”When I met my wife, I wasn’t able to afford her a ring or a wedding so I never proposed. We were in love and we didn’t want to wait before we could build a future together. Now we have two beautiful kids and we are still not married. The money we make we use to provide for our little family. I know most girls dream about a wedding but not once did she complain about the fact that we are not married. She knows that even without that ring, she is my lady, my wife and I am her husband.”
(Manila, Philippines)

”This is a bit awkward..”
”Why?”
”We met last week on the internet and this is our first date..”
(Manila, Philippines)

”What do you want to be when you grow up?”
”A puppy..”
(Manila, Philippines)

”I still have his clothes and pictures hanging on the wall. His name was Raphael. He was only one year when he fell down the stairs. When I explained to the doctors what had happened they didn’t believe me. They thought I was lying and that I physically abused him. After that, every time I would see a baby my heart would break but somehow I had to keep going for my other kids. A few months later I was feeling really nauseous and I thought I had food poisson. I was shocked when I turned out to be pregnant. After losing Raphael I never thought I would have another child. I didn’t think I would have it in me to love another baby. Project Pearls helped me, not just financially but they treated me like family.
When my daughter was born I asked the founder of the project to be her godmother and to name her. She gave her the name Gabi, which is short for Gabriel. It means Angel.” (Manila, Philippines)

”I was working in a hotel in Singapore when I got my ”quarter-life crisis” so I decided to turn back home to The Philippines.
Back home I started working in sales but I realized that despite of the good salary, I felt really unhappy. I kept thinking: ‘what if this my last day? Will I be able to say that I enjoyed my life?’. So I did something unusual and quit my job. I was unemployed for one month, which in The Philippines is extremely long. I started contacting different non-profit organizations but since I don’t have the right educational background, none of them replied. Then, through Facebook I discovered a small NGO called ”Project Pearls” which provides meals and scholarships to kids in Tondo which is one of the poorest slums here in Manila. I send my resume and I got invited for an interview. The interview went well but I didn’t hear back from them. While I was waiting for a response, I started to doubt myself and I started to think that I had made a huge mistake by quitting my job. Out of frustration I applied for another job in sales. I got invited and immediately after the interview I got hired. Since I still wasn’t sure if the job was the right choice for me, I asked them for an extra day to think about it. I went to get a coffee, to sit down and think if I should take the job. All of a sudden I received an email from Project Pearls, saying that I could start the following week. That was the best day of my life.” (Manila, The Philippines)

”There is no need to be afraid of getting old and wrinkly because if you make it as far as I did, it will happen anyways. You don’t need to be young to be beautiful. You just need to know the right secrets. You want to know mine?”
(Manila, The Philippines)