Ang busog motanyag sa gutom
...ang Gutom mokuha ug ang nagkinahanglan.
This is the motto of my Community Pantry that was set up yesterday in Sitio Suba, Barangay Sabang, Olango Island. I just gave each of my three trusted female farm workers P1,000 and ordered them to buy food and offer it on a table in front of the house.
They bought a sack of rice, three trays of eggs, noodles, veggies, 120 pan de sal and 5 eight o’clock good for a container of water. They repacked the rice into 80 portions. They also made bundles of firewood from my farm.
I told them to ready with all by 4 p.m., so that people could eat a good dinner before going to bed. But I was told at 10 a.m. that people were already assembling. So when I went to see what is going on at 11 a.m., all was gone already. It seems, more than 60 people had lined up wearing their masks and observing the rules. Aguy, that means people are in real need for food!
It was not enough. The last wo/men in the line got nothing and children were looking for more bread and drinks. So I decided to give another P3,000 pesos for another event today (May 13). But then they have to find Filipino financiers. A barangay kagawad volunteered already.
People are sharing pictures with their Facebook friends.
I appeal to my fellow expats whose pensions are not affected at all by the pandemic to help their neighbors in their sitios. We foreigners can do that in exchange for the friendly reception in our gracious host country.
Many Filipinos have lost their jobs in the tourism sector. Some islanders have fenced gardens and plant gulay. That alleviates the crisis but doesn’t solve it. Many have invested in new shops and restos and are waiting in vain for customers. We are all longing for the end of this calamity. We have just to bridge the hopefully short difficult time and help the suffering Filipinos until they can resume their work.
Erich Wannemacher
Lapu-Lapu City
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