Sa mata ng isang mahirap

March 16, 2008, linggo ng umaga. Sabay ng masayang parada sa daan sa pagdiriwang ng Araw ng Dabaw ay dahan dahan naming tinahak ang daan patungo sa kung saan maaari kaming makahagilap ng jeepney. Sarado kasi ang ibang mga kalye upang bigyang daan ang parada. Lima kami, 4 na estudyante at isang guro namin. Hindi siya isang guro sa paaralan, ngunit itinuturing namin siyang guro dahil sa kanyang malawak na kaalaman.


Pumasok kami sa Gem Village sa Maa, napaisip tuloy ako. "May mahirap bang nakatira sa isang village?". Ngunit, tuloy pa rin ang aming paglalakbay hanggang sa umabot kami sa isang malayo-layong komunidad. Agad na sumalubong sa akin ang isang babala na nakapaskil pagpasok mo sa komunidad na iyon. "WARNING: Ang lugar na ito ay under the litigation of the law." Ano yun? Anong ibig sabihin nun? Yun pala, sa kabila ng maraming mga pamilyang nakatira doon ay hindi nila pag-aari ang lupa. Maaari silan paalisin doon, sa madaling sabi.

Umabot kami sa isang pamilya na nag boluntaryong ampunin kami. Maliit lamang ang bahay ngunit mahangin. May konting kagamitan, munting kusina at sala. Iyon ang bahay ng pinuno ng kanilang komunidad. Sa gilid ng bahay ay may posong pinagkukunan ng tubig ng buong komunidad. "Communal Property" ika nga ng aming guro.
Matapos naming magpakilala ay agad naming nilibot ang komunidad. Namangha ako sa dami ng mga bahay na naroroon. Maliit ang mga bahay at malapit sa isa't isa. Mas namangha ako sapagkat mga Muslim at Kristiyano ang nakatira doon. Walang away. Masaya silang nagsasama-sama doon.

Umabot kami sa bahay ng isang nagngangalang Romeo. Nagtatrabaho siya sa isang kumpanya na kung saan kumikita siya ng 29 centavos per coconut. Isa din siyang lider ng isang "union" noong 1986. Malungkot ang kanyang naging kwento. Naging pinuno siya sa isang union noong 1989, na ikinamatay ng maraming mamumuo. Napakababa ng kanilang sinusuweldo at wala pa silang benepisyong natatanggap. Kulang na kulang para sa kanyang asawa at tatlong anak. Minsan nga daw ay nagagalit siya sa kanyang sarili dahil hindi niya maialis sa kahirapan ang kanyang pamilya. Kasalanan ba niya yun?

Tanghali na kung kaya't bumalik kami sa bahay, nanood sa laban ng pambansang kamao. Pinanood ang kanyang pagkapanalo at isinumpa ang pandak na nagdiriwang sa puntong iyon.
Sa kabila ng kahirapang naranasan ko sa komunidad na iyon ay hindi ko naramdaman na kapos sila sa pangarap na maialis ang kanilang pamilya sa sitwasyong iyon. Mga gahamang kapitalista,at mga trapong nanunungkulan sa pamahalaan ang siyang nagiging dahilan upang patuloy na umusbong ang kahirapan sa ating bansa.

Marahil ang naranasan ko ay hindi pa ang tunay na mukha ng kahirapan. Marami pa ang namamatay dahil sa gutom, nagnanakaw upang mabigyan ng magandang kinabukasan ang kanilang mga anak. Nawa'y mamulat na ang lahat upang huwag laging isipin ang sariling kapakanan, kundi ang kapakanan ng nakararami.

it's over!

haha. at last, exams are over and it's time to welcome summer vacation! woohooo.
and right now i am trying to learn DOTA. as in! haha. this is for real. no jam. no joke. i used to defy this game. USED TO. haha. past tense. now, i am craving and addicted to it. haha.
not a negative addiction. (may ganun ba?) anyway, gutom na ako. haha.

I made this on January 3 (i think). I really hope I can do all of these successfully. ^-^

1. BE PHYSICALLY FIT

• do some exercise bebeh!
• close thy mouth and minimize food intake!

2. BE GRADE CONSCIOUS

• study daily..
• STOP PROCRASTINATING!

3. ORGANIZE PERSONAL THINGS

• make a weekly planner.
• arrange study table, cabinet and drawer DAILY!

4. BE THRIFTY/ SAVE MONEY

• NEVER ever buy something out of WANT!

5. BE GOAL-ORIENTED

• be focused
• enough with childish acts

6. BE THOUGHTFUL

• to family, friend and God!

7. READ A LOT OF BOOKS

• i mean A LOT of essential books!

And so that ends my short list of resolutions. 75% of my being tells me that I would be able to do all of them. hahaha. it's good enough, don't you think?

update! update!

wow, it feels good to be back! it was like ages ago when i had my last blog. ooohhh.

let's start with my academics. DEPRESSING! haha. (i still have the courage to laugh). i received my grades and I felt like shit. really. well, they are not disgustingly low (i still managed to be on the dean's list), but somehow i got really really furious of myself. mediocrity. i know i could have had better grades but i let mediocrity and procrastination get in the way. i was dead lazy during prelim and i curse myself for that. midterm is now on progress and i swear i won't sleep until i have read and memorized every single detail of the subject matter!

second, is my new year's resolution. I MADE ONE. haha. (i'll post it next time) i swear i made one. i didn't have resolutions for the past 3 years or so maybe because i used to believe that it is totally a waste of time and effort. plus i know that it would come to a failure, so why make one? haha. but i happen to change my mind. all of a sudden, i felt like i need to change for me to become a better individual. one boring and cold night, i found myself thinking about what will i become in the future and what have i proven so far. and there was nothing. totally nothing. i don't know if i could really reach my goals and i couldn't even give myself an applause for something extraordinary about me or something essential that i have done. there is really nothing about myself that i could be proud of. so sad but true. so that was the hellish night that i found myself in need for a personal change.

next, love life, flirty life or whatever (you got the point, right). well, frog prince is dating somebody or i guess they are together now. i'm happy for them. but i just can't help but say to myself "WELL, HE DOESN'T KNOW ME YET! WAIT TILL HE GETS TO KNOW ME AND HE'LL BE TOTALLY INTO ME!" hahahaha. what a funny thing to say. enough.

lastly, my christmas and new year celebration. well, it was fun. i celebrated with my family (of course) in our province, Nabunturan. Once again, i failed to complete the misa de gallo. what a shame. Well, there were few firecrackers that made noise and brightness on the dark streets of nabs. I ate a lot and i mean A LOT. haha. the class resumed on January 2, 2008 so i didn't really had much fun during our new year celebration. but generally, i was happy.