in the name of Allah the most
beneficient the most
merciful I'm mix Filipino and Chinese I
had an
accident um being U by myself in the
United States and um when first time to
have an accident in the United States
and you don't know what to do where to
turn to so
um I have this friend of mine that told
because um I have to make a police
report so when I went to work I told
them I had an accident and my boss told
me like okay girl you have to do a
police report you have to do this you
have to do that so I told them the what
had happened and my boss was saying oh
girly don't do that don't say that
because you know your insurance will go
high and this and the police will go
this and blah blah blah and I said but
that's what the truth and I said my
friend told me like uh you know girly
you cannot uh fool the police you can
fool the police you can fool the judge
you can fool everybody except one person
and I said who is that person and then
my friend said it's Allah and I said who
is Allah and then Allah is you know God
oh why is it Allah why not God and then
that's the Curiosity came up and you
know um my friend said um his religion
is Islam and he said what is Islam and
then you know started the books and
start reading me giving me books and
stories and things and I was so
interested and curiosity but when I was
reading the book I was like wait a
minute it doesn't seems like any
difference with a Catholic these are
like almost the same but when I was they
gave me the Quran and I was like oh my
God it just like I was like it's so deep
it's just non comparison I was like just
so amazed and I was like oh my God this
is really the truth and I was like so
amazed and I I said to myself I prayed I
even prayed and I said oh God oh God I
said I want to take this um you know the
Shada that they were saying and I know
it is the same it's still you but I know
I came from a very Catholic you know
background and I was like I need to do
the shahada and that was um the 911 2001
and that's the hardest the hardest
because 911 is just happened I was like
even at work even at school not at
school but I'm working you know I mean
everywhere I go was like I was first
time I wearing my hijab and then giving
me this uh bad the finger and I was like
what are you doing I was we just wearing
my hijab and even laid off because of
wearing my hijab at work but I was like
oh well I don't care I'm a Muslim I love
it although I grew up in the Philippines
in the Philippines there is a lot of
Muslims in the South okay and when I
came here in the United States I became
a Muslim I was so happy and I said to my
mom mom I became a Muslim my mom was so
sad and she told me like you didn't go
to the United States to become a Muslim
yes I am I was like oh no but you know
what still I'm still having some
struggles with my mom I live with my mom
I take care of my mom so but I love my
mom so much because um a learning in the
Quran that
um through uh through your mom uh Heaven
is at the
foot of your mom so I think that's the
best I think um wearing the hijab is a
biggest challenge especially for women
because they are you know concentrating
on their looks their beauty and
everything but recently I have this
uh I I saw a line and it says here that
being
uh if being beautiful in the eyes of the
Creator means being ugly to the eyes of
the
created it's worth it and I'm telling
you it is worth it it doesn't matter
what you look you like what is important
is what's inside of you that's the best
thing because everything would fade
everybody would go old and die but you
know what's inside is the most important
thing and that's going to last and
that's not going to
fade Ramadan is the
best thing because it's uh it's just
like Christmas it's a gathering
and uh at first before I you know you
fast and then when you fast you just
like you feel the way how poor people
you know hungry and you kind of like
empathize with them how it is you know
to be hungry and uh you know feel how to
give back to the people you know and uh
the other thing is
um r r Ramadan my first encounter with
Ramadan is you have to do the uh the
dates and I was like where am I going to
buy the dates I don't know and then a
lot of one day I was just like everybody
was giving me box of dates and I was
like oh my God there's a lot of dates
now I'm I'm just by myself this is a lot
of dates for me to consume and I was
like oh well alhamdulillah thanks for
all those people who was giving me the
dates but something happened that um
with the fast fasting but before I was
like working and fasting and then it was
fasting it was like I have some coworker
that I go with you know with your lunch
and it was girly what are you doing I'm
fasting oh okay next day girly lunchtime
what are you doing when you go here I'm
fasting are you dieting no I'm not I'm
fasting is fasting dieting no it's not
fasting is like Ling oh okay so and then
what happened is I'm sad now because um
I kind of not perform really the fasting
because um I had an
aneurism so uh Allah gave me a second
life and um they told me that since um
my
aneurism I could not really fast because
when I fast I kind of have a headache if
you had a headache then it
triggers it's not good for the aneurism
so what they told me um I kind of
compute the amount of my the amount of
the breakfast and then I send money to
my brother and give it to the poor in
the Philippines so that's what I do
right now because since I had my
aneurism I missed it I really missed it
I've trying but they said no you don't
have to because of your health condition
so may bless me