THE DANCE FLOOR AND HER FAVORITE “gimik” places sometimes haunt her. But the late night-outs with friends and colleagues are now a thing of the past. In fact, this groovy young mom doesn’t care at all. With the life lessons she’s getting from working abroad, she may even get back to the party scene in full Wonder Woman costume some day.

Hers is a classic story of a very young mom struggling and toiling miles away for her family in Lipa City, Batangas.

Cherry Mae Dimaano, Myemye to friends and family, was once a cheery, bubbly little girl who partied a lot like the average teenage student after a long hard day at school. But her life took a big turn in 2005.

Myemye, then a Communication Arts student at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, didn’t realize she was in for a big surprise.

At 19, she delivered her first born by her boyfriend of seven years, only 22 then. Soon she quit the UP to work at Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in Alabang and provide for her child.

But as even an HSBC retention specialist, she was earning less than enough money to rent her own apartment, pay monthly bills and provide for the needs of her child. Her boyfriend, Nathaniel Encarnacion, couldn’t find a job so he took care of their baby while she shouldered the responsibility of earning a living.

At 22, Myemye saw no bright future for her and her family in the Philippines. She resigned from work last December and left for Milan, Italy, with a luggage full of dreams, faith and courage.

In an interview with the Inquirer via phone and e-mail, Myemye clearly remembers the day she left Ashley Margarette, her 3-year-old daughter, and her boyfriend.

“Dec. 16, Flight Ek o335 bound for Milan, was one of the saddest days in my life, the day that I had to leave them. Tears overflowed, and there were mixed emotions,” recalls Myemye.

“At one point, I thought of staying but a bleak future was forthcoming if I worked here. Even if it broke my heart I chose to leave. As I walked away I told myself that this was for the best of them,” adds Myemye.

Taking care of strangers

Life is totally different in Milan in a job taking care of an 80-year-old woman. While she may be used to doing household chores in the Philippines, changing diapers, giving a bath and preparing food for old people are chores this young girl had never done before.

“The sad truth is that I am taking care of strangers and make sure they live well while I can’t even change my daughter’s diapers or make sure she’s free of mosquito bites,” she says.

On her first month away, she recalled how she was crushed after learning that her daughter had seizure attacks due to high fever. “I cried every night and I couldn’t get decent sleep thinking how Ash was going. She had seizures when having a high fever,” she says.

Working non-stop at an average of 12 hours a day keeps Myemye busy and helps her forget about the family she left at home. Days and weeks pass like a breeze in Italy, where everyone is busy.

“I wake up at five in the morning to prepare for work. I share bathroom with eight people so it’s on a first-come, first-served policy here. I pack lunch to save money. I leave at 7 a.m. because I still have to walk and ride the fullman (bus in Italy) going to work,” she says.

By the time she gets home at around 10 in the evening, she still has to cook supper and do her laundry. She then curls up in bed for the early morning wake-up for work, an altogether different routine to what she had in the Philippines.

As a typical Pinoy overseas worker who works at several jobs, she juggles her time and energy for at least two day jobs and some part-time work in the afternoon. Five hours of the mornings are spent babysitting while the afternoons are occupied with caregiving work. She works six times a week, at least 10 hours a day. Some of her part-time jobs require her to travel outside Milan, she says.

Webcam chats

Instead of partying and passing time with kababayans on her rest day on Sunday, she usually rests and kills time in bed chatting with her family in the Philippines. “We do webcam chatting during Sundays. This way I make sure I get to see them, especially my child who often asks where I am.”

When asked, she usually tells Ashley that she’s at the office and that she’s coming home soon to bring her to and fetch her from playschool.

“It has been four months since and no words can explain how much I miss my daughter. It’s very hard to live life away from your loved ones. There are moments that tears just flow down my face,” says Myemye.

“On weekdays, I don’t get to talk to them that often because of the call costs. I have to reload 5 euros on my cell phone which is equivalent to P300. I limit my calls twice a week to save some money.”

But what’s making her stay in Milan a lot less worrisome and lonely is that she stays in the apartment of her mother who’s also been doing household work in Milan for the past seven years.

Asked if she misses singlehood and regrets mothering at an early age, Myemye says that at one point she regretted quitting studies and starting her own family at a very young age. But she “wouldn’t be as happy as now,” she says. “I find genuine happiness seeing my little angel grow up and thinking that soon all my sacrifices will pay off.”

Future plans

Of course Myemye’s parents were disappointed when she broke the news of her pregnancy. “They never expected that I would get pregnant at a very young age. They have a lot of dreams for me—to graduate from UP, and get a high paying job,” she says.

But she had mothered her siblings for six years after her mother left for abroad. “I stood on my own without asking help from them. Now I want to prove to them that I can raise my own daughter.”

“Life is good,” she says. “My life right now is the result of the decisions, attitude and choices that I have made in the past. At times I may have regrets and questions. Now I just make sure things will become better and soon I’ll be home with my family in our new house.”

Earning three times higher than back in the Philippines, she says she’s planning to buy a house and lot of her own, and put up businesses when she gets back. Hopefully, she could also walk down the aisle soon with Nathaniel.

Re-enrolling at UP might also be a possibility. Meanwhile she plans to study in an Italian institution so she can easily find office work in Milan, she says.

“Things make me dumb here. I found no use for my UP education. But I couldn’t do anything. I have to earn money. ”

Time permitting, she also surfs the Internet, browses online Filipino papers and online news. She’s often curled up in bed with good books. The ABS-CBN Filipino Channel also keeps her good company whenever she misses being home, she shares.

“My priorities have been shuffled,” say Myemye. “So far the experience teaches me things I’ll never get from UP or any institution I’ve worked in. It has changed my perspective and attitude as a person.”