And the winners are…

It was very hard for us to choose our winners as all the entries were very very good. We were very pleased to read what all of you had to say. It’s no doubt that for many young people believe their moms play an essential role in developing their understanding of human dignity. And she does it in a way that is unique to a mother.

With much deliberation, the WYAAP Staff together with the Culture Commitee declare the following entries to be the winners, based purely on the story in their essays:

FIRST PRIZE:
Aliah Dimaporo

SECOND PRIZE:
Gail Pelayo

THIRD PRIZE:
Haizell Anore

Congratulations to all the winners!
The staff will be in touch with you shortly.

Why We Think Moms Rock

World Youth Alliance Asia Pacific (WYAAP) loves moms! Because we believe that the family is the fundamental unit of society, and the person’s first school of life and love. It is in the family that we first experience our human dignity. And we know that our moms play a big role and making our families what it is today.

 Within the family children first come to understand their own intrinsic and inviolable human dignity. Through their complementary roles, mother and father, equal in dignity, show their children that the freedom of the human person is most fully and rightly lived in the gift of self. [Declaration on the Family]

So today, on Mother’s Day, we’d like to give a tribute to mothers. Here is a gallery of photos and essays submitted by various young people who answered our call to shout out to the world that they think their moms rock (and why)!

There are two ways to view our collection. First, you can scroll down and view them as individual blog entries. Or secondly, you can view them in album format. To view the album, click here.

We hope you enjoy reading through the entries. And if ever you feel inspired to send in your own, please do! It’s never too late You may no longer be eligible to win prizes, but you can still join the rest of these young people in telling the world about how cool your mom is! Just email a photo of your mom (or the both of you together!) with a 25–word (max) paragraph about why she rocks to wyaap.contests@gmail.com

Check back with us later today to find out who gave the top 3 entries!

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone’s mom!

- From the WYAAP Culture Commitee

My Mom Rocks (by Emily Dy)

The principle of Human Dignity is that it is intrinsic, inviolable and inalienable. A lot of big words, right? And yet the first time I read them in the World Youth Alliance brochure, I knew exactly what they meant in real world terms. And all this just from the childhood my mother chose to give me. Really!

I will admit that growing up, I was the naughty little girl. And yet, my mom has always loved me despite the many squabbles, tantrums and personal mistakes. Everynight she would tuck me in, and everyday she would wake me up, ask me if I was hungry, check if I had everything I needed… no matter how rotten I was (as little girls can get! especially an “only girl” and “daddy’s girl”) the day before. Yes, your dignity as a person is built in, it can never be taken away - even if you chose not to be naughty or made some boo-boos. And who else can show you that, as in REALLY show you that, other than a mother who chooses to love you, everyday, no matter what?

And this love was not just limited to me. I never recalled a time in my childhood, or even until now, when my mother was not involved in a sort of charitable cause or ministry. If she was not out giving free dental check ups at old folk’s homes and orphanages, she was teaching at poor parishes or even DSWD halfway homes for abused women. It was like she had a built in understanding that every person had human dignity, and thus deserved to live in a dignified way (without even going through WYA’s certified training program! heheh).

So one project at a time, she sought out those who have forgotten the fact that they were still dignified beings, and worked to help them regain this sense of self-worth, and helped them get ready to move on to a better life. She started at home with me and my siblings, then shared the same love with all our household helpers, and then eventually with the rest of the community.

My mom rocks not only because she’s helped so many people, but most especially because those that she helps are eventually inspired to start doing good, too.

Mommy Rocks (by Renalinda Tan)

If you were to ask me why my mom rocks the most aside from having a great sense of fashion, It is not because she’s part of a very famous rock band but simply because she loves me. When I was a baby even without a rocking chair my mom would rock her whole body to help me go to sleep so I would feel safe and warm.

Even though at times work kept her busy, when it comes to my needs especially my health, she’s my doctor. For her, Family comes first before work.

In my second year in high school we had a project wherein we are to bring 6 pictures of people whom we think portray Jesus as a person. Bringing my mom’s photo that time, I would decide if she is Jesus as Lord, Son of God, Prophet, Priest, King, or Christ. After a few times of thinking, I placed her photo beside the word Christ. Why Christ? Because she has always sacrificed her life for me to show me a world full of joy and hope like Jesus did through the cross. She accepted me despite my imperfections and never gave up on me when I experience failures. Her faith is as strong as a rock and from then on, she made me realize how important God is in my life.  Hence, She is a model not only for clothes but also a role model for others.
 

What She Shows is Real (by Kurt Patrick L. Enriquez)

 

My Mom Rocks (by Joshua Tan)

 

Ten Reasons MY.MOM.ROCKS (by Aliah Dimaporo)

How My Mom Restored My Dignity (by Haizell Anore)

I have always been vocal about how I consider my Mom as my bestfriend. I have told her everything about myself – my problems, my insecurities, my dreams, my crushes, probably everything in my life. She has supported me in every step of my growth and development.  When she discovered of my interests in studying, she bought a complete set of encyclopedia out of our tight budget. She pursued my interests and I entered school at the age of two as saling pusa. Starting schooling in a private Montessori, it was hard for me to adjust to a public school when we had to transfer because of a financial crisis. I was bullied not only by my classmates, but also by their parents and even the teachers. I was not allowed to take a reading test and they sent me directly to section 8, the second lowest section in first grade. My Mom immediately talked with the teacher. She would stay from the moment she took me to school until she picked me up in the afternoon. She would bring lunch to school and eat together in a picnic style. I eventually met good kids who until now are my friends. I adjusted well in my teenage years, achieving both in academic, sports and having good sets of friends. I graduated valedictorian in elementary, salutatorian in a science high school and currently in senior year of BS/MS Chemistry in Ateneo de Manila University as a scholar. She is still my bestfirend.

My Mom Rocks (by April Margaret Cuenca)

“My mama always told me that ‘Life is like a box of chocolates.” Well, my mama made me watch the movie that said that “Life is like a box of chocolates.” My mama always had her own way of helping me learn things about life. She never forced me to do this and to do that. She just always told me what would be probably be good and I believed her. Minimal pressure to excel. And I love her for that.

As a kid, my mom always let me experience life as freely as it could be helped. I could decide when to eat, when to sleep, what I wanted to do, and who I wanted to be with. She rarely stood in the way and showed her support for as long as she could help it. You could probably say that my mom spoiled me with freedom. I would admit to it.

 However, more than that, she taught me more about the possibilities that life could hold without telling me so. My mother always let me experience life in a way that few of my peers could even begin to fathom. My mother didn’t teach me about life by telling me that it was a box of chocolates, she showed me what life could offer early, and showed me what life without those gifts would be later on.

*the picture attached is of my mom and my newest baby brother, Zac.  

My Mom Rocks (by Andrea Juan)

What makes my relationship with my mother different is that we have to fit all our drama- the fights, happy and sad moments - into the two weeks in a year that we are physically with each other- if we’re lucky, it can span up to two months but that rarely happens.  As a child, I had more freedom than most children my age did. I believe that my freedom stemed from the fact that my mom allows me and trusts me enough to make my own mistakes and learn from them.  She sees the importance in falling down and learning to stand up on your own. My mom has always been my idol; she has exuded strength even in the midst of death, pain, separation and loneliness. This is why I believe that contrary to common misconception, a woman should be strong and decisive. She taught me that no matter how huge an obstacle might seem, if I’m passionate enough about something then I can and will get through all the hurdles which I will encounter. This gave me the insight that I am just as good as anyone else, no matter how much smarter, or richer or more influential their families are. She taught me that if work hard enough, if I earn and deserve something, then I’ll get it. It is through her that I realized how unique I am and how I can use this to be the person I want to be.

My Mom Rocks (by Lilia Cornelio)

 

The Ray of Light that Makes my World Bright (by Relynette Tan)

Since I was young, my mom never failed to meet my needs. She always puts her family first. She works six days a week and still makes time for us. I am about to start high school and I worry about how I will take on the challenges to come but one look at my mother’s achievements and I am to be reassured because I realize that if a person can do the things that she has then any other person can do great in something as simple as high school. Growing up, I wanted to do many things from being a baker to a veterinarian, even to becoming the next Steve Irwin! In those times my mother would always support me, tell me to study and work hard so that I can be what I want to be. Of all the things she’s told me this is the one thing that stuck, “I’m contented with whatever makes you happy, be what you want to be because what good is doing something when your heart is set on something else. If there is one thing that I want to and can be sure to leave you with it’s your education because with that, you can go far to reach your dreams.” There are times when I want to make her mad but most of the time I just want to make her happy and proud of me because even though she sometimes drives me crazy, she is still my “mama” and I love her.

The Choice She Made (by Gail Pelayo)

With whatever remaining strength she can gather, she stopped whimpering after my aunt told her that I was crying endlessly.  She looked at me and with a softened face she tried hard to bear the pain and kept herself from moving restlessly. It was the last show of courage my mother exhibited before she succumbed to cancer. She chose to overcome the pain just to console me. For me, if there is anything that exemplifies the power of choice humans have over their circumstance, it is this; and if there is anything that my mother taught me about life, it is being courageous and the extent to which we can make choices for our own good or for others regardless of the situation.

She cannot run away from it even if she wanted to: for sure she bargained, for as many as one can imagine and with whatever she has left just to be relieved of the suffering; and at times when her will failed her, she asked to be taken earlier than to live the remaining days in agony. Valium and morphine did not do much than to take her consciousness for most of the time, yet at that moment, she chose to be a mother to her grieving child. At times when confronted by a seemingly insurmountable difficulty, I turn to this memory. I find inspiration in the fact that humans, even in inescapable situations and in their greatest agony, can rise above the challenge with grace and dignity.

With this, I know my mother rocks!

Why My Mom Rocks (by Trina Coleen Ong)

Mom the sentimental junkie. When I was young, I’d call her our treasure chest. Costumes, stationeries and pendants, you name it she has it. Now I classify her collection as vintage. ☺ She keeps EVERYTHING. Even the Tooth Fairy couldn’t trick her into giving up my precious milk teeth.

Mom the pack-rat. Despite the amount of dust collected through years of keeping, you never know when you’ll need that ink-less fountain pen which coincidentally doubles up as a knife used to slash open an envelope.

Mommy Irony. A neat freak when it comes to personal hygiene yet orderliness doesn’t show in our house. She claims it’s easier this way. True enough, we run to her when we can’t find what we’re looking for. Mommy knows every nook and every cockroach there is in the house.

Growing up, mom made it clear to me that she trusts I can make my own decisions. She’s there to guide, not to interfere. Mom never failed to maintain that sense of familiarity, comfort and belonging in our home. She loves people I love and dislikes people I dislike. She listens to me when I rant about anything but is always careful not to pry on things she feels I don’t want to share. She respects my individuality.

Lastly, mom rocks because she knows quite well that I can’t write for a living, yet when she gets to read this, I know that this will still make her heart melt. That’s my mommy Fely ☺