A couple of months ago, while having my hair cut at Pin Antonio’s Salon de Manila on Tomas Morato, I was introduced to a petite fair-skinned lady whose name was Cherry. After she left, Pin said, "You know Jacs, she’s blind and she makes soap." I looked at the brochure and was amazed at how beautiful these soaps were.
Cherry makes soaps for all occasions. She has soaps with flowers inside, animals. She also has soaps that are shaped like popsicles, candies. And all of them come in various scents. She also makes soaps with your name on them if you like.
"Just having fun with soap" is what it says in her brochure.
Yes, you definitely will have fun with her soaps. She gave me a basket of them. I used them in my guest bathroom. They brightened up my bathroom and given it an atmosphere of fun. My kids love using that bathroom and I know my guests will, and when I am asked where I got them, I will tell them from this special lady named Cherry.
As Pin was cutting my hair, she told me about Cherry. She wasn’t born blind. She lost her eyesight a couple of years ago. That amazed me more. I thought to myself, it must have been hard for her to accept her blindness because she had a chance to see before. And yet, obviously she was moving on. I knew that I wanted to hear this lady’s story if she would allow me to. She agreed, and this is how it went.
Jacquilou (J): Tell me about yourself and your family.
Cherry (C): My name is Cherry Cua, 26 years old, the eldest in the family. I have three brothers. We moved to Canada for a while because the kidnapping was rampant before and my parents were worried. We lived there for nine years.
J: What did you take up in college?
C: Animal Science.
J: So you love animals?
C: Yes, I have a Yorkie who is seven years old.
J: How old were you when you had diabetes?
C: I am a juvenile diabetic. I was nine.
J: How was that like?
C: I had to inject insulin twice a day.
J: Wasn’t that difficult? Did you feel deprived as a child?
C: Yes, it was difficult? I was in denial. I would look at other kids and wonder why I couldn’t eat what they were eating. But when we moved to Vancouver it was better. There were more choices in food that was sugar-free or low in sodium. And my classmates were cool regarding my diabetes. It wasn’t an issue as compared to when I was here.
J: When did you lose your eyesight?
C: When I was 19 in Vancouver.
J: What happened?
C: I hadn’t been urinating for two to three days. I thought it was just because I had a tummy ache. On the third day I told my parents and I was taken to a hospital right away. I underwent a series of test. It was my kidneys. They weren’t functioning well. They had to place a tube at my back to release the kidney stones.
J: How long were you in the hospital?
C: Two weeks. On the first week the tube was on the right side of my back. On the second week it was on the left side.
J: So when you went home, did you feel better?
C: Yes, but after a while my vision was getting blurred, about 20 percent of my vision. For a month it was like that. I thought this was the trauma of my kidney trouble.
J: What did the doctors recommend?
C: They said I would had to undergo laser treatments. I went to about six sessions but unfortunately nothing happened. I really lost my eyesight.
J: How did you feel? How did you cope? Did you get angry at God?
C: I thought that maybe I had been bad and that’s why this happened to me. I was so depressed. I just wanted to stay in my room, locked myself there. Didn’t want to talk anybody.
J: What was the turning point? How were you able to get out of your depression?
C: After three or four months of hiding in that room, I just grew tired of it. I became bored. I felt I had to do something else.
J: What was the first thing you did?
C: I had an aunt who told me na mamasyal daw kami. Baka daw I wanted to go to the mall. I felt awkward with the thought of it. I didn’t know how to be, how to act outside. My aunt said, "E di use shades." And so I did.
J: What did you do?
C: We watched a movie (then catching herself). Ay, yung aunt ko lang pala. Ako nakinig lang.
J: So, what did she watch and you listen to?
C: Multiplicity.
J: You ride horses? Did you already ride even before you lost your eyesight?
C: I was 12 when I took formal riding lessons.
J: How long after you lost your eyesight did you ride again?
C: After a year.
J: How did you start again?
C: At first, I just walked with my instructor in the riding area, just to familiarize myself with the place again.
J: How did your instructor make it easier for you?
C: With a dressage (a riding stick). The dressage he made me use was longer than a normal riding stick. Now, I can ride on my own. They just guide me when I get to the corners.
J: How does that make you feel?
C: Free! Riding is my first love!
J: How did you get started with making your soaps?
C: I always like the kikay stuff–colognes, lotions and the like. (Cherry’s parents manufacture a detergent, Bilis detergent soap.) Since I had an advantage ’coz my parents knew of the business, I decided to have my own.
J: Are you planning to have a stall somewhere?
C: Maybe eventually. But for now, we offer them to companies as giveaways, souvenirs for weddings, birthdays, Christmas or any occasion.
J: What are your other plans?
C: Aside from the soaps, we also have lotions, scrubs. I want to have my line, with my name.
J: What’s a typical day for you?
C: I watch TV and open my computer.
J: How do you use the computer? Did you have to enroll in a program to make it easier for you?
C: At S.T.T. they have a program for the blind. I took it up for six months.
J: How did that work?
C: I had to memorize the keys till it became second nature, and then I would just listen to the commands.
J: Is it true that your other senses become sharper when you can’t see?
C: Yes. My ears are more sensitive and my sense of smell is 88 percent sharper. That’s okay with things that smell nice but terrible for pungent smells (then, she laughs). You know Jacq, I have mastered something since I became blind. I can detect if there is a cockroach. I can smell them.
J: So you’re an ‘ipis detector’?
C: Yes.
J: (I am amazed at this lady’s sense of humor). If God gave you one day where you could see again, what would you do?
C: Look at my parents (Cesar and Janelle), and my brothers (Charles, Clemence and Clarence). And I would go to a mall, buy clothes and match them.
Talking to Cherry has touched me a special way. She has faught me to appreciate the simple things in life. She has become an "ipis expert" and is thrilled about it.
You are really the master of your life. God helps us but the rest is up to us. Yes, she did wallow in her depression for a while, but she was able to rise above that. I always say that it doesn’t matter what happened to you before, what kind of person you were, but what matters is what you become after, what you make of yourself. It is always the end product that counts.
Cherry has become productive. She has found her passions in life and is embracing them with open arms. And I know that life still has so much in store for her.
Thank you, Cherry. Thank you for opening your heart to me. I am privileged to know a beautiful person like you. Thank you for touching my life like you have.