Perlita Mendoza

Perlita was born in the province of Isabela, in Benito Soliven, Philippines, to a modest family. At the age of two, she lost her father, and when she was eight, her mother also passed away. Perlita has been raised by her grandmother along with her little sister, who sadly died when she was 8 years old.

Despite all this tragic sequence of crises, Perlita never gave up, and she graduated from Isabela State University – Cauayan Campus.

Perlita was married with two children, but she had lost her 4-year old sick daughter a year earlier.

Working conditions in the Philippines did not match Perlita's expectations, thus, she traveled to Lebanon in 2016 to try her luck, and eventually improve her financial situation and save her family from poverty. She did not only leave her home country, but she left a 2-year old girl and a 10-year old boy. She returned to the Philippines after the passing of her little daughter in 2019. However, her family's living conditions were more difficult than ever, and she decided to come back to Lebanon to fulfill her employment contract expected to end in January 2021. Unfortunately, nothing went as planned.

On the morning of August 4, 2020, 39-year old Perlita talked to her husband Giovanni, and they decided to organize a single celebration for her son’s birthday, and her return home, in January 2021. But disaster hit earlier, and Perlita left this world a victim of a bloody Beirut blast.

On that day, Perlita was at her employer's home in Achrafieh, going about her day, when an explosion hit the Port of Beirut. Shards of glass hit her all over her body, and she was evacuated to Baabda Governmental Hospital, because all nearby hospitals were hugely affected by the blast.

Perlita's passing shocked her husband who lost his wife on the first anniversary of their daughter's death. According to the medical examination, she died of intensive bleeding, and extreme physical wounds.

Perlita worked hard to support her family and provide for their needs; she sustained huge emotional and physical burdens to make ends meet. Her fate, regrettably, was a tragic one, in a country she sought to make a life. The Embassy of the Philippines in Lebanon completed paperwork, and Perlita was flown to be buried in her home town.