i think parts of what you've said is similar to what most of us went thru.
the 'blessing' you've mentioned i think, this is drummed into the little filipinos soon as they can walk !, i remember my mother in laws grandchildren doing this at around the age of 2 or 3yrs old.
I wasn't put under the spot light, like you, as I had chatted to my now mother in law for years before we meet. After chatting to my now wife for a few months, i said jokingly about getting married, and she told her sister about what i said, i had known her sister even longer than my wife,and her mom heard them talking about getting married, and the next day a got a long email from her mom, about how her daughter was the smallest in her family, also she had been hurt before..etc, i sent her an email back assuring her about all her worries... then we chatted for years.. infact when i first went to the phils it was her mother who i first meet at the airport !!! , my wifes parents are seperated, and so i meet her dad a few days later, we talked , told me about his gun collection, and how is daughter could be 'trouble'
as for the poverty, attached to the back wall of the garden of the house my wife rented was a small shed, an old guy lived there, he must have been in his 60s+, living in what looked like a small garden shed, about 7 ft long and 5ft wide built out of bits of old wood and god knows what. i really felt sorry for him, even then i knew i couldnt support another person thou. my wife told me he lived their for years...
