Helen Rivera, a working mother, juggles cleanup duties in the Quimonda IT Center and rearing a family. (CDN PHOTO/ADOR MAYOL)
Helen Rivera wakes up at 4 a.m. daily to cook for her family, prepare their baon and send her children off to school and work.
After household chores, the 47-year-old mother then reports for work at Qimonda I.T. Center which houses the trial courts in Cebu City to start her duties as an office cleaner.
With a broom in one hand and a dustpan in the other, Rivera goes around the building sweeping hallways, emptying garbage bins, and cleaning toilets.
This has been her routine for several years to help her husband, a taxi driver, make ends meet.
“Naningkamot ko para sa akong anak,” she said (I work hard for the sake of my children.
“I don’t care if I have nothing to eat as long as my children don’t go hungry. I’m burdened by debts but it’s all right as long as my children can eat and finish their studies,” she said in Cebuano.
Rivera was spared from a shooting rampage when a distruntled Canadian litigant fired his gun in the Palace of Justice in Cebu City on Jan. 22, 2013.
Rivera was then cleaning the fourth floor lobby when John Pope shot prosecutor Ma. Theresa Casiño in the nape, seriously wounding her.
Rivera stood a few meters from the prosecutor.
After Casiño fell on the floor, Pope turned to the employee.
“All I did was crouch on the floor, close my eyes and pray to God for help,” Rivera said.
“I thought I was going to die.”
Her mind was filled with thoughts of her children.
After a few tense moments, the gunman walked away.
“I felt so relieved. The Lord protected me. He didn’t want me to leave my family,” said Rivera who, along with her husband, belongs to the Catholic covenant group Couples for Christ.
Rivera studied commerce in college but finished only one year because of financial difficulties.
Her four children remain a top priority.
“I want them to live a comfortable life in the future. I don’t want them to suffer like I have,” she said.
Rivera has four children aged 22, 21, 19, and 16.
Her eldest daughter finished a degree in BS Information System in 2013.
Rivera said her eldest child, who works as a secretary in a pharmaceutical company, wants her to resume her college studies.
But Rivera said she’d rather see her three other children graduate from college.
It’s been a hard life.
On several instances, she had to borrow money to pay for her children’s food and school needs.
“There were paydays when there was not a single peso I could bring home because my salary was just enough to pay off debts,” Rivera said.
She said she didn’t mind the hardship as long as her children are assured of a stable future.
The love and support of her husband and children has been her source of strength through the years.
In celebration of Mother’s Day today, Rivera said her family plans to hear Sunday Mass together to give thanks for blessings received.
There may also be a surprise from her children.
“My children are fond of giving me surprises,” said Rivera who celebrated her 48th birthday yesterday,” she said.
Last year, they gave her a cake and ice cream.
“It’s not easy to be a mother. But you are filled with happiness when you see your children finish their studies and lead a good life,” she said.
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