the cycle of poverty. I completed a very difficult one year program in ‘English Only’ and continued on into my course as a sponsored college student.
In 2015 I graduated with a Bachelor of Secondary education majoring in Information Technology. Because of my difficult living situation I was also offered a wonderful place to stay for the last five years at Bright Lights Care and Resource Center where the house parents care for us like their own.
I am now a full-time teacher at Bright Lights Learning Center teaching computing. I want to thank the sponsors and staff of this Alternative Learning Center. Because of you I am reaching my full potential and instilling in others that if we trust God, work to the very best of our ability and never give up we can be more than we ever thought possible.
Here I am now in 2021 teaching, earning my own money and providing for myself unlike before. In the Philippines you must pass a board exam to gain a license to teach professionally. I have done this three times now but have failed. However, It has been instilled in me at our school that despite our circumstances we are not to give up and so I continue to work hard and believe I will be able to pass it one day soon.
I have learnt that God is interested and concerned for our lives no matter what station in life we are. He does make a way and uses men and women, sponsors of passion and purpose to see change where others only see hopelessness.
Thank you so much for your faithfulness, Omar.