Erin's Plight

I am Zsuzsa.
I am Australian and my family background is Filipino. Growing up as an Australian, as a middle class member of society I have had greater access to education, security and opportunity than I could ever compare to if my parents had stayed in the Philippines. 

Unfortunately, not everyone in my family is as lucky as me. 

Violence. Addiction. Corruption.

These words I never thought that would be used to describe a situation my family is going through. For generations my family has struggled against violence and corruption. Over 25 years ago my grandfather a police man, ambushed and murdered and to this day no one is held responsible. 

And now, violence has come back to haunt my family. 
Two weeks ago, my cousin was a victim of an attempted murder. It is a miracle he is alive. He was shot at, one bullet shattering his jaw completely  and the other 3 bullets killing the woman next to him instantaneously. The only reason he is alive is that he played dead next to her body, they were both left to die. 
This is my cousin who would walk me to school in the mornings to make sure I was safe, when we lived in the philippines when I was young. My cousin who had always been a big brother to me.

Over the years he has fathered three beautiful, smart and loving children, whom I adore. And this is just asmall part of the struggle that these kids have had to face in their lifetime. In the last few years he had lost his way but he had not had an easy life from the moment he was born. My family and I have been helping to support his kids through school during this difficult time. 
Although his story is not my story to tell, I will divulge you this. He was an addict. He became addicted to crystal meth.  

Before you judge my cousin, I want you to consider the socio-economic factors at play here. The Phillipines has one of the lowest rates minimum wage in the the world, bottom 3 in fact, once you take in cost of living. I understand that we all make choices and we all make mistakes. I'm not saying that we should pardon him of the responsibility  that his addiction has placed him in, all I'm saying is that maybe we need to question how society has had a part to play in this too. Given the chance in the last couple of days I have had much time to reflect and find forgiveness as everyone deserves a second chance. He is alive and that is a miracle in itself. 

He had his operation last week and they need to pay it by March 8. Unfortunately, the healthcare system is privatised and his sister who was paying for the majority of his operation was made redundant today. I am done hiding away from this. We are all worthy of  second chance. A mistake should not be a life sentence, but an opportunity to grow and move forward to become better than you were before. Even my cousin deserves this. 

One thing I am proud of is the resilience of my people. We will get through this. Our love will overcome fear and hate. It is time we talked about addiction as a mental health issue and one that stems from socio-economic factors and not let is continue to be shrouded in shame and loneliness. From here we can start to dig deeper as to why the Philippines has a crystal meth epidemic among the vulnerable - predominantly youth and those of low socio-economic backgrounds.

If you could find it in your heart to make a donation, my family will be forever grateful. It is time we take the stigma away from asking for help. To open up and converse about addiction, corruption and violence so that his kids won't have to live like this either.