Pinoy teacher driven to suicide in Baltimore

News Article: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=99655

It happened twice this year, it's in the papers, see another article from ABS-CBN Interactive sent by a colleague from the Middle East.

Colleagues, those who are abroad can tell you that teaching in a foreign country is not as great as you think it is. Initially, you can not take your family with you, they are your only immediate support system here. Though you have the support of the FilAm community, your colleagues, some relatives, the tight sincere embrace of your family members is incomparable to theirs, enough to save you sometime from the cruel effects of stress and depression that you will surely go through when you are teaching abroad. I've been through this stage, I survived and thrived, but I still go through the pain and suffering over and over everytime I see the eager faces of my newly arrived co-Filipino teachers. The adjustment period is not over yet.

To all of you who are abroad, about to leave, or are contemplating on leaving your family behind to teach and to make a difference in another place, hold your family close to your heart. Let them be your inspiration to survive and thrive. They need you as much as you need them, be strong for them.

We in the Pinoy Teachers Network sympathize with the Baltimore Filipino Teachers, we had several fun get togethers with them. Irene and Fe will forever remind us to be always there for a colleague through thick and thin. As long as we live, they too shall live, for they are a part of us, as we remember them.

At the rustling of leaves and the beauty of Autumn...

We remember them.

MARISOL ANGALA
(for Pinoy Teachers Network)

Washington DC

Fall 2007