Ever since it was diagnosed that I am having a possible
heart enlargement in the last APE, I have exerted more effort to do
physical exercises.
I do jogging during week days and do long - ride mountain biking every Sunday.
But this Sunday is a special Sunday to me. While I was on my way to the mountains
of Busay (cebu) hoping to strengthened my heart by thisexercise, instead,
I personally encountered a heart-breaking scene that changed me.
I already passed the Marco Polo Plaza (formerly Cebu
Plaza Hotel) when I decided
to stop to buy bananas at a small carenderia located
along the road. I haven't taken any solid food that morning
so I need fruits to have the needed energy to get to my destination - the mountain top.
I am almost done eating with the second banana when I
noticed two children
across the street busily searching the garbage area.
"Basureros" I said to myself
and quickly turn my attention away from them to sip a
small amount of water.
I cared less for these kind of children actually; to
make it straight, I do not like them,
and I do not trust them even more.
You see, several times I have been a victim to these
kind of children who are
pretending to be basureros looking for empty bottles and
cans when in fact the
'plangganas' , 'kalderos', and 'hinayhays' are their
favorites.
I remember one afternoon while I was watching a Mike
Tyson fight when I noticed
that the TV screen suddenly became blurred. I checked
outside and saw two young
basureros running away with my newly installed antenna.
Hatred may be a little bit stronger word to describe my
feeling towards these
basureros, but I do not like them honestly not till I
met these three children.
I was about to embark on my bike again when I heard one
of the two children,
a girl of about 7 or 8 of age saying aloud to the other,
a 12-yr old boy, "kuya si dodong
kuha-a kay nag-sige'g tan-aw sa mga nagkaon, mauwaw ta"
(kuya si dodong kunin mo
kasi tumitingin sa mga kumain, nakakahiya), only then
that I noticed a small boy standing
near to me biting slightly his finger. He's a few inches
shorter if compared to my
5 years old son (but I knew later that he's also 5 yrs.
Old).
Though he did not asked for food to anyone in the
carenderia, the way he looked at
the customers who were eating , enough to convinced me
that he intensely craving for it.
The older boy then quickly crossed the street and gently
pulled out the little one who
politely obeyed. As I watched the two crossing back the
street to the garbage area,
I heard the tindera saying "Lo-oy kaayo nang mga bataa
uy, mga buotan ra ba na"
(kawawa naman yung mga batang yun mababait pa naman). I
learned further from
the carenderia owner that the children are from a good
family , both parents were working
before, and that their father got a stroke 3 years ago
and became partially paralized and
their mother died of heart attack while their father was
still confined at the hospital.
The parents were still in their early forties when the
catastrophe happened, and the children
became basureros since then to meet their daily needs
and for their father's medication.
Deeply moved by what I heard, I went to a nearby bakery
and bought 20 pesos
worth of bread and gave it to the children who initially
refused including the little boy.
"Sige lang noy, salamat na lang, magpalit lang nya mi
kung mahalinan na mi" (sige lang po,
salamat na lang, bibili na lang po kami mamaya kung
makabenta na kami) the young girl said to me.
I explained that they need to go home because it started
to rain. "Naanad na man mi ani"
(nasanay na po kami) the girl answered again.
Again, I explained that the rain can make them sick and
if they'll become sick there's
no one to take care of their father. Upon mentioning
their father, they nodded and
accept the bread but I noticed that the older boy did
not eat.
When I asked him if he does not like the kind of bread I
bought for them he smiled but
as he's about to explain, the little girl, who is the
more talker of them interrupted,
"Domingo man gud ron ,noy, basta Sabado ug Domingo hapon
ra siya mokaon kami ra
ang mokaon ug pamahaw pero dili na pod mi mokaon inig
hapon,si kuya ra. Pero basta
Lunes ngadto sa Biyernes, kay klase man, si kuya ra sad
ang seguro-on ug papamahaw,
kami hapon na sad mi moka-on Pero kung daghan mi ug
halin mokaon mi tanan."
(Linggo po kasi ngayon,pag sabado at lingo hapon lang po
sya kumakain, kami lang po
ang kumakain ng agahan pero di na po kami kakain
pagdating ng hapon si kuya lang po.
Pero pag lunes hanggang biyernes, kasi may pasok, si
kuya lang po nag-aagahan, kami hapunan
lang pero kung marami kaming benta kami pong lahat
(kumakain) she continued. "Ngano
man diay ug mokaon mong tanan, bahinon ninyo bisan ug
unsa ka gamay?" (bakit kung kumain
kayong lahat,hati-hatiin nyo na lang kahit kunti lang
ang pagkain?) I countered.
The young girl reasoned out that their father wanted
that her older brother to come to
school with full stomachs so he can easily catch up the
teacher's lessons. "Inig ka trabaho
ni kuya mo undang na man mi ug pamasura, first honor
baya na siya " (pag nagkatrabaho
si kuya, hihinto kami sa pamamasura, first honor kasi
sya) the little boy added proudly.
Maybe I was caught by surprise or I am just overly
emotional that my tears started to fall.
I then quickly turned my back from them to hide my tears
and pretended to pick up my
bike from the carenderia where I left it.
I don't know how many seconds or minutes I spent just to
compose myself; pretending
again this time that I was mending by bike.
Finally I get on to my bike and approached the three
children to bid goodbye to them
who in turn cast their grateful smiles at me. I then
took a good look at all of them specially
to the small boy and pat his head with a pinch in my
heart. Though I believe that their
positive look at life can easily change their present
situation, there is one thing that
they can never change; that is , their being motherless.
That little boy can no longer taste
the sweet embrace, care, and most of all , the love of
his mother forever. Nobody can
refill the empty gap created by that sudden and untimely
death of their mother. Every big events
that will happen to their lives will only remind them
and make them wish of their
mother's presence.
I reached to my pocket and handed to them my last 100
peso bill which I
reserved for our department's bowling tournament. This
time they refused
strongly but I jokingly said to the girl " sumbagon teka
ron kung di nimo dawaton"
(suntukin kita pag hindi mo tinanggap yan). She smiled
as she extended
her hand to take the money. "Salamat noy makapalit gyud
me ron ug tambal ni papa"
(salamat po, makakabili na kami ng gamot ni papa) she
uttered. I then turned to
the small boy and though he's a few feet away from me, I
still noticed that
while his right hand was holding the half - filled sack
, his left hand was holding a toy ?
a worn out toy car. I waved my hands and said bye bye to
him as I drove towards
the mountains again. Did he just found the toy in the
garbage area or the toy was
originally his - when the misfortune did not took place
yet? - I did not bother to ask.
But one thing is crystal clear to me, that inspite of
the boy's abnormal life, he did not
given up his childhood completely. I can sense it that
way he hold and stare at his toy.
My meeting with that young basureros made me poorer by
100 pesos. But they changed me
and made me more richer as to lessons of life are
concerned.
In them, I learned that life can changed suddenly and
may caught me flat footed.
In them, I've learned that even the darkest side of
life, cannot change the beauty of
one's heart. Those three children, who sometimes cannot
eat three times a day, still able
to hold on to what they believe was right. And what a
contrast to most of us who are quick
to point out to our misfortunes when caught with our
mistakes. In them, I've learned to hope
for things when things seem to go the other way.
Lastly, I know that God cares for them far more than I
do. That though He allowed them
to experience such a terrible life which our finite
minds cannot comprehend, His unquestionable
love will surely follow them through.
And in God's own time they will win.
GOD BLESS!!!
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Topic: The Basureros (Read 1462 times)