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A Tribute To The Greatest Teacher I Have Ever Known
February 13, 2006
"Once I knew only darkness and stillness. My life was without past or future. But a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness and my heart leaped to the rapture of living." - Helen Keller, American blind-deaf author, writing on how her teacher taught her to communicate.
It was a warm afternoon in August 2001. A long caravan of vehicles including school buses slowly made its way to Bacolod Memorial Park. People from all walks of life flocked together - mostly physically and mentally handicapped children . Many of them were crying but what touched me the most were the little blind children who shed tears for a teacher whose face they have never seen but whose voice and gentle touch inspired them all those years to make the most out of their lives. They came to pay their last respect to their teacher, whom they fondly called "Ma'm Lourdes." I was there to accompany my mother to her final resting place.
Mrs. Lourdes Sapio Tenerife was born on February 11, 1938 at Arevalo, Iloilo City. She was a consistent honor student who had to sell fish after class to help her family and sustain her allowance. She wanted to be lawyer but her parents could not afford to send her to law school. After getting an education degree (cum laude) instead from the Visayan Central School, she decided to apply for a teaching position in Bacolod City. At that time, Special Education was relatively unheard of in most parts of the country. Blind and deaf children did not get a formal education and worse, some of the mental retardates were even shun from society by their own parents. Mrs. Tenerife was offered a scholarship in Special Education at The Philippine Normal College in Manila.
Because of uncertainties in this new field and the chance of other brighter prospects, it took some time before she decided to accept it.
Upon her return to Bacolod, she embarked on the difficult task of organizing special education classes by herself and became an itinerant teacher, going from one public school to another teaching disabled children. It took several years before other teachers majored in Special Education and before the establishment of an independent school for blind, deaf, mentally retarded, and autistic children. In the mid 90's she realized her dream of having an autonomous Special Education (SPED) Center in Bacolod of which she became its first Principal and Division SPED Coordinator.
She taught Braille to blind children and sign language for the deaf. Most importantly, she taught them how to be independent and lead near-normal lives. One of her visually impaired students went on to college at a large university and earn a degree in Psychology. Remarkably, he even graduated cum laude. He became a full-fledged teacher himself and presently plays an active role in promoting the welfare of disabled persons. Another student who had meningitis as a child and became blind and hemiplegic travels unassisted around Bacolod with the use of a cane. Mrs. Tenerife would discourage her students from begging for money as most other disabled people do. She prodded them to develop their talents and get regular jobs like other normal individuals. Many of them are now either employed or involved in income-generating projects. It was a legacy of which she will always be remembered.
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Mrs. Lourdes Tenerife in her younger years teaches Braille to a blind child.
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After several years of dedicated service, Mrs. Tenerife's efforts did not go unnoticed. In 1996, she was awarded the prestigious Most Outstanding Teacher of the Philippines Award from Metrobank Foundation. This was followed by the Apolinario Mabini Award , acknowledging her selfless service to People With Disabilities (PWDs). In both instances she was personally awarded by no less than two Philippine Presidents at Malacanang Palace.
At home, she was a patient teacher who went through my lessons with me when I was in elementary. I was a mischievous child who would blurt out hilarious answers just for the fun of it, but she patiently guided me during the early years of my education. Eventually, I developed a love for learning and fine-tuned my study habits. When I went to medical school we began to see less of each other. She would visit me in Iloilo where we would hear mass at the Cathedral in Plaza Libertad , dine out, and talk about many things, mostly my studies. It was at that time when she was diagnosed with diabetes. But that didn't discourage her from pursuing her work with the same fervor.
After I passed the medical boards, I applied for a residency in Manila but for some reason the plan didn't materialize. She asked me to have my residency instead in Bacolod. Fate willed that I had to stay with her during her final years.
Then on the 23rd of August 2001 she succumbed to a myocardial infarction. My eyes welled up in tears as I kissed her for the last time. Indeed, her memory will live on in the hearts of those lives she has touched. People may emulate her and continue her noble work but none could replace her excellence, charisma, and warm smile. As I took one last look at her in her tranquil sleep, I said a little prayer of thanks and gratefulness for having known her - my greatest teacher and mother.
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