A COLLEGE diploma is never at an arm’s length. For students from the far regions of the country, a diploma is miles farther—literally. They endure the distance and difficult adjustments to secure quality education and fulfill the hopes of their families. However, the longing for home is always there.
Asian studies student Rosa-marie Katheryn Lozano, or Kate, misses General Santos City.
Manila is a “not-so-friendly” city, she said. It demands abrupt adaptation, adjustment with the people, weather, and environment. She also has to keep within her means since the cost of living is high.
The big leap
Kate tells of how cars stop to let pedestrians cross, even when there are no traffic lights or enforcers, in Gen San. The weather is moderate—perfect for fruit-bearing trees—all throughout the year. Floods are fictional in “Gen San” and “fresh air there is more than free,” she adds.
Meanwhile, Arts and Letters senior Julfe Rabe, especially in his freshman year, cannot but call to mind the gusty seaside surroundings of Barrio Baybay in Tangalan, Aklan, where the nipa huts are built low to endure strong winds and backyards are as large as basketball courts.
But in Sampaloc, Manila, multi-deck apartments and buildings stand close to one another, and a bed rent is a buck eater. The district is alive 24/7, a far cry from the barrio where people eat dinner at 6:30p.m. and sleep by 7p.m.
Unlike Kate who had a sure place to stay in her grandmother’s house, Julfe had to look for a Manila home—alone. And unlike others who prefer lesser “boardmates,” Julfe immediately chose a room upon seeing it had eight beds. He knew that he had to make more compromises—the position of the electric fan or the time for using the comfort room—but, he saw this “crowd” as a safeguard in case he became sick. Homesick. More people meant more conversations to him and more chances to pass the time and relieve the boredom.
Meanwhile, Journalism student Shalimar Faith Tonio considers herself lucky for not being alone in the city since her elder sister also studies here. She still had to learn to budget however. “You have to sacrifice financially,” she says, since some things that are free in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato are a luxury in Manila. In her home in Kidapawan, the country’s fruit capital, it doesn’t take much to enjoy lanzones, mangoes, mangosteen, durian and all the other expensive fruits sold here.
Kate says some commodities are priced double in Manila. Tuna jaws, which cost around only P90 in General Santos, costs more than P180 in public markets here. “If there was only a UST Gen San,” she sighs, referring to the UST project to expand to Mindanao.
With closer family ties in the province, leaving home’s comfort is really never easy. Students, some half-hearted at first in exchanging the province for the city education, even have near-traumatic travel experiences.
When Faith left Kidapawan City to study in the University, she boarded, for the first time, a passenger plane to the Centennial Airport. Usually shy and quiet, she was excited about the trip, even bugging the passenger nearest to her. If only the fare wasn’t costly, she would have had a relative to accompany her.
The Pinoy dream
Their families in the province view these migrating students as models of the Pinoy dream of bringing a diploma home. This however, pressures students. If they fail, they also fail their parents’ and peers’ hopes.
Thus, students from provinces give much importance to academics that sacrificing time for peers becomes a bitter necessity. They pursue their goal amid even the occasional teasing that they are “promdi.” “May kuryente ba sa Aklan?” Charmaine’s classmates would tauntingly ask her.
In gambling afar for a diploma, they put their bets on a school they have heard to be good.
Since UST is a Catholic school where Christian values are promoted, “my parents are less worried,” Charmaine says. Faith, who comes from a Catholic high school, says UST is the better choice.
Julfe passed the entrance examinations in another university, but still, he chose UST “because of the freshman brochure contents.”
It is in the University where they wish to realize this dream. And with the support of their parents and peers, students from far provinces go for their goals with motivation and inspiration. Jose Teodoro B. Mendoza
