It goes without saying that parents make numerous sacrifices for the well-being of their own children.
The impact of those sacrifices is something we acknowledge but hardly recognize. When Jhunnel Sarajan sat down at Jollibee, a popular Filipino fast-food chain, he saw something that truly broke his heart in the best way.
This is a hungry Ryan Arebuabo watching his two daughters, Rose Ann and Rose Mae, dig into a celebratory meal while he had nothing to eat.
They were celebrating Rose Mae’s graduation. Prioritizing the happiness of his children above his own empty gut, Arebuabo scraped together enough for a fried chicken meal.
When pressed for details, Arebuabo revealed that they lived in a poor area of Tondo, Manila where he provides for the family by selling everyday items from a government-issued cart.
Four years prior, Arebuabo suffered a stroke and couldn’t continue making a living by selling corn around his neighborhood. Unable to work, his wife left him and took his daughters away. He eventually regained custody of his daughters, and they live together in a plywood shack.
Sarajan posted what he saw on Facebook, captioning it with “I can’t [SIC] contain my emotion when I saw them in Jollibee…This is a photograph of a father’s love. A depiction of genuine selflessness.” The photo went viral, and soon Sarajan had to make an amendment to the original post to direct people with links on how to help. Well-wishers and help soon flooded in.
Fried chicken as a special occasion food might not seem like much, but it was Arebuabo’s selflessness that makes the meal so special. With Father’s Day coming up around the corner, it’s moments like these that help us appreciate a father’s devotion to their families.
