Ms. Done-It

Have you ever tried collecting and buying bottles from house to house to secure a living? How about weeding several fields and lands? How about cleaning other people’s homes from corner to corner and washing other people’s clothes? Or, due to life’s difficult circumstances, experienced begging for alms while picking up plastic bottles and cardboard?

If you ask Lovely Jacqueline Dasalla Ani, a third-year Physical Education major student at Philippine Normal University North Luzon, she will answer all these questions with a yes. Because, yes, she has done it all.

At a tender age, Lovely has already realized how challenging life can be and how time never makes it more accessible. Knowing her parents had difficulty providing for their family’s needs, she stood up; she ventured into all jobs that she could do to earn money and pursue her studies amidst financial difficulties. She has done almost anything— from laundering, collecting junk, selling, catering, and even working in the fields under the blazing heat of the sun to persevere in becoming an educator.

With the implementation of limited face-toface classes for the third term of the school year, Lovely’s life has not exactly become easier. If, be- fore, she could save on transportation fees and be able to work various jobs from Wednesday to Sunday, she could not do it now. With the whole week filled with schedules of classes, group practices, and meetings, her time for work has become limited.

Although still struggling financially, Lovely does not regret her decision to participate in the limited face-to-face classes at the university. She considers it one of her most enjoyable moments, a gentle nudge, a reminder that her life is not all about work and that she is closer to achieving her dreams. However, she sometimes admits to crying in front of her unfinished activities as she contemplates which to prioritize, throwing her mind off-kilter. Is it to work jobs necessary for her to survive or accomplish tasks with upcoming deadlines?

Admittedly, despite having less time for work now, she favours face-to-face classes as she learns more effectively and can socialize with her peers. She also gets hands-on experience with her subjects as a Physical Education student, improves her body composition, enhances her physical well-being, and acquires abilities such as increased stamina, which comes in handy when it is time for her to work various jobs outside the university. It becomes her breeding ground in the real world, where her acquired skills would be useful.

Even though life has given Lovely roadblocks in her journey in the form of financial difficulties, she

by Muel Mark L.Bueno

never forgets to have a positive outlook on life still. “Nandoon ‘yong hirap at pagod, pero masaya pa rin kasi alam kong part ‘yon ng pagiging col lege student,” she says. [Difficulty and tired ness are always there, but I am still happy, for know it is a part of being a college student.]

In preparation for her financial needs for the school year, she is accepting clean ing and laundry jobs from anyone who needs her service. She works at Top Achiev ers Private School as a staff member in their cafeteria. Even if it is the school vacation at pres ent, she dares not spend any of it doing useless things and is working tirelessly just for her to help her parents support her and her siblings’ education.

Junk collecting and selling, weeding, cleaning, laundering, catering, and many more. You name the job, and she has done it. Believing that one should learn how to rest but never give up, she is Lovely Joy Dasalla Ani—the Ms. Done-It-All.