Finding a temporary place to stay
At the age of 14, after realizing that conditions in her home were so bad that she could not continue living there, Nimfa explained her situation to a friend of hers named Melody and the two of them hatched a plan that that they would approach a woman whom Melody knew – a woman who lived in San Jose – and ask her if Nimfa could stay in her home while she was looking for a mother who needed household help. This woman’s name was Puring (“Ate Puring”) and she accepted to allow Nimfa to live in their home. She had a daughter named Bambi. Puring and her husband had a stand in an open air market and she was friends with another woman who also had a stand in the market named Doying.
At the age of 14, after realizing that conditions in her home were so bad that she could not continue living there, Nimfa explained her situation to a friend of hers named Melody and the two of them hatched a plan that that they would approach a woman whom Melody knew – a woman who lived in San Jose – and ask her if Nimfa could stay in her home while she was looking for a mother who needed household help. This woman’s name was Puring (“Ate Puring”) and she accepted to allow Nimfa to live in their home. She had a daughter named Bambi. Puring and her husband had a stand in an open air market and she was friends with another woman who also had a stand in the market named Doying.
Finding Nida Anniversario (“Ate Nida”)
Doying had a close friend, a lady named Nida Anniversario. Doying’s parents had pressed her into marrying a man whom she felt very reluctant to marry. Shortly after the marriage she left this man – however by that time she was pregnant and would soon give birth to a baby boy named Conrad. She felt conflicted about this baby boy. She explained it to her friend Nida Aniversario and Nida agreed to legally adopt the newborn boy to help her friend Doying in this situation. Some time later Doying married again. This time she had a baby girl named Viva. By this time, Doying was living in the home of Nida Anniversario. One day, when Viva was a four-month-old baby, Doying was on her way to work and she stopped at the home of her friend Puring. While there she noticed the 14-yr-old Nimfa and so Doying said to Puring “I didn’t realize you had two maids”. So Puring explained that Nimfa wasn’t her maid, she just needed to escape an abusive home environment so she was staying there temporarily until she was able to find a mother who needed a young girl to help out with a baby. That night Doying went home and talked to Nida Anniversario about it and they decided that Nimfa would be just perfect for them since they needed someone like her to help take care of Doying’s newborn baby Viva and her young son Conrad. So they hired Nimfa and Nimfa went to live in Nida Anniversario’s home. It was one of the nicer homes in San Jose Occidental Mindoro
Doying had a close friend, a lady named Nida Anniversario. Doying’s parents had pressed her into marrying a man whom she felt very reluctant to marry. Shortly after the marriage she left this man – however by that time she was pregnant and would soon give birth to a baby boy named Conrad. She felt conflicted about this baby boy. She explained it to her friend Nida Aniversario and Nida agreed to legally adopt the newborn boy to help her friend Doying in this situation. Some time later Doying married again. This time she had a baby girl named Viva. By this time, Doying was living in the home of Nida Anniversario. One day, when Viva was a four-month-old baby, Doying was on her way to work and she stopped at the home of her friend Puring. While there she noticed the 14-yr-old Nimfa and so Doying said to Puring “I didn’t realize you had two maids”. So Puring explained that Nimfa wasn’t her maid, she just needed to escape an abusive home environment so she was staying there temporarily until she was able to find a mother who needed a young girl to help out with a baby. That night Doying went home and talked to Nida Anniversario about it and they decided that Nimfa would be just perfect for them since they needed someone like her to help take care of Doying’s newborn baby Viva and her young son Conrad. So they hired Nimfa and Nimfa went to live in Nida Anniversario’s home. It was one of the nicer homes in San Jose Occidental Mindoro
The photos on the right show Nida Anniversario’s original house (the one she was living in when Nimfa was a young girl) and also the later house that she was living in when we returned twenty years later.When Nimfa was there in the original house, Ate Nida decided that it would be good to have an outdoor concrete patio so that they could invite people to come to outdoor meetings to hear about Baha’u’llah. A very large amount of concrete would be needed for this. So Nida decided that they would do it one bag at a time. So the bags of concrete were brought to the house on a motorcycle tricycle and they mixed it one bag at a time in a large bucket. Nimfa helped [and others]; it was an enormous undertaking.Originally, Nida Anniversario had worked in Manila but then later she retired and she moved to Mindoro. Her house had been similar to the houses we know in the US. It was one of the better houses in San Jose. After Nimfa left the Philippines, Nida sold that house and when we visited her in the 80’s she was living in a house with a grass roof.