WHO said that size matters?
For three-foot-tall Lea P. Delgado, it doesn’t especially in her quest to achieve her “big dreams” in life.
Delgado, who could be considered among the shortest women in the province, currently enjoys working in a known call center firm in Bacolod City.
She had “concretized” her dreams with the help of Negros Occidental Language & Information Technology Center (NOLITC) and through Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Lacson.
Also played vital roles in her achievement are Provincial Administrator Atty l. Reyfrando Diaz and Dr. Ma. Cristina Orbicido, NOLITC Vocational School Administrator.
The 35-year-old woman is physically tiny but “mentally and emotionally big” in her choices in life.
She completed her Bachelor of Science in Information Technology at La Consolacion College in Isabela toen and spent her on-the- job training at NOLITC.
Through her hard work and determination, she achieved her big dreams in life of getting employed and enjoying a hefty salary to help sustain the needs of her family.
Delgado serves as a breadwinner in her family after her father dies.
"Our father died when we were very young, so my mother singlehandedly raised the three of us.,” she recalled.
During planting season, she was a farm laborer and a house helper on lean months, she added.
However, that wasn’t enough as she was earning less than a hundred pesos per day, barely enough for their food and other needs.
When she graduated from high school in 2003, her mother frankly told her that she could barely afford to send her to college.
"I was disheartened, but I understood our situation, (so), I busied myself with running a small sari-sari store at home,” Delgado said.
At that time, she unceasingly prayed for God's grace to grant her the opportunity to go to college because she knew it would change her family's economic condition.
“I hang on, but was hopeful, patient, and faithful to the Lord that He would grant my fervent prayers for a better life for my family,” she shares.
She was right indeed because in 2010, their barangay officials announced that there was a full scholarship from the municipal mayor then.
She then became a scholar and enrolled in college.
Even when she was already in college, she faced challenges along the way, especially with her minimal financial resources, but this did not hinder her.
One time, she was underestimated by two mothers in their hometown when they saw her on her way to school.
She was wearing her school uniform, waiting for a ride back to town when she overheard themt talking.
She heard one of them saying, "Look! Is she a student? What company would hire someone like her?!"
“Instead of feeling hurt, I just ignored it and used those harsh words as my motivation to dream big for myself and form my family,” she quips.
In her fourth year, she had her on-the-Job Training at NOLITC and was inspired by how the provincial government assists the underprivileged members of the community.
She availed free training for work scholarship programs and got endorsements to work in various companies.
“I promised myself that I would come back for training after my graduation and I did... I attended Contact Center Services classes every day, excited to find a job soon, just like many of those who came ahead of me,” she said.
Unfortunately, she was interrupted by a medical surgery that she had to undergo.
“I rested for a few months, then came back to training class (as) I never gave up on my dream to be employed and deliver my family from poverty,” the NOLITC scholar stressed.
The training had finally ended, and her road to job hunting began.
After several failed attempts, Convergys hired her as a chat support representative.
Upon receiving her first salary, she told her mother to stop working and had their house rebuilt after a fortuitous typhoon struck it.
"That made my mother very happy and thankful to God. When my contract lapsed, I was even more delighted to find another job in Focus Direct, Inc., my home, for the last three years,” she told Sunstsr Bacolod.
Her continuous employment enabled her to give her mother the comfort she deserved, but it seems that God had other plans for her.
Her mother died of pneumonia and last year which devastated her.
Although her mother, who is rhe reason for all her hard work is already gone, she continue to work and this changed her life dramatically.
"I know that I still have a purpose in this lifetime (to) motivate young students to count their blessings, appreciate their privilege to be sent to school without any difficulty, and take their studies seriously because not all get the chance to receive an education,” she emphasized.
She believe that she can touch more physically handicapped and differently-abled to trust in themselves and their capabilities and consider the doubting people as a fuel to fire them up to unexpectedly more remarkable accomplishments.
"I may be small and lack what people normally have, but I capitalized on my dream of having a better life for myself and my family and I may have been born poor, but I never aspired to remain poor,” she said.
It is the reason why she is working hard and despite having been tested by God several times, she still chose to remain steadfast in her faith.
She reiterated that NOLITC was God's way of helping her, adding that, she consider the instution as her family, who has embraced her for who she is making her feel equally strong, gifted, and deserving of all good.*