I think we really know what we have to be thankful in life until we see everyday the poverty that just shows on our very eyes. Really to be honest seeing lots of less fortunate people here really has changed the way I live daily. I know sometimes that we want more than what we have which is a normal thing. But most of the times living here again really opened up my eyes on what really I prioritize in life. Seeing the poor people here I know they prioritize “the need” over the want in their daily living. Of course the needs were pretty imminent to a lot of poor people here.
Flip Flops
I was browsing through my pictures that I had on my desktop, I came across the pictures that I save for awhile now. A picture of the foot of an old guy wearing a flip flop made of bottles and rope. It really shocked to know at first that some people wears those kind of stuff. My heart ache for the old man (seeing at the foot of the guy, I just think its an old man). Can you imagine wearing those over the hot sunny days. It would be so uncomfortable. It might feel your foot is on fire, because of the plastic. It really amazed me how the ingenuity of the people due to poverty. But I guess just to make out of it, they have to endure the uneasiness with it. I guess the empty bottle slipper might be a bit better than without something on their foot then.
Our helper made slippers out from the cardboard box. She put ribbons as the strap. It was meant to use for indoors. She was just showing our youngest (Nicole) here in the house that it’s easy to make something of what we have inside the house. It was a smart move for her to show Nicole the life she’s living in the province. I’m glad she did. It was kind of an eye opener for the little one.
I remember during my grade school days. I studied in public school. Some of my schoolmates were from the mountains. They’re the natives in our area. Sometimes some of them don’t have any flip flops at all. They go to school barefoot. Can you imagine walking on the mountain without anything on your foot? The roads might have small cut trees or maybe the small roots of the tree on the pathway. That could give slivers to their foot. But even without slippers they still went to school on time. With the determination in their minds few of them became teachers and were teaching on the school I graduated from. It really makes me happy that even with the hardship in life they became somebody later.
One of my nieces is a teacher in one of the remote areas in GenSan. Most of her students were the natives and had no slippers in going to school. She told me what the kids told her ” Ma’am would we really buy slippers first over the food? Of course our parents chose to buy the food ahead of the slippers.” My niece then continued on saying that most of her students don’t have nutritious food to eat during lunch time. All they have were rice and soy sauce. Sometimes my niece gave them some food. She said she can’t afford to be feeding those students all the time. She really is trying on helping those kids. Some kids can’t go to school everyday because of lucking of food. It sad but it’s the reality of some schools here, especially those in the remote areas of the country. Feeling sad and hurt for them. I’m hoping that the government will have more programs for those indigenous people in the province.
To all of you in the West: Enjoy the last days of summer in your part of the world. Get ready for the cold days again. 
Mabuhay!