My daughter, a Grade V pupil, told me that they would have a Do-Day in school. She and her classmates were required to bring wide buri hats and surot (trowel).
I was flabbergasted. Today, do schools still hold Do-Days?
Do-Day was popular during the time I was in the elementary. During those days, we bring cleaning and gardening tools to school. The whole day we had no class. We just cleaned the classrooms or did gardening - all child play for us then.
Today, are there still spaces to be gardened? Do schools, or even parents, lack the funds to pay for extra janitors and maintenance people? Does anyone still use a surot?
On the day of the Do-Day, aside from the requirements, my daughter brought insect repellant lotion, hand sanitizer, alcohol, a roll of tisue paper, surgical gloves,extra clothes, and food. In the afternoon, she excitedly reported her experience of scraping dried mud from the sidewalks using a surot, and clearing a less than 2 square meters shaded plot which had fewer growth compared to the bald head of their school's dean. And, yes, she applied the lotion, wore the hat and surgical gloves, and afterwards, wiped her exposed skin with alcohol and sanitizer. That night, she complained that she could not sleep because her legs were itchy.
I remembered our Do-Day way back then.
Our teacher shepherded us to the track and field ground to clear the chest-high grasses and bushes. He ordered that each of us should produce a waist-high pile of cut overgrowth which he would check after an hour. Then he left. At first, all of us were keen on cutting grasses and making our piles. But then one classmate somersaulted over the pile of another. And it was playtime. The boys jockeyed for positions and made the best somersault they could perform. Others practiced on the nearby piles. The girls formed groups to boo and to cheer. Nobody shouted a warning that there could be a sharp scythe or hoe carelessly left on the side and any accident may be fatal. As the time progressed, some boys snatched lumps of grasses from the piles of innocent girls to make their pile higher. The girls cried when they discovered their missing grasses so the good boys steadily cut more grass to appease the girls. The lazy ones looked for standing bushes and covered them with cut grasses to form a pile. Meantime the show went on. We ducked, romped, and rolled over the piles as if these were cushions. After more than an hour, we learned that our teacher had already gone home without checking the piles we made. So we burned all the freshly cut grass and made a contest as to who could produce the thickest smoke and the biggest fire. After sometime, the principal and some people came and scolded us because nearby residents complained that they could not stay in their houses because of the heavy smoke and they were afraid the fire would reach their humble abodes.
The following day, many of us came to class with the same clothes we wore the time we romped over the piles of grasses. Non complained of itchyness and the teachers never complained of our smell. All of us seemed to look fresh, scrubbed, and delightfully cuddly. When our teacher came, he was accompanied by the principal. Our lesson for that day was about fire prevention.@
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Do-Day
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Heaven
Today, I woke up at 6am. As I got down from our upstairs bedroom for my coffee, I saw the message indicator of my cellphone was blinking. Suddenly, I felt uneasy. Ano naman natabo kay Nanay?
My mother lives in our ancestral house, while I live 25km away. My mother had a near fatal stroke 12 years ago. Since that time, she has a hard time moving around.
As I looked at the blinking light of my cellphone, I remembered the time I visited some relatives during a fiesta. When I left the house of the 8th relative I visited, I noticed that the message and call indicators of my cellphone, which I left in my car, were all lighted. When I opened the flap, I read that I had 7 missed calls and 8 unopened messages. The first message I opened was from my sister. Drtso ka na lg CT. Sakay kmi ambulanc. Was this message for me? Wr ka? Bring namon Nanay CT. Sa ambulanc na lg kmi sakay. Then a message from my nephew. To wr ka? Ri kmi Ramon Tabiana hosptl. Dala namon Nanay. I didn't open the other messages. I called my sister. She informed me Nanay had another stroke.
Ano naman natabo kay Nanay? Then I gingerly opened the first message. Basi ma-stroke ako.
The message began,
Long time ago,
It was not about Nanay. I heaved a sigh of relief. Ah, it's going to be a good day. Then I scrolled down the message, as it was typed a few words in a line, in a strip tease manner.
persons who
sacrificed
their spirit,
their life,
identity,
wealth,
laughter,
wer called
Saints.
Today,
they r
called
Before I continued scrolling down, I anticipated the next word would be Heroes as it is now Arroyo-bashing season. But I was wrong as the next word was
Husbands!!
And the kicker,
Happy
FATHER'S
DAY.:-)
It was from my banker friend. And the other messages (more were still coming) were greeting me the same.
Then my daughters came down, kissed me, and greeted me with the sweetest HAPPY FATHER'S DAY.
I was so delirious, I nearly had a stroke. It was heaven.@
Saturday, June 6, 2009
On HR 1109: Dapat dito ka o doon. Walang middle ground.
My favorite nephew, a UP PolSci student, frequently texts me famous quotes/timely proverbs. Sometimes, I am irritated because I find this a waste of money (Tito naka-unli ako!). But, always, I appreciate his thoughts, and especially the messages that many times jolted me to realities.
One message I received from him was: 'Dapat, dito ka o doon. Walang middle ground.'
The message was simple. But it was one of the few he sent that I could not ignore.
Last month, I used the message as the gist of my speech in a speaking engagement for the youth. You can only be in one place - dito o doon. Walang middle ground. Just like in the issues buffeting our country. You have to take sides. Whether you're pro- or anti-, it does not matter. You have to take sides. Walang middle ground. Walang passive. You have to take action. And when you grow old and feel irrelevant, you will be comforted by the fact that when you were young, you took action and made a difference.
Sa issue sang HR 1109 o Con-Ass, ano bala ang dapat naton himuon? Dapat, diri ka o didto. Wala sang middle ground. Kon ano man ang inyo opinion, make it known. Voice it out! This could be the time for it. Tomorrow can be too late.
Ang iba sigi lang reklamo. Wala man ginahimo. Could it be that we REALLY deserve the kind of government we have?
Please click here for an article on Con-Ass. You can find many other relevant articles in the internet.@
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Tiny, sweet, native bayabas
When I was living abroad, whenever I passed by a fruit stand selling the small variety of pears, I bought at least 2 boxes of the fruit because they resemble and had a similar taste with the native Philippine guava. I ate the pears while I slouched lazily watching TV or reading the papers. I loved them. The pears helped me re-live my days in the remote barrio of my lolo and lola, climbing and eating guavas with nary a care in the world.
I like guavas or bayabas, the native wild variety (Scientific name: Psidium guajava L). Today, whenever I am in the farm, I just stand near one and reach for the nearest fruits. I don't have to move around or climb the tree. The fruits are within reach and so many you can have free merienda by just standing near one. Ngaa mangita pa ko pizza o hamburger?
In our farm, there are also the commercial variety called guapol because they can be bigger than apples. However, the fruits must really be wrapped with plastic from the time they are still buds, and must be handled with extra TLC. Otherwise, the fruit will contain worms.
Guava is believed to have the highest concentration of vitamin C among the local fruits in the Philippines. The leaves and bark are known to be astringent, vulnerary, and antidiarrhetic. The bark is used in the chronic diarrhea of children. The fruit is known to be anthelmintic, and is used for high blood pressure, poor circulation, diabetes and asthma. Ti, ano pa ginapangita nyo?
Ti sa abroad may bayabas man? Ipabugal na lang ninyo ang pear. But nothing beats the original.@
