Kristine Padilla lives in Silaki island in Bolinao Pangasinan, where 75% of the people are illiterate.
Kristine’s dream is to be the first child to finish college in her island. She dreams of becoming a teacher so she could spread the gift of literacy to her people. But to reach this dream, Kristine has to dive for sea urchins to be able to send herself to school. She is paid only 20 pesos for one sack of sea urchins. In 2009, Project Malasakit took Kristine and her brother Joselito as scholars. In 2014, Kristine graduated from PASS College Alaminos, with a degree of BS Education. She is the first person to finish college in her small island. She is now a teacher in a public school in Bolinao and finishing her master’s degree. Kristine and her brother Joselito were featured in the Iwitness documentary “Laman Dagat ng Silaki” way back in June 2009. Their determination to finish education despite extreme poverty was highlighted in the said documentary piece.
