Manila by Twilight

The picture of the woman is Ate Betsi. She is married and has 3 kids who are from the ages of 6, 8, and 11. She is experiencing economical poverty due to the lack of income, assets, and resources received when working hard. She also experience the political poverty which is the lack of power and control of her own life due to her occupation of being a servant and because of her current social status. Given that she is part of the low class who receive very low amount of income, she said that when she goes to for example malls, people from the upper class ignores her and treats her badly. Because they know that she is a yaya due to the typical clothes and uniform a yaya wear, they would just treat her similar to how they treat other poor people from the streets especially if the people looking are Chinese because oftentimes most Chinese think low class Filipinos are equivalent to something like trash. Thus she said that she’s sad in how society today based ones influence, power, and thus interaction based on the amount of money that the person received. She said that if she received more income she knows that people will respect her more, give her the proper attention that she as a human deserve, and even create positive helpful influences on many others. Thus why currently she is ashamed to be part of the current society for people are so discriminative against her.

Currently, although she experiences these kinds of treatments, discrimination, financial and economical poverty, and political poverty, she doesn’t experience spiritual poverty for she believed that God will always help her in her work, decisions, and life. She says that even though she can’t go to mass due to her having to work in our house everyday, she stills pray deeply to God, be connected with Him, and also be truthful to Him. She says that even though she knows that she is poor, and people treats her bad, when she prays, or calls her children through her phone, she cheers up because she gets to hear their voices, chat with them, and help her have the determination to continue to work hard for her family is mainly the ones who truly loves, appreciates, and accepts her for who she is and what social status she is currently in.

She says that it’s through her family that makes her believe in God, believe in the possibility of improvement, and believe that her life can change because she told me that her family, and kids are all blessings from God, so if they are happy, loved, and feels ok she knows that it’s because of God’s love and care for her and her family. For her, as long as she knows that her family is ok, not sick, and have no problems, she is also ok with the amount of income earned for she knows that even if they earn so low income, they are still healthy, good, kind people. Thus even if currently she receives few amount of income, she prays everyday, still have hope, and still have strong faith thus showing her strong faith to God.

She said that there were times she experienced this poverty too and almost lost her faith to God when she feels so depressed and sad that she had to sacrificed her time and effort to be away from her family. Being my yaya, she needs to stay with our family everyday thus limiting her chance to see them physically, see them grow up, show affection between mother and child, and even sometimes missing out on their birthdays. When she feels this way she truly question God’s presence for she said to himself that if God was real, she would have given her more income, not make her be poor, not make her stay with us everyday, and make her be with her family. She reflected that if God truly loved her, He would have given her a better lifestyle wherein she can get to see her children grow and mature to fine young lads. Thus why when she misses her family dearly, and feels the feeling of loneliness at our home she experiences spiritual poverty.

She said that it took a long time and great effort of patience and understanding to accept that God is actually present, and that even if it’s hard to live, you can still see His presence. She learned that in a way, we reflect the image of God for its through my family that gives income to help her and her family not remain poor anymore and to b able to use this money for their future. She also said that God is making her be more hardworking, and persevering for even if it’s currently hard, if she doesn’t give up she knows that God will repay her someday in the future. Lastly she can also see God from her family for that’s where she can received the most amount of love from. Her family is like God who encourages her to be selfless, persevering, and determined to reach the goal that they want. Also, just like how her family is still with her, and that she everyday talks to them, this relates to how God is always present and loving Ate Betsi and us. Thus why she said that even if her circumstance is painful, God could be still be seen here.

Currently Ate Betsi’s occupation is a full time yaya. She wakes up like in 4am everyday to help my mom prepare our food for lunch and to make sure our school uniform is tidy, clean, and ready to be used. She also said she had to sacrifice sleep to follow her obligations just to work to earn her salary to help support the family. Also, there’s times when she need to sleep late because my grandparents would often times arrive late thus its their obligations as a yaya to wait for them, and as a result making them lose sleep altogether. She then goes with us to school to assist my little brother to enter Xavier during the dangerous rush hours in 7am. She is also the one who cooks, washes the places, and assist in the laundries. Nevertheless, she says that even if it’s challenging to work due to the circumstances she faced, she would rather work and sacrifice than be unemployed and not sacrifice since she knows that she and her family needs money, income to help provide the basic needs and to help for her children’s future. Even if the amount of income isn’t that high, she said that at least she’s able to give money to them. Thus I can see how much she sacrifice and loves her family for she is working very hard, very diligently, with many efforts to help sustain her family in income and to make sure that they won’t be in poverty forever.

Ate Betsi is currently poor because financially she can’t earn enough money to sustain her and his family currently and for the future. For her, she defined poor to be not having many money that could be used anytime, thus she believed that if she saves now, she will get to have some money kept which can be used anytime she needs and wants to use it. When this happens wherein she has excess money that could be used at their disposal, she can say that she isn’t poor anymore. But for her, it’s hard to save money, hard to not remain poor, hard for them to buy luxuries, and sometimes even hard to buy the basic needs such as food and water. Given that her income is monthly, and the amount if relatively few, there’s days when Ate Betsi ran out of money to give to her family thus her family have to sacrifice the chance to eat food when this happens, There’s also times when her family is too poor to buy clear drinking water from the province so they sometimes have to go to the nearby lakes and drink from there even if it’s polluted, dirty, and unhealthy.

Even if she works very hard to try getting more income by saving more or by working overtime, a roadblock why is the large family members in her family. Because Ate Betsi’s family is big, she would need to spend more money to their health, safety, education, clothes, and much more. Even if she wants to save a lot of money for the future to not remain poor, she just can’t, because she need to make sure that her family is supported and sustained. Thus why even now she is poor because all the money that she earned are mostly immediately used for her family’s livelihood and for the consumption of basic needs. If her amount of income increased, then she said it can truly help her in her life for now there will be some extra amounts that could be saved for the future to not remain poor anymore.

Thus, Ate Betsi wants the Philippines government to stop being corrupt and to actually help those in need like her and her family. If the government can increase the minimum wage, she would be able to get more income and thus help her not remain poor anymore as well as make her family have a better and brighter future. When this happens, Ate Betsi can have more income, and can save few of that money for their future like for better education, getting actual foods, and having better quality clothing thus not being poor anymore. Which is she wants the government to sympathize, and empathize towards the lower class people to incentive them to help the society in the Philippines like through increasing the minimum wage. Therefore, even if Ate Betsi works tremendously hard to not be poor to have a better future through the many roadblocks, challenges, hardships, and problems that she faced when working she sadly is still poor today,

As a result she feels sad but still hopeful. She feels sad because no matter how hard she sacrifices in work, she remains to still be poor. She is also sad because people around her especially the upper class Chinese people doesn’t treat her fairly and just. They discriminate ate Betsi, ignore her, offend her, and even mock her. She is sad that most people todays aren’t like the Good Samaritan who is willing to set ego aside and let compassion, love, care flow in. IF this can happen she knows that there will be less chaos, fights, crimes, hate, and get more love in the world. Lastly, she is also sad because the Philippine governments aren’t trying hard enough to help the low class people like her. The minimum wage increased, but still there’s a lot of people that’s still financial and economically in poverty, many people who are poor thus why Ate Betsi personally believes that the government can do more things to help them in the future. However, she is also faithful due to her large faith and believe towards God. As long as she prays, and be morally good human being who cares about the society more than himself, there’s a chance and a chance of hope from God that her life can improve and developed. Thus why even if theres the feeling of sad, loneliness, pain, and embarrassment being felt by Ate Betsi, she also still have immense amount of hope and faith towards God’s love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness.

She wishes to received more income to help her children have a better future filled with more opportunities and better options for her children thus why she works very hard and sacrifice a lot right now. She wishes also to not remain poor anymore, and not be in financially, economically, and political poverty because she knows how hard, painful, and stressed it is to be part of it. Lastly, most of all she wishes with all her heart that she can be with her family forever. To see her children grow, graduate, mature, receive awards, have a family, and also to be there physically to be able to celebrate each one of her children’s birthdays, marriage, and other important days. Thus why she sacrifice, persevere, and is selfless no matter the difficulty in circumstance for she knows that if she does these things and remain faithful to God she knows that God will guide in her in making wise decisions and have a better future overall.

Some solutions to his poverty are first have more money stored to be able to use it anytime Ate Betsi wants and needs. By saving their money and receiving more income, they are able to decrease frictional and economical poverty for they have the funds to be able to buy the basic needs that sometimes they couldn’t before. She can also request for a raise or an increase in salary to help gain more income as a way for the having the possibility to save and earn money. Another solution is to give more attention, and respect one must have in interacting with low class filipinos like via riots or spreading in social media a viral comment. By doing this they are able to limit political poverty and make her receive the power, influence, and attention that she and the rest of the poor Filipinos deserves. Thus these are some solutions that Ate Betsi that can help her not remain in these poverty and not remain in poor anymore.

This activity truly opened my eyes on the people who takes care of me. My parents hired these people like my yayas and drivers to care, assist, and help us when needed, but I never realized how much they are sacrificing to work for us to gain income. I learned more of my yaya through this activity and learned to be more compassionate, encouraging, and kinder when treating her because now I know that her life is so challenging already thus by being kinder and compassionate I can alleviate the feeling of being poor and alone from her family. By being kind, and caring it shows that I care for them and thus can relate to the Good Samaritan.

Honestly, she said that it was challenging to open up these context to me given my higher class due to me being supported financially due to my parents. She was embarrassed to tell me these things for it hurts her to feel this way which honestly shocked and made me on the way I treat Ate Betsi, for I didn’t know that she felt this way and that her condition was this severe. This really opened my mind for even if currently her context is hard, her faith to God I can say, is stronger than mine. I sadly became complacent, and unappreciative for my family and the blessings I received from God thus why oftentimes I don’t connect with Him. For Ate Betsi though, because she has to stay with us, she can’t go home and can’t physically see her children, and also, because she is poor, she is treated badly, but nevertheless her faith, gratitude, and love for God is truly evident.

It’s easier to find God in all things for her for she will already be thankful for the simplest of acts which makes me guilty again for sometimes I would say that I will only believe that God is real now if for example it rains. I need big extravagant things to proved that God is real for me, unlikely Ate Betsi who I can say can easily find God in all things which sadly embarrassed me. Unlike her where she works everyday cleaning my home, I would have the proper education from Xavier School San Juan, with CLE classes and having multiple masses yet in the end of the day, its apparent that she believes, loves, have a strong faith to God, and can easily find Him even now. When she works at home I never heard her complain about working rather even heard her thanking God for the opportunity to work and to get money. When she cleans the table I never heard her missing her family, but she actually greatly does which made me realized how selfish, and truly self centred I’ve been because I didn’t note how the people around me are feeling.

Through listening to her, I now feel ashamed of my actions, and embarrassed on the way I treat my yaya. I treated her like a literal slave, since I thought I had the right due to the difference in social classes and income, but in the end, I sadly realized I was wrong in doing so. After the interview that’s when I finally realized and made a revelation that I never should’ve treated her like this. I never should’ve shouted at her or commanded her to bring up my bags, or get me water. She already feels sad and lonely, and with the selfish way of treating her, as a human being she doesn’t deserve this, no one should. Thus why I really feel guilty for instead of hiring her and give her income and treat her as a friend, and treat her as a good samaritan who can help her to get more money to help in her family, I was instead a selfish, self centered, annoying, immature teenager who only cares about what I want not about the people around me. I was too consumed in my desires and about my stressed that I didn’t notice that my yaya was suffering from loneliness, and being poor. Instead of being men for others by giving them a chance to improve their livelihood, to help achieve their goal for the betterment for their kids, I was in fact the typical tyrant who abused my own social class to achieve what I want. I wasn’t a man for others, I wasn’t following what God wants me to do, I want being a Good Samaritan or even a good labourer, rather I was just a simple bad selfish person. I realized that now. Though it’s later than what I would’ve wanted, at least I finally know my mistakes and can help this dilemma.

Thus why I realized that I must treat my yaya kinder, and be less self centered, rather be sympathetic and empathetic. Even though currently I can’t assist in giving her money directly from me since I don’t have allowances, I can ask my parents to increase Ate Betsi’s salary, or make her have more chances of day off to be able to see her family again due to her missing them tremendously. I can also try helping representing and giving a voice to those low class Filipinos to make them have the proper attention that they deserve to not be thought and equaled to trash anymore. If there’s times that she wants to talk to me, I can sacrifice my time to give my attention to her to make sure everything’s fine and to make sure that she won’t be lonely anymore missing her kids. By doing these simple yet meaningful act that I know she will be able to recognize, I now that I’m able to really help her already, and that I can reflect how God is present and how the Good Samaritan is exemplified through me. By being selfless, more caring, more open minded, less self centered, less immature, and be more responsible on my actions on how I treat others, I know that I will be able to exemplify how God is here and wants us all to be better.

No one should be treated like a literal slave no matter how rich, powerful one is. Firstly, it’s not morally and ethically correct. By abusing one’s power you only benefit one person and that’s yourself. You don’t care about the economy, don’t care about making other people’s lives better, and thus through these mischievous acts like what I’ve selfishly done, you continue to make poverty present. You not only make the financially and economically poverty present, rather by being selfish and self centered just because you are blessed by God to have these riches, you even create psychological poverty and even spiritual poverty. Thus, as one nation, one community, and one family link by our faith to God as brothers and sisters, we met stop these corruption, selfish acts, self centered ideas, and tyranny in everyday life to help those in need. We must start to be equity, prioritizing those who need it first, and also treat others equally no favourites like the boss in the vineyard. He accepted each worker and give everyone a fair share of amount regardless of the effort because it shows his compassion and love to our world. and that’s what we should do, what I should do. Make others first, care for them, help them, and try to stop treating others meanly, selfishly, and with a corrupt agenda. Thus why I can say this picture essay truly opened my eyes and actually gave me a literal shocking experience.

A society is defined as the community composed of a large group of people living together and interacting with one another. Everything that goes on in a society is like a give and take, and as rational beings, everybody does things in their best interests, to benefit. This has been the system that we’ve been living in all our lives. We may not notice it even though we live in a society like this, that this system of profit and gain comes at a cost. While some people are able to feel all cozy at home with our multiple gadgets, and some others taking their education for granted to the point that they cut classes, this system is a zero sum game, you can’t have any winners without losers. Just like in history and in sports, people only remember the winners, these losers often become forgotten.

Although we are all aware that the losers in the society that we live in, are the less fortunate, those who did not have the opportunity to live stable and prosperous lives like ours. Due to the circumstances they were subjected to, these people did not have the resources to enjoy the many luxuries we have right now, and often are not even able to afford basic needs like basic nutrition, shelter, education, etc. Ideally, the government should be providing aid towards these less fortunate people to put them on equal footing with others, and to give them a shot at improving their quality of living. However, if you take time to look around in the streets, the number of those people living in poverty doesn’t seem to improve, it seems that the government, particularly the one we have in the Philippines is incapable of truly bringing equality to our society, especially with corrupt officials and the lack of funds to spread among the multitude of those living in poverty. In fact, poverty has become so huge in our country to the point that it has become a norm. Nobody seems to care about it anymore, as it has already been ingrained into our society.

Recently, I was able to have a meaningful conversation with someone who has experienced their fair share of poverty. Her name is Edita Bacunawa, and she works as a household helper for my family. She is around 21 years old and has been working for my family since she was 18. and came all the way from Bacolod to start working. She comes from a family of 9, with 6 sisters. Her father works as a miner, and her mother is a housewife.

Her family wasn’t originally poor, they were all able to go to public school, had three square meals a day, and life wasn’t so bad for her at that point in her life. But then, her life changed when the company where her father worked in declared bankrupt. Their family lost their main and only source of income, and since her father was not able to complete high school, and had to work at a very young age, he didn’t have many skills to offer to the job market. As the Philippines has already been a growing economy at this point, there was a shift in the job market, wherein demand for workers who are educated, skilled, and trained like doctors, engineers, etc. increased, and technology has taken over jobs for farmers, and such, it was very hard for her father to find a new job. No firm wanted to hire someone who didn’t even complete high school, and this really affected the family. Some of her siblings had to drop out of school, the family had to borrow money, and it has gone so bad to the point that their meals had become reduced to just toyo and rice.

When her father was finally able to find a job after a long period of searching, the income he was receiving just wasn’t enough to provide for the entire family and pay off their debt. As a result, some of the children were forced to work at such a young age, one of which is my Ate Edith. Since she hasn’t completed high school, she had a very limited selection of work and had to wait a long time before a job popped up. She said at this time she was very infuriated at how the job market didn’t offer much jobs for people like her, especially since while she waited for a job, her family continued to live in extreme poverty.

Although she has experienced all this hardship, questioning when she would be able to finish high school, or simply get to see her family everyday, she still remains very joyful and hardworking, because she said that she is doing it for the good of her family, and that makes her happy. She is happy that her family’s situation has improved from their worst, and that there is hope that they can get out of the situation they are in. She never gets discouraged no matter how heavy her workload is, even at times when she was the only household helper in the house. She works hard so that she can be able to help her father provide for the family, and so that her siblings can finish high school, and help the family too.

She remains so optimistic despite her situation because she is confident that education is the solution to her family’s poverty, and by providing for her siblings as they learn in the present, they may be able to bring the family out of poverty and be able to live a financially-stable life. Although, due to her lack of education, she is unable to find a job with a large enough salary to provide significant aid to her family or even keep up with the rise in prices of items lately, she still works in order to do whatever she can, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to help her family. When she was a child, she dreamed of becoming a veterinarian because of her love for animals but due to her situation, she was forced to let go of her dream.

She says she hasn’t looked too far into the future yet since she has to focus on the present but then she said that she hopes to finish high school someday and be able to live a happy life with her family. She also said that she wishes that she could go eat in Jollibee with her family very soon, since they all love eating there. She has gained many realizations and habits from her situation, mostly related to God. In their worst times, her family became much closer to God, and went to Mass and prayed together almost everyday. This is a habit she maintains to this very day, and she spends time during her one day off every week in the Church, thanking God for her blessings, and praying for His continued guidance.

This conversation with my Ate Edith was really eye-opening, I learned so much about her and her life. Until now, I didn’t even know her full name. I was able to come upon the realization that while most financially well-off people in the country also have household helpers, just like me with my Ate Edith, they don’t really know anything about them. They take them for granted. People think that just because they pay their household helpers, and that their job is to do household chores, that these people are lesser than us. People think that household helpers are like objects, slaves even, and that they have to do everything we want them to do, especially things that we are disgusted of or don’t want to do such as clean toilets or wash dishes. We don’t even bother to simply have a conversation or get to know them. We just use them as a means to do menial tasks and they are aware of that. They experience all this hardship in and most definitely out of the job.

They experience their very own hell first-hand everyday, with all the sweaty clothes, reeking toilets, and stacks of dishes that they have to deal with everyday. Yet, they still choose to go on. They choose to work hard, despite all of this, because ultimately, they are doing this, not because they want to, instead because they need to. They are doing this for their families, and upon having this conversation with my Ate Edith, I was truly able to find God in how she served both my family and her family. She is the ultimate example of sacrifice; she sacrificed her future, her personal happiness, and even herself, just so she could help out her family yet she always seems to be smiling in our house, doing whatever we ask her to do, no matter how big or small. She never says she’s tired, nor lazy, and always makes everything she does perfect. Even during times when we do not show appreciation and even get mad at her, she just takes the criticism with a light heart and does better the next time.

One thing I’ve come to realize from my Ate Edith’s story was that although hardships are unavoidable, and induce stress and suffering, oftentimes, this is just God’s way of guiding you to find happiness in the little things, like simply being with your family and sharing a meal together. Through her poverty, my Ate Edith was able to walk alongside Jesus, to learn from His sacrifice, and make similar, large sacrifices herself. She was able to grow closer to Him and develop a strong bond with Him. My Ate Edith is a really smart, caring, and hardworking person, and if her situation were better, I’m sure that she would’ve been a very successful veterinarian but alas, the presence of inequality has forced her to sacrifice many things. The lack of accessible education, the lack of substantial government aid, and the large family sizes in the Philippines are very common causes of poverty, and as the country inevitably advances, there will be a greater degree of structural unemployment, unemployment of workers who’s skills are no longer demanded by firms, and without action, these people who live in poverty will have no hope in living a stable life.

This really made me question what exactly I am doing to help these types of people out. That answer is nothing, for the entirety of my life, I’ve never bothered to do something about the poverty I encounter everyday. Whenever a child on the street approaches me as I walk in the streets of Quiapo, I never even acknowledged their presence. Much like most Xaverians, I seem to live in my own bubble, and while I spend my days playing video games, complaining about school and even hating my life, there are people who would give up anything just to be me. Rather than simply appreciating my blessings, we have to put ourselves in their situation. We have to think about how our actions affect these people, how we can make their lives living hell. When she was just new to my family, I used to treat my Ate Edith like garbage, I never acknowledged her presence other than when i needed her to do something for me because of my laziness. We should not simply accept and take for granted their situations, we must find the initiative to strive to build a better world for them, to be like Jesus. In the present as their voices continue to go unheard, we must raise awareness and speak out for them, especially when it seems like nobody is doing anything to help.

During the first semester, Xavier School had an optional immersion where students and teachers went to Pasenaya Homes for a weekend. During this trip, the students were put in pairs and placed with a foster family who were hospitable enough to take us in for that weekend. During this trip, I was able to learn so much things and obtain a different perspective on life.

Meeting the family for the first time was kind of awkward. My partner and I were strangers to each other and due to that it took a while for me to open up to them. With this in mind, my first night was very awkward. With small talk here and there, I was able to slowly learn about the family that took care of me. The first time my partner and I met the family, we only met the mother and two of her kids. Soon enough we met their other child and the father. Sleeping in their house was very hard for me. Maybe because I kept on othering them or maybe because I felt unsafe. All I know is that it took me a long time until I fell asleep.

The next day, we were able to talk to the family again. I was able to grow closer to the family. I was also able to appreciate more the things they did for us. Firstly, they were selfless enough to share their home for us.  Secondly, they gave us food even if they were less fortunate. These two ideas made me realise how fortunate we are and how we should share our fortunes to others. I was this since despite the foster family having much, they were still able to provide us food like we were part of their family.

In CLE there is a term that we learned which is being “spiritually rich”. Honestly I feel like this term may apply to them since they were able to share what they had making them more of a person for others. This is something we should strive to be since it is important to share what we have to others. This also follows Ignatian Spirituality since giving to others is being a man for others. This idea is extremely important in understanding spiritual richness. Ignatian Spirituality is basically to find God in everything around us. This perspective is very important since it helps people open their eyes to a brand new perspective where you can learn more about God’s love for us.

On that same day, I was able to learn many things about that family. I talked to the mother since the father was out for work. I learned that the father is a driver and their eldest child runs a sari-sari store in the marketplace nearby. The family also has security since they live in a village complex made for people who have low paying jobs. This struck me with sadness since the village is very cramped up with many houses in one street.

Another thing I learned about that surprised me is that they really enjoy their life despite their unfortunate circumstances. With this in mind I realised the importance of being humble. This is another aspect that makes a person spiritually rich. It is very admirable that they are super ecstatic and happy despite their circumstances and it really puts gratefulness into perspective. While talking with them, I reflected on my own life and if I am grateful and I realised that I am not grateful enough. Due to this, I started to think to myself of how I can show my gratefulness to other people. Only then did I realise that my foster family was the answer to my question.

Other than spending time with the foster family, I along with the other students who went on the immersion were able to see how it feels to help the people of Pasenaya homes by doing various tasks. My task was to interview some of the people who live in the village. I was able to talk to a maid as well. This woman was the maid of a Xavier student who decided to stop working for the said student’s parent. When this happened, I was able to learn how someone was able to help a person in poverty. The mother of the student was a very kind woman and the maid stated how much of an impact she would make because of the mother’s kindness. When we talked to her, she stated that when she wanted to retire, the mother would help her settle in Pasenaya homes by supporting her. This interview that I witnessed really opened my eyes to how a person can be a man for others. Other than this, it also inspired me to take up my own cross and share what I have for others. Another experience where I was able to grow closer to the people was when some students and I spent time with the children and when we played with them. This experience showed me how despite their poverty, they were really happy and they were always enjoying their time. This really taught me that money does not imply happiness. The children taught me that money may make you happy but compared to them, the happiness given is only temporary.

Now, I saw poverty in how the people lived. There were many residences in one road where each house was very small. This showed me how some people live in unfortunate circumstances. The poverty I see in their life would be structural and social poverty. I see structural poverty in how the family is in poverty due to the structure of the world and how the country brings them into poverty due to certain structures such as the government. Social poverty is when people cannot pay for their basic needs. The people there had a hard time getting education for their children. Luckily there is a school in Pasenaya homes. The problem in the household that I lived in would be that they have a hard time buying school supplies which makes it hard for their children to go to school. Social poverty can also be seen in the othering which is evident in current society where we cast away the people who are less fortunate due to their social status. Poverty is normally seen in this way but one form of poverty that I evidently saw would be spiritual poverty. The idea on spiritual poverty is that it is not seen in the people there but in most people not in poverty. This is because everyday we are given opportunities to reach out to other people but most of us never grasp that opportunity. Due to this we are not able to help other people which is very important in life. Spiritual poverty is something that is very common but due to that we are able to work around it for the better. We can share what we have, show gratefulness to one another, and give other people joy. That house in Pasenaya homes really changed my life for the better and opened my eyes to the opportunities everyone has to share their blessings with the world.

Kuya Edgar works twenty hours during weekdays, only four hours to rest and be with family.

His name is Edgar. He is fifty seven years old, and everyday he goes to work at 9 AM as a barangay tanod, patrolling the streets of Teachers Village. They would look out for what he’d call the mukhang masama, sometimes walking, sometimes stationed in the tiny, open-air guard houses situated at every corner or so of the barangay.

On occasion, there’d be reports and calls about disturbances by residents or fellow tanods. These would be his favourite times. He and a band of six would march out, carrying the authority invested in them upon their shoulders, ready to meet justice upon these audacious disturbers of the peace. But once their duty has been met, time returns them to the steady routine of watching and waiting. That is, at least, until 5 PM, when his last shift ends and he goes back home for a quick bite and to spend time with his wife and see his children off to school.

Yet his familial sojourn is a short one. Two hours later, at 7 PM, he stands guard at the gates of some of the townhouse compounds dotting the barangay. For the first few hours, his post is brightly lit, and he enjoys the company of the compound’s residents. By 9, however, it’s lights out, and the beginning of his lonely watch in the darkness. Aside from the odd purr of a passing car or the sudden bark of a dog, nothing much happens; and it stays that way until his shift ends at 7 AM. He returns home, exhausted. He rests as much as he can before he sets out again, just in time for the start of his patrol through the streets, only the early birds to keep him company.

His face was the one I’ve known the longest of the guards hired to ensure that nothing goes amiss in the wee hours of the night. His was also the newest. During the times he would be stationed here, his eyes would meet my own, twinkling ever so gently. He would smile his kindly smile to meet mine, and then return his gaze back to the gate, content in sipping the hot coffee his wife made for him and eating the hot dinner the neighbours would make sure to leave for him.

“Para saan?”, he said. This was the first time that my routine greeting of a smile and a Hi po! was followed by anything else. It was his first shift of the week in my compound. I had asked if I could interview him. He was taken aback. “Para sa trabaho sa eskwela po. Okay lang ba po?”, I responded in as much of my baroque Filipino as I could muster. To my relief, he acquiesced.

I asked him what he dreamt of being when he was a kid. In my inability to write quickly in Filipino, I translated all his responses into English. “I dreamed of joining the army and becoming a soldier.”, he said. “There was a righteousness to it, and a sense of purpose to something greater than myself. It was a good dream.”

He grew up in the Cagayan Valley, where he lived at the foot of the mountains and where his parents farmed rice. They were comfortable, and happy. Not close to rich, but that didn’t matter when his father woke up before dawn everyday—all set to work hard beneath the hot sun until the early hours of evening time. It was enough to put food on the table, and enough to send him and his six siblings to school.

As his parents grew older and older, the farm needed younger hands to work the fields. He had no plans of going to college—neither did his siblings—so high school was the end of their education. Just like their father, they worked hard; manning the carabaos, digging canals, planting, fertilizing, and harvesting. The only relief from the sweltering heat of the hot sun was the cool mud squishing between the toes. Eventually, he got married, and had five children.

During my second session with him, he began with a new stage in his life.“In time, I decided that a job in Manila would have better prospects.”, he said. He was contracted by a construction company and worked with them for two years. He sent home enough money for his wife and children to thrive on, even being able to send them to school like his parents did. But just as was the case with his parents, there is no rest for the weary. It was difficult being far away from family and home. “But I could take days off regularly and on special occasions to visit them, so I was content.”

He was still working in Manila when he learned that the New People’s Army, who had taken to the mountains to hide from the government, had been raiding the towns and farms below. He rushed back to his childhood home, where he found that his family’s estates were among the ones raided. “I had returned to the province to help out as much as I could. Eventually, I just decided to move my wife and my kids to Manila to live with me.”

The endeavor, however, proved to take longer than was good for any of them. The construction company laid him off and replaced him. He was left without a steady job for a few years, working odd jobs, before he landed himself in with the barangay tanods. Thankfully, three of his children had grown up by then, already married, though the other two are still studying. Now, he and his family have lived in Manila for ten years, “and hopefully for ten years more.” he added.

He would laugh from time to time, his eyes crinkled as much as they could be as he told his story. And when he wasn’t laughing, the slight shadow of a smile never left his face. He tended to only answer directly what was asked, rarely going beyond to tell little anecdotes or stories, but I soon learned that this was simply how he answered questions. In any case, his economical responses were made up for by his eagerness to give them. If this was a tragic backstory, you couldn’t have known it from the way he told it.

He was laid off and he and his family of six lived through at least three years of unemployment. The farm on which he grew up in was raided by communist guerillas. His father, and he and his siblings—fresh off the graduation march—had to endure the back-breaking life of a rice farmer in the Philippines; an occupation that rarely ever gives more than enough. He sacrificed sleep, time, and energy to support his wife and children eight hours away, and he still hasn’t stopped. He just mentioned all of these in passing, so much so that I didn’t realize how absurdly worlds apart we lived until I read and reread the notes I had taken.

To my young, sheltered ears, connected to a brain that had not yet had the chance to stare down the gullet of true human hardship, that had mired itself in the weak netting of petty dilemmas—of too much schoolwork and too little sleep, of the social politics of girls and guys, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera—I could only perceive a man with a strength of character that I in my privileged life could never achieve without an active effort develop it.

What do I lack, then—this strength of character that had eluded me during the decade and a half that I had lived on this Earth and still does? It is, I realize, the ability to be content. His was not the soft complacency that follows decadence and privilege. His was not the refusal to look for something more in life. Rather, his was the gift of finding home in every place he’s been in.

When asked about what other job he would like to have if he could choose, he said he wanted to be a farmer again. That was his childhood, when he was younger and stronger, when his family was complete, before the NPA came to mess things up. But he still says that what he wants right now is to keep the job he’s had for the past three years. The barangay is his extended family; among the other tanods, whom he goes out often with on his days off; among the many residents, many of whom he could always count on to invite him to share their Christmas dinner. The wedding reception of his third-born daughter was held in the compound where I live in.

Kuya Edgar didn’t talk about God much, but that didn’t matter. I saw Him in him. In the twinkling eyes that knew how to live on the smallest pleasures of life. In the mouth that could not help but smile at the world that continues to make him happy. While not obvious, that is the gift that God wants us to have. He wants us to be like him, generous with smiles and time. He loves and is loved by the barangay for whom he has spent and will spend the latter part of his years protecting and assisting and being there for. When he walks along the sidewalks of Teachers Village, God walks beside Him. He did reach his dream of being a soldier after all, even if he doesn’t know it. He lives as a part of something greater than himself, as he has done all his life.

My neighbours were poor. Their parents worked for my grandparents, and they were much poorer than my family was. Yet they were my best friends. It wouldn’t be until I grew up and saw children begging on the street that I saw them as anything other than people in dire need of a heavy shower. But even then, among the sullen faces and weary eyes, there were smiles. My background has helped me empathize much with the poor, but I still know that my life was not theirs, and theirs not mine. Theirs was a happiness that I could not understand.

It is over the course of my dialogue with Kuya Edgar that I saw where I might find that happiness. It is always good to seek better opportunities. To believe that in the highest heights that we look up at, where even more power and privilege than we already have can be found, we can find contentment, is not always wrong. Yet in Kuya Edgar, we can see that looking down upon the ground where our feet tread can be better than looking up at the stars. The dreams I have, of being a great doctor or a lawyer or a natural historian or a journalist, may or may not work out. That does stress me out. But one must make do with the hand God gives to him, as I have learned from hearing Kuya Edgar’s story.

Today, I look forward to a brighter future. But while destiny is a thing best kept under leash, I think now that loosening my grip and following or staying wherever it sees fit to run to or stop is an option we can and should take from time to time.

We spend our lives homeward bound, searching and searching and searching for a place and a time where we can finally find contentment and satisfaction. We know that God lies at the end of our journey, so we look for Him in holy places. But why do that, when we may seek Him in holy faces? As we continue on our journey to at last find the hearth by which we may finally rest, let us follow Kuya Edgar’s example. He, at least, has already found it.