Myra Lawas
@myra-lawas
Hello,
My name is Myra Lawas, I am a special education teacher teaching 11 students with various needs here in Maryland. I am also a mother of a 16 years old and a mom of two soldiers my oldest son and my daughter who are both in the army.
I came to America last 2007 and started in Kansas City Kansas Public Schools along with seven other Filipino teachers. Then I moved in Maryland last 2008 to make my career easier and to have a sense of belongingness since there are so many teachers from the Philippines in this part of the country. In Kansas,we just relied on car pooling for transportation and so mobility was so difficult. My friend whose also a teacher will just walk to church on Sundays since we have no carpools on those days.
Moving in Maryland made our life a bit easier to start. The Metro Bus and Train system was my means of transportation for a whole year until I decided to get a car to prepare myself for my children who came last 2009. That was a huge decision and that made me realized that life with a transportation is very convenient but very costly. Well, I needed it to raise my children here in America.
I came to America to seek for a greener pasture using my profession as a teacher and to escape from a marriage that was broken. I was a Science teacher in the Philippines but when I heard about the massive number of Filipino teachers who flew to America because of special education, I decided to take the course as well and even finished my Masters there despite the scarce resources. I was determined to be more marketable before I started my application. So I was successful and until now I still am despite the fast pace and expensive life here in America. We, my children and I we thrive and I am so thankful to have been gifted with children who has the drive to be successful.
With them here in America was a long journey of trials and struggles added to the threat of our districts debarment from not sponsoring international teachers to become permanent residents. Prayers and hardwork was our best tool. My older son was a big help and he was my hero, he and his sister stepped into the army as my working visa was about to expire within a year. The two made it to American citizenship and my son whose already 21 that time sponsored me right after he swore for naturalization which was 5 days before my working visa expired. My son just saved me from being out of status. At that time while I was waiting for my green card, I was not able to work and so I was just work as a caregiver to the elderly and bake bread to sell it to my teacher friends. My youngest son and I survived and thrive with some little help from his brother and sister and with the little income I made from caregiving.
Now, life is better, when children first got here. We rented a house, but then we had been moving to people's basement due to financial difficulty. It was a humble experience until my son sponsored me. Three years after I was back to teaching,
I decided to purchase a house so that when my soldiers will come home, I have a place to welcome them.
I am still teaching as a self contained teacher in a comprehnsive special education setting with 11 students with various needs and also working part time at Huntington Tutorial services to meet ends meet. Though life is still a bit of challenge, but it's better than before. Thankful to God for His guidance.
Hello, My name is Myra Lawas, I am a special education teacher teaching 11 students with various needs here in Maryland. I am also a mother of a 16 years... read more