QUEZON City—Few things can break people more than family scars.
Despite what look like rainbow success stories, quite a few ANCOP alumni carry with them the pain of broken relationships and mental health struggles. Joy was just 13 when her mother died from chronic kidney disease in 2017. Her father, who had been away in Saudi Arabia, moved on to another woman. Joy never felt more alone.
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For two years, she lived with her half-sister and her family in Caloocan where she not only felt that she was never a priority, but also suffered physical abuse.
The last straw was when the COVID-19 crisis struck, upending her senior high school life.
“We graduated via Facebook livestreams, and life was really hard at the time,” she explained.
Ending her life seemed attractive, Joy thought, as she fantasized about overdosing one night.
By Divine Providence, a friend intervened and stopped her.
Joy recalls, “Given a second chance in life, I knew I didn’t want to waste it. But life continued to be tough. I couldn’t afford to go to college and I was helpless.”
She, however, refused to take on a victim complex.
Swallowing her pride, Joy borrowed money from her senior high school teachers to be able to pay for her miscellaneous school fees. Soon she started working in a BPO company with a seasonal account to be able to pay off her debts. She often felt like she had no one else to rely on, but at least, she had her wits and the motivation to keep on going.
‘Like a blessing from heaven’
Then as if in answer to her many tearful prayers, Tita Anna, the mother of one of Joy’s high schoolmates, came knocking on her door and asked if she would be interested to be an ANCOP sponsored student.
Remembering the day, Joy describes the encounter as “just like a blessing in heaven.”
The shift in her life was undeniable. “Since then life has gotten much better. I was able to deepen my relationship and service with the Lord, and I was able to focus on my studies to the extent that I was able to afford to live separately from my half-sister even before graduating,” she shared.
When it rains, it pours
This year, Joy graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology with an honorable mention and was recognized with the Best Quantitative Thesis award.
It kept on coming, because she also passed the Licensure Board Exam for Psychometricians this year.
And as if to keep her close to her ANCOP family, Joy landed a job at CFC ANCOP, working in the human resources department.
When asked why she chose to serve in ANCOP and in the Church, Joy explained, “I think I was captured when I felt purposeful and loved, cared [for], and accepted. I didn’t have an ate that I can lean on or treat as a role model growing up. And now, I’ve been that kind of person that I really needed when I was young to other young people, and I loved doing that.”
ANCOP, she added, has helped her get up from her darkest times, and helped her achieve her dream.
It’s easy to see why she has nothing but gratitude for the people who have become like family.
“To my sponsor in CFC USA, may the gratefulness of my heart reach you. I hope you don’t get tired sponsoring students like us… And someday, I hope I get to be like you — able to sponsor students in need,” she said.
Joy didn’t just thrive because of an educational sponsorship, she found the grounding to start living life again
