OFW mom keeps a forgiving heart
Bessy, 47, left her two daughters in Cebu seven years ago to work as a caregiver in Canada.
When she had them follow her to Canada in 2012, she already had three children to care for.
Her youngest daughter, Clara, was four months pregnant with her college boyfriend when she left Cebu and did not even know of her pregnancy until she finally gave birth in November 2012.
Regret for having left her daughters overcame the anger which she should have felt when she learned of Clara’s condition.
“I’ve prepared myself for things like this to happen since they grew up away from me. I cannot supervise them like what others do. I did not blame her (Clara) for what happened since I’m partly to be blamed for the situation,” Bessy told Cebu Daily News in an interview made through Skype.
Looking at the brighter side, Bessy said, she is glad that she had been reunited with her daughters and had another angel whom she promised to personally take care of.
“I embraced the situation with a happy heart since Clara who fell down needs help so she could stand up,” she added.
Bessy, a single mother, was forced to work abroad in order to provide for her daughters needs after she got separated from her husband.
Her eldest daughter, Lady, was in high school while Clara was still in grade school when she left in 2005.
She would speak with her children, whom she left in the care of a house helper through Skype but their communication were not done as often because of her hectic work schedule.
In June 2012, she had her daughters follow her in Canada.
Bessy said she saw that Clara was gaining weight but did not have any idea that she was with child. She told herself that Clara’s weight gain resulted from her lack of sports activities.
Bessy said it even reached a point when she started to suspect that Clara was having abdominal cyst which is causing her pain and would give her pain relievers before she would leave for work.
One evening on November 2012, she received a call from Clara asking her to rush home.
“I was in so much pain that I didn’t know what to do until I fell asleep or perhaps I lost my consciousness while inside the comfort room. When I regained my consciousness I was still sitting in the toilet bowl. I felt like something was coming out from my private part and thought it was a cyst until I found a baby’s head. I slowly stood up and took out the baby by myself,” Clara said.
“The (baby’s) umbilical cord was cut by itself, and I pulled the remaining thing inside that I didn’t even know it was already the placenta which got out from me,” she added.
Although in a state of shock, Clara said she tried to stay calm for her baby’s sake.
“I had no idea how to lull my child who kept on crying so I just hugged her. I didn’t even have baby clothes for her to wear. I saw a bible beside our bed and prayed to God to keep my baby safe and normal knowing that I took some medicines while I was still pregnant to ease the pain,” she said.
When Bessy called to check on Clara, her daughter asked her to come home immediately.
Hearing the baby cry added to her panic, said Bessy.
Bessy said that when she got to their apartment, she saw Clara bleeding and immediately called for an ambulance. While Clara and the baby we rushed to the hospital, she cleaned the blood which was left on their floor to keep herself busy.
“I kept on praying to keep Clara and the new born baby safe while I was left at home,” Bessy said.
She also made a promise not to anymore leave her children.
“No matter what fault or mistakes a child has committed, a mother will always stand as a forgiving mother to her child since she could not tolerate seeing her child struggling,” she said.
Clara said having to care for her own child also taught her how difficult motherhood could become.
She ask other daughters to always listen to their mothers and obey them at all times./Correspondent Christine Emily Pantaleon
