For four years now, Joana A. Farro has been working as a housekeeper in the UAE. She believes that a dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.
She used failure to motivate herself to work harder, let her siblings finish their studies, and achieve her goals.
Since she was not able to finish her studies in college owing to personal issues, almost everyone was dissatisfied with her decision. She appeared to her family members as a failure.
However, she never lost her enthusiasm to keep learning.
While working as a housekeeper in Dubai in 2019, she approached her employer if she could study after work at night. Joana said she’s thankful that her employers allowed her to participate in a basic culinary arts course.
“It was difficult for me initially since we had to pick a dish to cook in each lesson,” she said.
Since her salary as a housemaid was insufficient to purchase ingredients for the subject matter, so she decided to cook Filipino food and sell it to her Filipino neighbors in the flat.
This small business of hers paved the way for her to finish the 12-week short-term course. She wanted to complete the entire course, however, the Covid-19 pandemic happened. Joana set aside her gusto to finish the class.
In January this year, she contracted the virus that put her in quarantine for two weeks.
“I am anxious and helpless throughout my home quarantine. So, I started looking for activities to keep me busy and lessen my anxiety,” she said.
She discovered that the same training institute where she studied culinary arts is offering free online courses. Focused on her goal, she finished a caregiving course. In pursuit to educate herself, she was able to finish four more courses while being isolated.
“These courses allow us to expand our knowledge and inspire us to reach our objectives,” she said.
“Completing this course and receiving five certificates is proof of hard effort, and I hope it serves as an encouragement to everyone. Warren Buffet said, “We don’t have to be smarter than everyone else. We must be more disciplined than the others,” she further added.
Presently, Joan looks forward to finishing the culinary arts course, becoming a chef, and eventually opening her restaurant when the time is right.
