A 50-YEAR-OLD street vendor can literally say that fruits and the fruits of her labor have help her raise her family of eight.
Emma Mileza told Cebu Daily News that she has learned to sell fruits like mangoes, seneguelas (plum), and other fruits on her stall alongside a mall in Cebu City.
Mileza said it’s a risky job because she had to keep an eye for demolition people, who would confiscate her fruits and destroy her stall because sidewalk vending is illegal.
However, she has to continue selling fruits because it’s her only source of income since her husband died seven years ago.
Mileza, however, managed to help send some of the seven children to school and did her best to give them the best education within her means.
Mileza said all of her children had finished high school, her two sons had finished college and one of her daughters would graduate in two years.
“ I would have wanted to send them all to college, but I just can’t afford it,” Mileza said.
Mileza gets financial help from her eldest son, who works as a waiter in the US. But this isn’t enough considering that three of her grown-up children and their family still lives with her.
“ They have complicated lives, I don’t want to drive them away. Every mother would want her kids to feel that we are always there for them,” Mileza said.
Mileza said despite her eldest son’s financial support she didn’t stop working to set an example to her children that they should work hard and learn to be independent.
Despite her children’s shortcomings, she said she was happy especially with her two grandchildren who lived with her.
She said her grandchildren add warmth and color to their home.
“ We may have a small house but we’re happy,” Mileza said.
/Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya