Out of tragedy, transformation

'Dreaded area' transformed in 9/11 victim's memory: Once-notorious Manila slum is now an orderly village named after Marie Rose Abad

A street sign in Manila shows an American businesswoman and Sept. 11 victim smiling down on a community whose transformation would have warmed her heart: Children frolicking on tidy brick alleys near brightly colored houses.

Unlike many victims of the 2001 attacks who are remembered mostly by their family and friends, Marie Rose Abad's legacy lives on half-way around the world in a once-notorious Manila slum now turned into an orderly village that carries her name.

Her Philippine-born American husband had the community of about 50 one-story houses built in her memory in 2004 as a tribute to their 26 years of marriage and her unfulfilled desire to help the poor in the Philippines.

Lost after watching the tower in which his wife, who had been on the phone several times with him over the course of the emergency, collapsed, Rudy Abad turned to philanthropy to honour her memory in his native land, half a world away from where she died, making a difference in the lives of others.