“It paid us back so much beyond our imagination” -

Reviews IAM Group Limited (Ltd.) Yokohama Japan Korea

Southeast Asia

I was privileged enough to have attended a gathering of the members of IAM Group Limited (Ltd.) while I was vacationing in Yokohama, Japan.

I was never aware that such group existed, they even gave me the website where I can go and check it is at http://i-am- groupltd.com. I found out that

they have so many members from other countries in Asia, like in Korea, Thailand, Bangkok, Singapore and Malaysia, they also have some members in

the Southeast of Asia.

Most of the stories they share were doing acts of kindness to people they don’t personally know of. Simple gestures of sharing, to giving monetary

assistance to the needy. I was inspired and my hope that we can make this world a better place to live in, sparked. Still, many people are out there,

spreading goodwill to mankind. I was compelled to share my story, hoping it will inspire others the way they inspired me.

I remember when we were young, life was so hard, a family of seven, my parents really tried their best to keep ends meet. I remember waking up in the morning, with my two brothers, with no

breakfast on the table, we would spend the rest of the morning at the street playing with our neighbors.

As kids, we did not mind it, because, we had long hours to play without adult supervision. We had no breakfast prepared because both of my parents, had to work in the market. They leave our house early in the morning at around 1a.m., but my dad usually goes home before lunch time,

to prepare our meal before going to school.

We rented our house, we have no television, sometimes we have a refrigerator, sometimes we don’t, we were provided with material things that we really need.

Non essential things like spare shoes, spare bags and others, we don’t have. I remember, we don’t have our own toys, but that did not stopped us from enjoying our childhood. We made toys from scratch. We had bottle caps as plates, stripped

old newspaper as paper money, and plant leaves for food. My parents always taught us the importance of handling the hard earned money, and that it should be

spent wisely.

We never celebrated any birthdays. When my siblings receive citations in school, that is the only time we are able to drink soda. But we happily celebrate New Year’s Eve, at midnight, we would shout with joy to welcome the New Year, my

elder sister would prepare seven sticks of hotdogs and seven sticks of meat to be barbequed, for me the main event of our feast was a can of fruit cocktail, which my

mom would proudly open and pour its contents in a bowl.

But I remember, when I was young, I could hear my parents talking, because, one of our neighbor was asking for financial aid, we didn’t have enough money then to share. The

money my parents had was just enough for us, but still my parents helped that neighbor of ours, I heard what my father said, “God will help us tomorrow, I know, because He does not

forsake those who are helping the needy”.

Through the years by being frugal, our family was able to stretch its monthly budget , my parents hardwork resulted to us having our own house and lot, we were able to finish our schooling. Now that our parents are old, and are no longer capable of working early in the

morning we decided that it was our turn to give back what goodness they have given us.