We first worked with her five years ago when we asked her to serve as the Philippine Embassy coordinator in Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq where she was an overseas worker. We knew we made the right choice when she rose to the occasion just a few months later in the aftermath of a fire at a local hotel that claimed the lives of 13 Filipino women working there. It was Maria Marnisa A. Ty who not only immediately reported the incident to us in Baghdad but also volunteered to help us identify all 13 kababayan who perished in the inferno. Maria’s work allowed us to make those difficult phone calls informing families back home of the sad fate that befell their loved ones in a faraway land. She was there at the Jouhayna Hotel helping us sort out the personal effects of the victims; at the Rizgari Hospital to prepare our kababayan for their final journey home; and at the Erbil International Airport to see to it they have a proper send off. Last year, we asked Maria if she wo
Marnisa gazing at the sky while having a cup of tea near the Galata Towers in Istanbul, Turkey “What’s your name?, a client asked while I was working inside the reception area. “Oh, my name is Marnisa,” I replied chuckling, mentally admonishing myself as to why I was given such a name. “Mar-nee-sa? Really? It’s such a beautiful name”, she remarked. I was taken aback by her compliment. It suddenly rendered me speechless. I have always taken my name for granted. I have always hated the name that my parents gave me. It led me to explain to her the origin of my name. “I was born in March….My father’s name was Nicanor and my mother’s was Susana. They took the first three letters in March and then combined it with one syllable each from their names, thus the name Marnisa was created. I think in hindsight, they wanted to remind me that I have a piece of them. I lost both of them early in life. Not having my parents for most of my life has rendered me confused and
It's been ten years since I started blogging. I created this blog as a means of cultivating my writing skills. I never really had a format. I just wanted it to be a medium where I can express my thoughts and musings freely. I wanted it to be an expression of my core, my being, my existence. But nothing has moved me yet to inspire me to write and lay my thoughts out in the open. In the end, I just want to preserve my wisdom through here. I hope I can write meaningfully in the future. Cape Angela, Bizerte Tunisia (Northernmost Part of North Africa)
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