Roland V. grew up without a father to guide him or a sibling to share his burdens. His earliest memories were of the streets, where survival was an art mastered by necessity. The company of street children became his family, and the city’s refuse was their livelihood. Each day was a battle against hunger, scavenging through piles of discarded remnants, seeking scraps of food or items of value to trade for a meager meal.
As he sat in the plush living room of his beautiful home in Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, Roland could not hold back his tears. His 40th birthday was not only a celebration of life but of victory—victory over the odds, over circumstances that had once seemed insurmountable. And, as if fate had orchestrated it, this milestone coincided with another achievement: his promotion to Senior Petroleum Engineer in a prestigious oil and gas company. From scavenging through refuse to extracting one of the world’s most valuable resources—his life had come full circle in the most unexpected yet poetic way.
His journey began in Samar, where his parents, driven by the hope of a better life, left their province to work as caretakers in an affluent Manila village. But fate was unkind. After two years, an economic downturn cost them their jobs. They chose to stay in the city, hoping for another opportunity, but none came. Their savings depleted, they were soon reduced to living on the streets, seeking shelter in makeshift homes of plywood and cardboard. Their struggle led them to Smokey Mountain in Tondo, a sprawling landfill where thousands of families like theirs made a living by scavenging.
When the government shut down Smokey Mountain in 1995, Roland’s family was left displaced once more, migrating to Payatas in Quezon City, another landfill where survival meant digging through garbage. Then came the tragedy that would forever alter his life—the catastrophic landslide of 2000, where over 200 people perished, including his father and younger sister. The grief and uncertainty that followed were overwhelming, but amid the sorrow came a sliver of hope.
A foreign NGO saw Roland’s potential and offered him a scholarship at a prestigious university. For the first time, he had a real chance at a future beyond the landfill. He studied Mechanical Engineering with unyielding determination, fueled by the memories of his past and the promise of a different life. After graduation, he worked on an offshore oil rig in Palawan before being seconded to an American oil company in Saudi Arabia. His perseverance paid off, leading to financial stability, the chance to support his mother in the Philippines, and even finding love along the way.
Now, as he sat in quiet reflection, he marveled at the irony of his life’s path. As a child, he had sifted through heaps of waste in search of something valuable. As a man, he now extracted oil from the depths of the earth, an engineer in a high-stakes industry. The same hands that once clutched at scraps in desperation now wielded the expertise to unearth the lifeblood of industries and economies. What a profound metaphor for transformation and resilience.
His thoughts were interrupted by the cheerful voices of his wife and daughters, who emerged from behind him, singing, “Happy Birthday!” The warmth in their voices filled the room, replacing every shadow of his past with light. Roland stood, embracing his family tightly, a tear slipping down his cheek—not from sorrow, but gratitude. He had made it. He had risen from the depths of despair, proving that one’s beginning does not define their end.
Are you still sifting through life’s uncertainties? Never lose hope. Life is an excavation, and beneath layers of hardship, there is always something valuable waiting to be uncovered. Roland’s story is proof that even from the depths of despair, one can rise to extraordinary heights.
And so, with love surrounding him and a future brighter than ever, Roland blew out the candles on his cake, knowing that the best was yet to come. (Contact: [email protected])
