Jane is a mother, a daughter, and a grandmother — with four grandchildren, including a baby battling heart disease.
She is the backbone of a family that depends on her for survival.

But where she comes from, survival is not easy.

🇵🇭 Growing Up in the Philippines

Jobs are scarce.
Capital for small businesses is almost nonexistent.
Communities lack opportunities — especially for women.

At 17, Jane stopped school because her family couldn’t afford it.

But her life didn’t stop there — she simply decided to work with what she had... her hands.

✨ The Early Years: Making Something From Nothing

In her twenties, Jane:

✔ cooked homemade food and sold it roadside
✔ roasted peanuts and mixed her own peanut butter to supply resellers
✔ self-taught manicure & pedicure services
✔ worked as a home cleaner and dog sitter

Every small skill she learned was a means to feed her family.

💔 Marriage, Motherhood & Heartbreak

Married at 18
First child at 19
Second child at 20

What should have been stability turned into struggle — her husband was an alcoholic, a gambler, and womanizer.

Jane was raising children alone in every sense, even before she walked away from the marriage in 2005.

So she did what many women in similar situations do:

She left her country—
not for adventure,
but for survival.

🌏 The Border Story — A Universal Reality

Jane arrived in Malaysia with nothing more than hope.

Her first job?
A kitchen helper.

Side jobs?
Manicure services whenever she could.

Years passed, and she hustled through multiple jobs, sending money back to the Philippines so her mother, children, and grandchildren could eat.