goodbye ka tonette
this morning Antonina Binsol, a pioneer networking professional and forerunner in OFW charity and investment efforts, suffered brain infarctions and died in Tokyo University Hongo Hospital. she passed on at 10:26 AM.
this is from the letter forwarded to my mother by ka tonette's best friend:Senpai Tonette is a community leader and volunteer. She is an active organizer for various grassroots organizations in Tokyo, including the Filipino International Weekend School, the Tulong Pinoy Movers, OFW Shien Cooperative, among others. She has indeed touched many lives, of students, and of migrant workers in Japan.
i met ka tonette only once last year, when she visited our office to talk about the offshoring services we offer. she was a lovely person, lively and optimistic and passionate about the many causes she supported.
she gave my mother a 1 gb flash drive as omiyage. we were amazed because we'd never seen one before, and ka tonette laughed and told us the tiny things could be bought with pocket change at every 7-11 in tokyo.
ka tonette seemed thrilled to meet a fellow UP diliman graduate. she encouraged me to go back to school and learn nihongo so she could help me get to japan, because there was (and still is) a huge demand for skilled filipino IT workers there. she wanted me to try out for mombusho, because being a mombusho scholar was a life-changing experience for her. i remember telling her i wanted to stay because our web dev and outsourcing leg was just taking off, and she said that she understood. if i changed my mind, she said, i could always drop her a line.
i've been wanting to tell her more about the literature groups i'm only starting to get to know here, although i felt they already knew more about her than i did. she was so restless. she wanted so many things to happen.
rest well, ka tonette. you've touched a lot of lives, and thanks to you, things will keep moving forward for us.
this is from the letter forwarded to my mother by ka tonette's best friend:Senpai Tonette is a community leader and volunteer. She is an active organizer for various grassroots organizations in Tokyo, including the Filipino International Weekend School, the Tulong Pinoy Movers, OFW Shien Cooperative, among others. She has indeed touched many lives, of students, and of migrant workers in Japan.
i met ka tonette only once last year, when she visited our office to talk about the offshoring services we offer. she was a lovely person, lively and optimistic and passionate about the many causes she supported.
she gave my mother a 1 gb flash drive as omiyage. we were amazed because we'd never seen one before, and ka tonette laughed and told us the tiny things could be bought with pocket change at every 7-11 in tokyo.
ka tonette seemed thrilled to meet a fellow UP diliman graduate. she encouraged me to go back to school and learn nihongo so she could help me get to japan, because there was (and still is) a huge demand for skilled filipino IT workers there. she wanted me to try out for mombusho, because being a mombusho scholar was a life-changing experience for her. i remember telling her i wanted to stay because our web dev and outsourcing leg was just taking off, and she said that she understood. if i changed my mind, she said, i could always drop her a line.
i've been wanting to tell her more about the literature groups i'm only starting to get to know here, although i felt they already knew more about her than i did. she was so restless. she wanted so many things to happen.
rest well, ka tonette. you've touched a lot of lives, and thanks to you, things will keep moving forward for us.