Nan Biag Mid Ili- Jenny Obonan 3rd Place

 

• NAN BIAG MI ID ILI:

  A Life Full of Hardship and Painful Memories

  But were Full of Life Lessons and Inspirations to Stand Firm

  and Thrive to Whatever Storm Life Brings

  By: Jenny D. Obonan

  FROM TORTURING PAIN INTO JOY

  It was 4:30 a.m. on September 1, 1991. It was cold and dark. All the villagers were sleeping

  except this couple. <Hurry up= exclaimed the old woman to her husband. <The bleeding has

  increased. I have been in labor for two days now, and I can’t tolerate the pain already=, cried the

  old woman.

  The husband ran fast to their neighbor without hesitation to call for help. He planned to

  bring his wife to the small town hospital about 7 km. away. He was sweating hard, frightened and

  worried, but he remained focused and calm.

  The young woman was crying though she kept her poise and prayed that she would deliver

  the baby safely.

  The husband came back with three other neighbors with him. Two men and one older

  woman. He quickly grabbed the kerosene lamp, the bag of baby’s clothes, and the hand-made

  hammock made of bamboo and sack that he had prepared a few days ago. He spoke tensely to his

  wife, <Sweetheart, you can do it! Be strong! Everything will be all right. We are now ready to

  carry you to the main road=.

  The village is located at the foot of the mountain. They needed to walk for about an hour

  on the steep pathway to the main road where the driver of the old model jeep was waiting. The

  rough, lumpy, and rocky road was 5 km. away from the hospital (about 30 minutes by car).

  While the three men carried the pregnant woman alternately, they reached the middle of

  the long-elevated pathway at 5 a.m. They needed to stop beside the path and bring the woman

  down, for she was crying out loud and restless due to unbearable labor pain.

  There were no houses nearby. The place was calm and quiet except for the cry of the

  pregnant woman. It was surrounded by darkness except for the light of the kerosene. The husband

  placed a sheet on the ground while they slowly helped the woman to lie down. <You can do it,

  sweetheart. Don’t give up," whispered the husband to his wife's ear while hugging her tightly,

  trying to comfort her from her unenduring pain.
• A few minutes later, the loud cry of the woman was replaced with a soft moan. The

  torturing pain was replaced with joyfulness. The worries were replaced with fulfillment. The

  darkness was replaced with the golden rays of the sun that gave a bright coloring to the clouds and

  the middle of the mountain. The birds on the trees began to chirp while watching the angelic

  newborn baby girl lying down in the arms of the older woman.

  That was how <Langsa= was born.

  THE RICH CULTURE OF BEING BORN IN A VILLAGE

  Langsa was a borrowed name from a maternal relative. She grew up in a far-flung village

  of Guesang, a sitio of barangay Bangaan. She grew up watching her parents and villagers plant

  rice, corn, camote, and other crops. She had been waking up with the <tila-ok= of the roosters as

  her alarm early in the morning.

  When she was a kid, cellphones were not that popular. Playing in the mud, riding carabaos,

  climbing trees, catching fireflies and bugs, and searching for spiders and bird’s eggs in a nest (what

  they called <beyya=) near their neighborhood were the most exciting activities they had been doing

  with other kids in their village. Langsa and her playmates would spend their entire day running

  and playing traditional games under the scorching sun. They never care if they get very dirty or

  sweaty.

  Everyone knows everyone. As a kid, she observed the beautiful culture in the community.

  People talk with each other and help each other in times of need. The Binnadang system (helping

  others to achieve a specific goal without expecting rewards) was very strong in their community.

  In times of family struggles such as death, missing family members, sickness, building houses,

  and the like, or family occasions such as weddings, gub-gubbaw/gubbaw (elder’s traditional way

  of giving the child’s name when the umbilical cord is detached from the child) , house blessing,

  etc., people in the community were always willing to help financially, in kind, or by offering

  their voluntary service.

  <Ub-ubo= is another common practice in their village. A group of people agrees to gather

  and work together in rice fields or camote fields (om-a). They work as a team to do the work of

  individually assigned tasks such as tilling the soil, planting rice, harvesting rice, removing the

  weeds on the farm, etc.

  Irrigation was one of the big annual problems in sourcing enough water from the source

  to the rice fields, but the <payas system= was one way the farmers did to solve their water

  problem. <Payas system= is an activity where each representative per household gather together

  in one same day to clean the irrigation canals. The purpose is to keep the water flowing and

  reach the rice fields from the water source until the last ricefield at the farthest end.
• The golden word she learned from her parents that served as her core value in everyday

  living was <inayan=. <Inayan ay men am amis si ib-a.= <Inayan nan adi mangpati is ina ya ama

  na.= < Inayan di mangibubukod si gawis.= < Adi yo popoowan nan bilig ta inayan ken

  Kabunyan= (Don’t burn the mountains lest you receive the wrath of Kabunyan). <Inayan ay men

  al ala si bakena kuwa.=

  Inayan signifies fear to the perceived Supreme Being (Kabunyan or sometimes termed as

  Adi Kaila, Nintotongdo or Manakabalin). Thus, the sense of inayan prevents one person from

  doing unpleasant things or deeds that are considered bad, evil, and unethical. It is a word that

  cautions an individual against violating cultural norms or taboos. Like what her father told her,

  <Inayan di bumalbala ay umey men-ubla no madama nan begnas.= (It’s taboo to go and work in

  the fields during <begnas.=) Begnas is a ritual within the community that is considered sacred. It

  is a thanksgiving ritual wherein the folks give thanks to the gods and request for luck and better

  harvests.

  Langsa’s life in the village was not that costly. They could just plant their vegetables in

  their backyard and live comfortably. They could eat freshly picked fruits, too. Her parents never

  bought meat from the market. They grow their native chickens in the backyard and consume

  them when they mature. Same through with their pork sources. Almost everyone in the village

  had pigs to take care of. They use these pigs during <senga.= <Senga is a traditional activity

  where older people do some rituals concerning the events like house blessing, post wedding

  rituals, death rituals and the like.

  During <senga,= the villagers and relatives of the host were invited for free lunch and

  sometimes even dinner. Aside from free lunch and dinner, fresh meat was usually distributed to

  close relatives and older people in the community. <Senga= and wedding celebrations were the

  celebrations where they could taste pork meat for free.

  THE PICK-AND-SHOVEL CHALLENGE OF GOING TO SCHOOL

  Pounding rice was her morning exercise after waking up. Releasing the native chickens

  from their <dugong= (cage) and feeding them with either <palay= or corn or both was her

  morning routine before going to school.

  When she got home from school in the afternoon, she quickly put down her backpack and

  changed her uniform with her house clothes. She picked up the pail and went directly towards

  the <bawi= (tiny house purposely for preparing and cooking pig’s food) and scooped the pig’s

  food from the <ang-ngan= (big pot for cooking pig’s food) and pour it in the pig’s feeder. After

  feeding their native pigs, she grabbed the knife and ran to the <om-a= (camote field) to gather at

  least 4 bundles of camote leaves, depending on how many pigs they had, and chopped them

  quickly in preparation for the native pigs food for the next day. It was her daily afternoon task

  after school.
• Her school was located at the center of barangay Bangaan. It was 1-hour walk away from

  their village. The path was a long steep pathway from the bottom to the top of the mountain

  where the school was located.

  Despite the distance from their house to the school, she was motivated by her parents to

  go to school. <You need to go to school so that you will have a better life than ours. We don’t

  have wealth to give you. The only inheritance we can leave to you is education=, her parents

  always remind her.

  THE SCARS BRINNEY LEFT ON HER LEGS

  During her first year of education, she faced a lot of struggles. She was the only kid in

  their village at the kindergarten level. After class at 12 noon, she was been walking the steep

  pathway down the mountain alone by herself either in the hot weather or rainy weather. The time

  she reached their village, the first house that she reach had a scary dog named Brinney. The dog

  was medium in size and colored white with black spots. <Arfff …arffff…arfff…= barked the dog

  in a very loud sound while running towards her.

  Brinney kept on barking in front of her. As a kid, she was so scared. She stood still and

  cried. <Keep away your dog=, she shouted repeatedly in a loud voice until the dog owner came

  out of their house holding a <pating= (branch of a tree intended to make fire) to call the attention

  of their dog. That was the only time she could be able to pass through and continue walking

  going home. That was the daily struggle she had been experiencing every time she went home

  after class.

  She could still remember those days when the dog owner was not at home, they were still

  working in their farm. That day when Brinney had full energy barking in front of her. She was

  trembling and didn’t know what to do. She kept on shouting for the dog owner to keep their dog

  but nobody was listening to her scream. After 5 minutes of standing straight full of fear while

  crying out loud, the vigorous Brinney still had the energy barking around her and guarding her

  way. The young innocent kid was trembling and confused about what to do. Without considering

  the possible result, she ran so quickly backward trying to get rid of Brinney. Alas! The dog run

  faster and attacked her in the legs. She was helpless.

  Looking at the blood flowing down her leg, she sat down crying for help but nobody was

  there to help. After a few moments, she slowly walked her way going home. As far as she

  remembered, she was bitten by Brinney not only once but twice.

  ESCAPED FROM BRINNEY:

  She didn’t stay long in kindergarten. After 2 months in kindergarten, a student from grade

  1 class knocked in their classroom and said, <Our teacher was calling Langsa to come and join

  us in grade 1=. With the permission of the kindergarten teacher, she packed her things and
• moved to a grade 1 classroom. With excitement, she whispered to herself, <Yes! I’m promoted.=

  Unfortunately during that day, she did not bring her lunch with her because she didn’t know that

  she will be entering the grade 1 class.

  One rule of the grade 1 teacher was to require all her students to bring their packed lunch.

  It did not matter if the students’ houses were either near or far. During the lunch break on that

  day, she was so ashamed when everybody in the class was eating while she had nothing to eat.

  They were not allowed to go out. Out of shame, she cried. <Why are you crying?=, asked the

  teacher. <I don’t have lunch=, she answered while crying.

  The students were all looking at her. She felt so ashamed and embarrassed. The teacher

  got one lunch box cover from one of her classmates and she passed it to each and everyone in the

  class. Every student put a single spoon of rice and a single spoon of viand until it reached her.

  Her lunch was solved during that day. It was an experience that she was been always ashamed of

  because her classmates started to bully her because of that.

  <At last, I am now safe from Brinney. In the afternoon, I will not be going home alone. I

  will be going home with other students in the higher level=, she told herself. Unexpectedly, being

  in grade 1 level was worse than being with Brinney.

  Her name was Mrs. Lara (not her real name), her teacher when she was in grade 1. She

  was smart and disciplinarian teacher. She wanted everything at peace and in order. She never

  tolerated noise. She had principle that every student must learn from what she was teaching. She

  divided the class into rows. She selected the smart students to sit in row 1, and the dumbest

  students in row 3. Row 2 students were the average. She was assigned to sit in row 3.

  When she was discussing and had to ask questions from the class, everybody did not

  want to raise their hands due to fear of raising a wrong answer. What she usually doing was to

  call the students 1 by 1 to answer her questions. The student who couldn’t answer the question

  properly will remain standing while she calls for another student. Langsa had experienced

  standing for the whole period (1hour) because of not answering the questions Mrs. Lara was

  been asking her to answer.

  Mrs. Lara had always been carrying a stick. The number of mistakes of students during

  quizzes were equivalent to the number of hits on their palm. There were times that those students

  who got low scores or students who were late or students who misbehaved were asked to squat in

  front of the class. Here’s how it was. Feet apart, bend knees, stretch 2 arms in front and heels up.

  While the class was ongoing, those students keep on squatting in front of the class while the rest

  of the class were watching them.

  Langsa experienced squatting in front and it made her sweat, ashamed of herself, she lost

  self-confidence and asked herself why she wasn’t given enough intelligence needed for a grade 1

  level. She was so hard up in understanding the lesson. Imagine the situation that her parents were
• uneducated too. It was her first time to immerse herself in academics from kindergarten jumping

  to grade 1 level.

  Every after eating their lunch, nobody was allowed to go out. There was a rule in the

  class that everybody needed to have a reading session during lunch break. Being grade 1

  students, it’s normal that they don’t know how to read. So every lunch break, they needed to call

  a sister or anybody from the higher level to guide them in reading. She was so grateful that she

  had an older sister who was in grade 4 at that time. Every lunch break she always run to her

  sister asking her to accompany her to their classroom to sit with her while she was trying to learn

  how to read. Those were the times when she kept on bothering her older sister during her free

  time and lunch break.

  Every morning, she was unmotivated to go to school, but she couldn’t escape from her

  parents. She still needed to go. Even if she did not want to, she had to go. Even if she cried, she

  couldn’t escape going to school. Her older brother carried her on his back from their house going

  to school. Her other sister took her clothes and school bag with her. When they reached the rice

  field along the way, her brother brought her down and washed her face and feet using the rice

  field water. Her brother then gave her 1 peso to motivate her to walk to school.

  Thank God for helping her to finish grade one. Thanks to the sacrifices of her brother and

  her family so she could step up to the next grade level. She survived the most challenging level

  of education. She thanked God for all the wisdom He imparted to her during the six years of

  education at the elementary level. A student who once belonged to the dumbest students in grade

  one delivered the salutatory speech in grade six.

  THE UNEVEN THUMB

  <Pal-pal-suot.= Does is sound familiar? In fancy English, it is called a <bamboo canon

  pistol gun.= In Cebuano, they called it <luthang=. It is a traditional toy gun made from a hollow

  cylindrical piece of bamboo and a piston (made of the short bamboo cylinder and stick).

  The bullet was a wet paper, and they used to wet it in their mouth if they did war games.

  A damp piece of paper was inserted at the end of the bamboo cylinder. While the piston rapidly

  pushed the other wet paper bullet in the opposite side, it created pressure before it pushed the

  bullet out with a pop. The bamboo hole must be tiny, so the pressure would be intense when

  they push the piston.

  If you were not yet familiar with this kind of traditional toy, you were not born during the

  90s. Aside from the pal-pal-suot, they used to create guns made of banana leaves, not the wide

  thin leaves but their long and thick middle part. They also created a toy watch using the light,

  broad banana leaves, necklaces using the cassava leaves (pad-paddi), and bracelets using the

  flower of lantana. These are unforgettable memories, but we must go back to the memories of

  pal-pal-suot.
• When Langsa was about eight and a half years old, they used to play war games with

  other kids in their neighborhood. It was enjoyable until her <pal-pal-suot= was broken one noon

  day. Her parents were not at home, so being a kid who desired to make her toy gun, she went

  home and got her father's sharpened bolo (itak).

  Together with her friends, they walked about 15 minutes toward the bamboo plant to get

  the things they needed to make a new toy gun. They successfully got what they needed. They

  brought them home, and they started to make their toy gun. <Yes! We are done cutting the

  cylindrical part of it. Let’s make now the piston=, said one of her friends. Langsa volunteered to

  make the piston.

  Full of excitement, she grabbed the bolo and started cutting the long bamboo stem into

  shorter part, about 2-3 inches long. Sadly, the bolo cut her thumb instead of the bamboo. About

  1.5cm of her thumb, including its nail, was removed. She cried out for help, but her parents were

  not around. It was until after 2 minutes when her father and her friend’s father arrived home from

  work for lunch. Her father dashed towards her to do the first aid for the severe bleeding before

  they brought her to the nearest hospital.

  It is now the reason why she has an uneven thumb until now. It reminds her about taking

  extra care in holding sharp tools. So far, that was the last time she cut herself.

  <THE ENLARGED LIP=

  As young as eight years old (grade 2), Langsa helped her family with the house works

  and family projects. One project of her family at that time was building their 2

  nd

  house. Her

  parents demolished their old <nipa= house and changed it to a semi-concrete 2-story house.

  They needed sand, stones, and wood for house construction. They had been carrying sand

  from the big river (about 45-60 minutes away from the site the house was to be built.) For the

  woods, her older siblings and other older workers had been carrying from <demang= (the high

  mountain opposite their village).

  For the stones, they had been carrying from the small river near their place. Langsa

  helped carry either 2 or 3 pieces or more stones, depending on the sizes. She used to put those

  stones inside a sack and carry it over her shoulder. They had been doing it daily with her older

  siblings and other neighbors willing to help them in exchange for a salary.

  One day, while she was trying to transport the stones from the small river to their house

  site, she slid into one of the stones in the river and fell, injuring her lips on the big rock below.

  Her lower lip was crushed to the point that she couldn’t eat normal food for almost three months.
• Looking at her lip photos before the incident happened compared to her lips after had a

  significant difference when it comes to their size. But despite the enlarged lower lip, she still

  looks cute.

  POOR FINANCIALLY

  BUT BLESSED WITH STRENGTH,

  AND DETERMINATION TO THRIVE

  Enough of being a kid! It’s time to level up to the adolescent stage. Being raised in a low-

  income family, she needed to make ways to support herself financially. She learned the works in

  the rice fields and the camote fields. During weekends, she helped her parents in the fields. After

  they finished the work in their field, she searched for some neighbors or friends who needed

  workers in their fields. She helped them in exchange for earning a salary. Unfortunately, these

  opportunities were seasonal, so she made other ways.

  Early morning while going to school, she carried fruits such as bananas, guava and

  vegetables such as watercress and petchay. She came from the foot of the mountain to the peak

  where most of the houses were located. She sold them from house to house near their school. She

  was doing it most of the time in high school. She used her earnings to buy her things and school

  requirements. She took all the disadvantages of growing up in a low-income family as pushers

  for her to strive harder in her studies and her motivation to have a better life in the future.

  PROBINSYANA IN THE CITY:

  BIGGEST FAILURE THAT BROUGHT THE BIGGEST BREAKTHROUGH

  Provincial life was the only life she knew of until she went to Baguio City to study for

  college. Looking at her parent’s financial status, she lost hope that she would continue to the

  university. But she never lost faith in God that He would help her financially. She believed that,

  for with God, nothing is impossible.

  She took the DOST scholarship exam, and by God's grace, she qualified for the said

  scholarship. Her monthly allowance, book allowance, P.E uniform allowance, and 70% of her

  tuition fee were all provided. While studying, she also took some part-time jobs in the library to

  support herself with her financial needs not covered by her scholarship.

  Her determination not to go back to <farming life= drove her to excel in academics and

  finish her course in BSEd Mathematics, graduating with flying colors.

  Finishing a degree was not the end but the beginning of true life. She experienced

  rejections after rejections while looking for a job. She experienced working with minimal salary,

  not even enough to cover monthly bills. She experienced working in different places in Benguet,

  such as Kapangan, Kabayan, and Kibungan, to make ends meet.
• Life was not easy for her. She even experienced putting up her own egg-production

  business until she needed to stop it due to a serious investment scam she encountered. At 24, she

  had a million-peso debt due to an investment scam. It was all because of being financially

  illiterate. It was all because of ignorance.

  It took her and her husband seven long years to escape the pit of massive debt. Their lives

  were not a bed of roses. They experienced being in a long-distance relationship when they both

  worked overseas to earn higher income to battle the enormous debt that was like a bacteria that

  was growing exponentially due to its compounding interests.

  By the grace of God, they declared themselves debt-free in March 2022. It was a long

  journey that brought them a lot of breakthroughs.

  It is now her desire to share her story with the young generation. Through her upcoming

  book very soon, she will be sharing how debt tremendously affected their decision making. It is

  her vision to discourage people from making a habit of borrowing money to acquire liabilities.

  Instead, they need to learn how to use debt to acquire assets. Her goal is to share how the magic

  of compounding interest worked against them while they were in debt. Moreover, it is her goal to

  share how the magic of compounding interest will work through an investment to grow wealth in

  preparation for retirement stage and to spread that the main purpose of wealth is to love and

  serve others.

  ---THE END---