What I learned about Cecilia Oebanda

When I first spoke to Lai, Cecilia’s daughter, months ago she let me know a few key things about her mother. The first thing that I learned was that Cecilia was very poor growing up, dumpster diving for essentials. The second thing I learned was that she was a fighter. She took up arms, alongside her husband, against the Marcos regime in the Philippines and eventually was considered such a threat that they pursued her and other insurgents until she finally turned herself in to save the lives of her friends and unborn child. She was imprisoned for four years but continued protesting by engaging the entire prison in hunger strikes. Two of her children were born in captivity.

When she was released and democracy was restored she got a few friends and a couple of backpacks and they started going around advocating fairness for domestic workers. It was this work that opened her eyes to how promise of domestic work abroad was one of the main corridors to human trafficking and the Visayan Forum Foundation was born.

The third and final thing that I learned about Cecilia Oebanda is that she is a servant, dedicating her life to the service of those who need her skills, passion, and courage to stand up for the cause of humanity flourishing. She is a fighter, a servant, and an inspiration in a world that needs it.