a weekend without cellsites and electricity

“Suppose someone has enough to live and sees a brother or sister in need, but does not help. Then God’s love is not living in that person.” - 1 John 3:17

Saturday, October 28, 2006

7am
It was a bright and beautiful Saturday morning, very conducive for conducting the simultaneous outreach activities of DLSZ teachers. Everyone met at McDonald’s ATC, armed with caps, shades, and cameras (plus their respective tools and goods), where different rides waited to take the participants to the various venues. Our group was among the last to leave… let’s ask Ralf why… ;)

So there we were, the chosen few… ten to be exact… Jay, Flu, Denise, Chetty, Pao, Lucky, Ralf, Ruby, Kyra, and I… on our way to one of the most memorable experiences we’ll ever have in our entire lives… to reach out to our brothers and sisters in Canumay, Antipolo.

10am
We were picked up at Antipolo church by the LSVP in a transportation that was more accustomed to the Canumay trail. Ms. Annie apologized for being late because… we were to find that out for ourselves later! The jeep’s appearance was just a preview!

That jeep ride was something!! Let’s just say it can give the Space Shuttle in Enchanted Kingdom a run for its money, with the airiness of Flying Fiesta, the side splashes of Jungle Log Jam (not of water, but mud!!), and the bumps of Dodgem, all minus the safety strap! When we reached the ascending parts of the mountain, the pahinantes braced the wheels with chains for better grip on the mud. In parts when the wheels were stuck in deep mud, they tied a rope to a tree a few meters away and it was attached to a pulley in front of the jeep. They even had to put down the covers on the side windows for the mud splatters! Ms. Annie sat coolly in front while we screamed at every surge because it meant that we had to hold tight to the bars and on to our bags… we were like eggs being thrown around inside the basket!

We finally reached Pagsiko, which was the ‘jeep terminal’ before the trek down to Canumay. My whole body felt sore, but we were only halfway.

1pm
We started walking with all our bags and boxes. I trailed the group because I wanted to walk slowly but surely, focusing on my feet. But when I looked up, I realized that I was missing the lovely view! The hills and fields were green, the breeze was light, and the sun was shining gently. It was my first time to walk through pilapil. After what seems like hours, we reached the LSVP quarters, where the other LSVP volunteers welcomed us. My shirt was literally drenched in sweat, and my shoes were caked in mud.

We literally pounced on the lunch that was waiting for us. My whole body, especially my legs, was trembling from exhaustion. We were lagging behind schedule, so we had to forego a few minutes of rest. Our respective small groups were ready for our activities.

2pm
Chetty, Pao, and Lucky stayed in the quarters to convene the community leaders, while the rest of us proceeded to the basketball court with the kids. (Not another stretch of walking!) Flu, Ruby, and I handled the grade school kids, while Jay, Denise, Kyra, and Ralf spent the afternoon with the pre-school kids.

In the basketball court a few kilometers away, it was full of activities infused with values and lots of fun learning -- story-telling, coloring, singing, dancing, and games. The kids were given prizes of candies and cookies. We discovered that the kids of Canumay were smart, active, talented, and cheerful.

After the activities, we caught our well-deserved rest. We also started talking about our program for the ‘cultural night.’ Then we were one by one brought to our respective foster families. Jay was right when he said that we were not like next-door neighbors – the houses were far from one another! There were houses uphill, far down the road, and farther up beyond more ricefields!

6pm
I was somehow relieved that my family lived right behind Ruby’s. When I arrived, it was almost dark, but people were still outside nagbabayo ng bigas in the common area. One of them was Kuya Willy, the head of my foster family. Inside the house, Lovely, his wife, greeted me warmly. She was already preparing supper, and I wanted to help but it was so hard groping in the dark, with only a small gasera to provide light to the entire house, but Love was so used to it already. I saw another small flicker of light in another room, and I heard a faint crying. Then I realized that there was a baby! Instead of getting in Love’s way in the kitchen, I picked up the crying baby instead. He had colds which made him feel uncomfortable. Later, I helped their two older sons pick grains of palay from the bigas that Kuya Willy had brought in. Imagine doing that with just a small source of light, which you should finish in a few minutes because you will have to cook that for supper.

My foster family
Lovely was 24, Kuya Willy was 35. She was a housewife, he was nagkakaingin. She was originally from Pangasinan, and his family had lived in Canumay eversince. They had been married eight years.

They had three boys: Daboy was five. He was what Love would call matapang and matigas ang ulo. JR, four, was also fondly called Ping, short for pingkiw, because he fell two different times when he was younger and either broke or dislocated both his arms. The most the hilot could do was repair them a little bent to the back. The youngest, Moises, was two months old.

We were told that volunteers had to eat whatever the family served. Fortunately, that night, we had something that I was already used to eating… kalabasa. Over supper, they openly shared with me how their life was, their past, some valuable lessons. After eating, I informed them of the cultural night, but then I realized that I could not force them to join me because of baby Moises. I decided to stay with them in the house. They borrowed an extra katre from a neighbor, where Love, the baby, JR, and I slept under the kulambo, while Kuya Willy and Daboy occupied the other one.

As I lay down, I heard voices from the hill, and thinking that it was the other volunteers and their foster families holding the cultural night, I dozed off…


Sunday, October 29, 2006

2am
I woke up shaking from chill, with no idea what time it was. I remembered how Love reminded me to put on my jacket because it got very cold at night. Since I could not get it from my bag without waking up the baby, I just drew up my blanket tighter.

After that, I woke up probably every hour. The baby was starting to be a little fussy, crying every now and then, and Love would breastfeed him. JR wanted to pee, and before I knew it, the roosters were crowing and I could see light from the cracks on the walls. Love got up to prepare water for coffee. Kuya Willy would be up in a while to leave for kaingin.

I was still in bed when Jay called out to me. They had come for Ruby and me to go to the falls, which we had been planning the day before. While I was preparing, Love said that I must have been really tired from the trip because I was snoring in my sleep! Oh dear, how embarrassing! After a few minutes, Ralf was calling out, so I left without any breakfast.

7am
We met up at the LSVP quarters again, but the others were not able to join us. Flu’s foster sister, Buday, was our guide to the falls. With my legs hardly recovering from the day before, we were again walking, but this time, the trail was more slippery because of the rain that night. Finally, Jay, Ralf, Lucky, Flu, Ruby, and I reached the mini falls. After about an hour of bathing and taking pictures, we headed back.

We returned to our respective families for breakfast or help in the house or pack up. I asked Love where I can take a bath. She said they did so in the poso in the common area… But she offered the nearby common toilet, which had three walls of hollow blocks, and one side covered with sako… with a half-foot gap and which fluttered everytime the wind blew! I got water from the poso and hurriedly took my bath, before the goat grazing nearby decides to charge into the toilet! After packing up, I asked Love to join me to the LSVP quarters for the processing activity, so I can give her the small token we have prepared. Since she also wanted to ask for medicine for the baby’s colds, she left her baby to a young neighbor because Kuya Willy had gone to kaingin, and her two sons wanted to go with us.

9am
It started to rain as the volunteers arrived with their foster parents, so we decided to hold the processing activity inside the quarters. Since two of us were not able to attend the cultural night, we introduced our foster families first. We shared our insights and experiences in our foster houses, and our hosts shared their observations and opinions about the volunteers. I was touched that Love specifically told the group how I was helping around the house. (in the photo you see her speaking, and on the floor is JR)

We started our trek back. It was still raining so the road was more slippery than the day before. There were ‘casualties’ again this time (read: people who slipped on slippery slippers), which includes me… two times at that!! When we reached Pagsiko (I was again among the last), another horrifying jeep ride was waiting for us.

1pm
Our panicky screams again filled the jeep as we passed through waist-deep soft mud almost half of the trip. We stopped over at the river for a soothing wash of our muddy shoes and pants.

Not after being tumbled and tossed in the jeep, we finally saw a glimpse of Antipolo Church again. We had a takeout lunch and freshening up, before proceeding to the DLSZ van (were we so relieved to see Kuya Robert!), but I joined the group only until Guadalupe.

When I was walking up to the MRT, I came across a small puddle of mud, and it instantly caused me to freeze in my tracks! Then I realized that I was no longer in Canumay, but in EDSA. Every muscle in my body hurt while I tried to go up each step to the station, then I remembered one of the thoughts raised in the processing that morning – that we from Metro Manila are no different from them in Canumay, that we all go through our respective difficulties everyday of our lives. It does not follow that we from Metro Manila are ‘better off’ than them in all aspects -- it’s more on how much we value what we have, such as our family, our neighbors, having a dignified source of income. Given their simple lives, they welcomed us wholeheartedly into their homes, offered us whatever they had, went out of their way to accommodate us. The short time that I spent with the people of Canumay taught me to go back to basics, to give up a few conveniences, to cherish conversations, to exercise by walking, to enjoy nature… things that I would normally ignore in my fast-paced routine in Metro Manila. But in Canumay, these are treasures. As we attempted to sing as an offering (but dismally failed!) to our foster parents during the processing activity…

Thank you for teaching me how to love
Showing me what the world means
What I've been dreamin' of
And now I know, there is nothing
that I could not do, Thanks to you

For teaching me how to feel
Showing me my emotions
Letting me know what's real from what is not
What I've got is more that I'd ever hoped for
And a lot of what I hope for is
Thanks to you

No mountain, no valley
No time, no space
No heartache, no heartbreak
No fall from grace
Can stop me from believing
That my love will pull me through
Thanks to You

For teaching me how to live
Putting things in perspective
Showing me how to give and how to take
No mistake we were put here together
And if I breakdown forgive me but it's true
That I'm aching with the love I feel inside
Thanks to you, Thanks to you

(Thanks to you by Tyler Collins)