Mother
On May 5, 1973, my mother Merlin Tomarong Martinsen was born at home in Kiblawan in the Philippines. At seven months old, she and her family (mother, father and 2 brothers) moved to Ibo Toledo city, where she also grew up. She went to Ibo elementary school, later studied at Bato high school, then the University of the Visayas-Gullas school in Toledo and is trained as a teacher. In 2004, she and her family moved on to Awihao, 6 kilometers from Ibo Toledo city. She lived there until she moved to her husband Leif Helge Martinsen in Vennesla, Norway in 2009, whom she married in 2005. Here she works as a floor manager at the UIA knowledge park in Kristiansand and started there in 2011.
Father
On 28 December 1960, my father Leif Helge Martinsen was born in Kristiansand hospital, Norway He grew up in Vennesla, two miles north of Kristiansand, with his family (mother, father, 3 brothers and 1 sister). He started at Moseidmoen primary school and later went to Vennesla secondary school. After his studies, he went on a welding course and had a few welding jobs before he started working as a machinist at Hunsfos for 23 years. My father unfortunately passed away far too soon on 22 February 2022
Family in Norway & the Philippines:
In Norway, I have 3 uncles, 1 aunt and 8 cousins who all live in Vennesla Municipality, Norway. In Awihao, just outside Toledo in the Philippines, I have a grandmother, 2 uncles, 1 aunt and 4 cousins