SHORT HISTORY OF MAYFLOR HONTANOSAS-COLLIER   

I have known many people in my life, but none have impressed me more than Mayflor Hontanosas. This young lady pictured above grew up suffering through severe poverty in the Philippines, and has seen many days of hunger and hardship. There were times when she survived on nothing more than one banana a day, and other days when she had nothing at all. Although she had a family, she spent many days as a street kid scrounging for food, and at twelve years old sold plastic bags for pennies on street corners to help feed her parents and six other siblings. As a young girl, there was a time when she lived alone on a mountainside farm watching over the property for the owner. There was no pay other than what food she planted and raised herself, and a small shack to sleep in. There was no screen on the windows, no bath, and no electricity. Drinking water came from a spring. Her only companions were the snakes and mosquitoes that shared the mountain with her. She was promised a portion of the land for staying there, which was never given to her.

At fifteen years old, she traveled alone to the island of Cebu where she found work in a Chinese bakery. She did all the house cleaning, hand laundry, and cooking for the owner's entire family, plus worked in the bakery. Her pay was a small cot to sleep on, one meal a day, and $5.25 a month. She later left there and somehow managed to go to Laguna, not far from Manila where she stayed in a house belonging to a sister. She at least had a bit of food there, and a decent place to sleep. She walked the streets of Manila and mingled with the homeless people who gathered in Lunetta Park. Her heart went out to them as she had known the same sufferings. She took several of them to her sister's house where she fed them, but had no room to bed them down for the night. She went with them back to the street where she slept on newspapers for a bed, and felt the dampness of nightly winds that blew through the lonely and hungry streets of Manila. She showed the homeless she cared about them, and was no better than they were. She shared their pain.

Throughout her life she has faced many obstacles. She has suffered sickness with no medicine, and a feeling that no one really cared about her. She has been used by relatives and others who called her dumb and stupid, and forced her to do their work for morsels of food. They made promises to her that were never kept. She had her own dreams in life, but never believed they would ever become reality. No one cared. At age 22, she took a newborn baby girl her sister gave birth to, and who wanted to give it away. With a naked baby and no clothes for it, Mayflor cut up her own t-shirts to make diapers and dresses for it. She sang in restaurants for whatever small amount they would pay her, and did other small jobs for people that brought enough coins to buy milk for the baby. As time passed, she somehow managed to raise and take care of the child on her own. The child will be 13 years old this year (2007), and is now in her first year of highschool. The child, Ladymay Ann, and her adopted mother, Mayflor, share a love and closeness today that's unmatched by any other mother and daughter. In each other, they found the love and caring they needed.

I first met Mayflor by way of the internet in late 2001. The first thing I noticed about her was her honesty, and her sincere interest in trying to help those who were suffering her same hardships in life. She seemed to care more about them than herself. I knew I had found a diamond in the rough, and someone I felt could become many things with a helping hand. She wanted to become her own person, to be somebody, and wasn't afraid to work for it. I took her under my wing and sent her to college for four years. In her fourth year she was elected President of the college Student Supreme Government, and later graduated with a degree in commerce and business management. She raised funds to help other students attend national education seminars, created a program that paid college costs for another student, took her civil service exam, and was the only student to receive the Award Of Excellence from the Governor of Surigao Del Sur. The college director stated her as being a born leader. She was later given a position on the Bislig City Mayor's Local Youth & Development Council. Not bad for a former street kid!

Today, Mayflor Hontanosas is a recording artist and the manager and director of our Philippines branch of the Bucketful Of Rice food program. Since early 2004 she has fed hundreds of hungry children and needy families in Mangagoy, Dampingan, and Bongaitan, Philippines. She is well known in her area, and highly respected by all who know her. She has helped widows find ways to pay medical bills for their children, and today is considered a neighorhood advisor in family health and finance problems, and other family related issues. She has been asked by the Catholic Church, Rotaracts, and local campaigners for her help in caring for the needy and help with election activities. She has walked many miles through the mountains delivering medicine to the sick, and has spearheaded projects giving clothing to ones in need of such. She has fed many families who are victims of the October 2006 fire that destroyed much of the village where she lives.

This is only a small part of all the things this young lady has done to help others. She has worked hard to rise out of the hardships she once endured, and has helped others to do the same. Today, with the help of ones who believed in her, and with the hard work she has put forth to deserve their help and respect, she now owns her own home and other things she once only dreamed of having. Her name is also now on the title of the entire farm she was once promised a part of. I, and everyone else involved with the Bucketful Of Rice food program are very proud of this young lady. Mayflor Hontanosas, has worked hard to help others, and to help herself. If anyone ever deserved respect, it is this former street kid who has fought a hard battle to get where she is today. By helping one, many others are now being helped. A seed of hope has been planted in the Philippines. Mayflor Hontanosas is now cultivating that hope and helping it grow.

Mark Collier

Update from webmaster:  Mayflor arrived in the United States on October 1st and married Mark Collier on October 16th. Together, they will continue feeding hungry children and helping others in need in America and the Philippines.

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Song clip heard on this page is "I Have You" sung by Mayflor Hontanosas. Courtesy of MMG Records