This father of 4 children and a pilot shares the struggles of their family to achieve their goals for their family. Know how he and her wife conquered all these circumstances and be inspired by their story.
What can you read in this article?
- Struggle story of a father
- How they managed to survive all these challenges
Struggle story of father: Our backstory
When I decided to go into Aviation (a completely different world from Medicine), my wife supported me kahit pa alam namin na malaking gastusin ang haharapin namin.
I was working as a General Practioner in tertiary hospitals at that time. Magkano lang ba ang sinasahod ko monthly noon when I was just working on a contractual basis in hospitals?
It was just enough to make ends meet. We were just starting to build our home with a bank mortgage and other loans to pay on strict schedules. We already have 3 children who are studying in a private elementary school in Parañaque City.
On the other hand, though the cost of aviation training is high, we did not want to bother other people for help, including our parents, especially for financial assistance because for us, the financial responsibility of our parents is already done when we started to have jobs and we got married.
We are shy to seek help financially from our parents or “umutang”. Like they say, “Buntot namin, hila namin!” Me and my wife agreed to that principle! And yet, my Flying Training ended, we didn’t even notice how time fly so fast, and it was 3.5 years already. (Dec 2014 to mid-2018)
I finished my general aviation training is kinda little late because we are paying my tuition fee on an installment basis in my Flying School. The system is, “pay now, fly later”.
Struggle story of a father
Iginapang lang talaga namin hanggang sa makakaya ng budget. Then after getting the Commercial Pilot License/Instrument Rating, I decided to take the Airbus 320 -First Officer Transition training course to increase my chance of being hired in airline companies.
My General Aviation knowledge and skills do not give me any advantage to be considered by Airline companies. But the Airbus 320 training cost about 33k US Dollars and we don’t have any extra money to spend that time.
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My wife, without forcing her, agreed to sell our newly owned townhouse at that time to raise enough money for my training. That was a big gamble for us.
Our house is what we are talking about. But of course, many things have been considered and calculated risks were thought already. My wife also acknowledges that fact.
We already spent so much money on my general aviation schooling. If stop now, we lose all the efforts, hard work, and the money we spent just for me to study.
The turnaround in our life
We have to take the risk and make the leap of faith. A few months after, our townhouse was bought by a neighbor in cash!!! Lucky we were!
The money we got from the selling was divided: Half of the money sa akin for the Airbus training, and the other half for the small business she manages.
I got to finish my Airbus 320 training and the rest is history. I got hired immediately after my Airbus 320 schooling. Thank God, I got a new job at the age of 39!!!
Also, every time we talk about our journey as husband and wife, on how we managed to overcome obstacles, especially the finances, we can’t help but feel very grateful to our family and friends, most to our God Almighty!
God provides and we are continuously experiencing it!!! Importantly, despite the countless misunderstandings and arguments, we ended up with solutions and answers.
We did not allow our pride and differences to shadow over our love and respect for one another. We are blessed, no doubt. Together, we flourish!