Myrna lives with her nineteen year old son Rexan in the Philippines, he is a fine upstanding young man, and it would be difficult to find a more devoted person and mother than Myrna, she is a loyal and proud Filipina who has lived and experienced a life full of hardship and never wavered from her faith in the face of at times horrendous conditions that few of us in the west can possibly imagine, in order for us to understand in our comfort zones we would have to think what it is like to live where there is no financial help at all, no food handouts, no medical supplies, extreme weather conditions, little transport, and a war of terrorism on the doorstep, all at the same time, her life has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, the downs being in the extreme. Sadly there are innumerable women in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world like her, some bravely raising families, and some who are abused and have no recourse to divorce as it is outlawed because it is a religious country.

Myrna was one of nine children and orphaned at the age of two years and was brought up by her aunt, through her early years she worked as a pharmacy assistant until she eventually reached the highest degree in midwifery dedicating herself to working hard and many times offering her services free to those unable to afford them. Eventualy she met and married her husband who was a military policeman respected by his comrades and constant to his immediate and extended family, they remained a compact family surviving all the harsh pressures and violence that surrounded them until her husband became ill with cancer, Myrna then took on not only the every day chores but the burden of caring for him as well in spite of her own ill health, for several years she strived through heartbreaking times to also see that their son Rexan received his education, she continued caring for her husband for several years until he died, now although the burden of caring for her husband has been lifted she found that she was forced to extend her income and opened a flower boutique, being an artistic and creative person she designs and makes beautiful floral tributes for weddings, celebrations, and funerals etc, life is still very difficult for Myrna and as always her strong belief and faith sustain her, she is a carer who has yet to receive the rewards she deserves.

REXANS STORY
In his own words as sent to me
At carers-healingspur He begins with a quote --- "A good painter has two main objects to paint, man and the intention of his soul" Leonardo da Vinci.

I am blissful to have a gift to create a world on paper, I am nineteen years old now and I am taking Architecture at the university of the Philippines, I chose this course for I have an ambition to create an infrastructure unique enough to be called a work of art, I discovered my talent when I was a child of two years old scribbling on anything I could get my hands on gradually learning about colour and how to use it to the best artistic effect, I have a better canvass now. The walls of our house!, at school my teachers encouraged me to compete against artists from other schools and my first competition was poster-making, after winning at school level I represented my school at the district level, I was then made cartoonist while in grade five, and in grade six which I call the glory year of my life I won as one of the Military Police in our student body Organization. I was also part of our English club and won some oratory contests, we performed some plays which made our parents proud, I also joined the Science interests.

My membership in the boy scouts began in grade one but I got realy involved in grade six. My father would not allow me to join any scouting activities because he was afraid I might get hurt, or might be kidnapped while going hiking in the mountains, luckily I was promoted to explorer rank, I was able to compete in the division schools Press Conference in sixth grade as cartoonist and sports writer, and got fourth place in sports writing and first in editorial cartooning, it is hard to keep cool in this kind of competition because you are fighting against five to six divisions which has four to six schools representing each division, I was lucky to be one of the contestants to represent our schools, districts and divisions in the regional Schools Press Conference. The venue is a fourteen hour journey away, I was proud to take part in the second highest competition in the realm of journalism. High school life is very different compared to other stages of my life, a time when all firsts happened, First love, first buddies, first firsts, after my graduation in elementary my mother encouraged me to do science but being more interested in art I passed my exam and chose visual arts, in my exam I got the highest score and number one in ranking, in our first year we were taught to use most mediums, and in the third year sculpturing, basket making, pot making, bed mat weaving, etc our fourth year was a combination of everything.

I continued my journalism and joined the school paper as the cartoonist and was able to go to the National Schools Press Conference in General Santos City, there I was delighted to meet some of the greatest cartoonists in the country, I was blessed to be one of the contestants in that event, and because of my penmanship I became the Scout scribe and that made me one of the most important members of the troop. We have our annual School Camporal where I serve one year elementary, one year patrol leader, and two years staff - of The - troop, it is very important, three days of scouting activities, games, mountain hiking, survival, swimming, and night party, I also participated in the Philippine-Indonesian Regional Scouting jamboree, that was the best because we met scouts from other regions of the country, plus we met and made friends with Indonesian scouts. Before I left scouting I got the Eagle rank, the highest rank in the Philippine boy scouts. I also took part in a charcoal painting contest, I didn't win it but I did come fourth out of twenty five participants. We have an event called the Arts festival large numbers of people attend this event where all specializations make something to present, I ranked 11th overall in our graduation, I got the expressionist Artist Award, a medal for body painting, and one for glass painting. Today I am fusing, Science, Maths and art in my life as I am taking architecture, arts shaped my life, I chose arts because there is no mistake, it is all what you are, and shows who you are, it is hard, but life is art, we have to live this art and learn what message this life is giving us, we are all artists of our own specialization.

Greetings to all
REXAN

Note from Pamela carers-healingspur I would like to add I could not publish everything sent to me here, because both Myrna and Rexan are too modest to tell some of the very distressing events in their lives, I publish this as my tribute to them in recognition of their faith, strength and endurance, all of which I know is true for I have known them both for well over a decade.

God Bless you both



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