Coastal Village Part 3: Sitio Barobohay

Sitio Barobohay was my last coastal villages in Hinatuuan, Surigao del Sur. It is a sitio (maybe similar like a hamlet or RW in Indonesia). There are only 20 families lives in this place. The place itself is quite unique, it is located in a slope of a hill kind of, it's so remote and makes you think who has started living in this place?
This sitio is quite hidden; to get there you have to pass a bumpy roads, hills, bridges, and steep way to enter the sites.
Why is this area interesting for my research? well, as you can see (although maybe not so clear here),   there are more aquaculture compare to the land for housing. That means the surrounding environment has changed so much in the last 30-40 years. This changes somehow I assume would bring affect the the livelihood of its people surrounding. Thats basically what I want to see here. Did I get what I want? well, you're about to find out :)

there are some ponds that already abandoned

I stay with Nanay, she is a housewife/sitio activist/ community organizer. Her husband works in a fishpond, he own a small hut there. He stays there most of the time and rarely come home. They have four children, two of them in Manila (which is very common there when they grow up either go to big cities or work as a migrant worker) , one is married and lives nearby and one still living in the house. One interesting fact is this family used to own a fishpond but since they experienced failure in harvesting and the maintenance of fishpond costs them a great fortune they decided to sell it and her husband works as the watchman instead. They got their share around 20 % of the total harvest.


Ladies and gentleman let's now use our gender lenses to observe the situation in this Sitio. Yep, you can put your bra on your eyes if that helps :)

By saying gender lenses, I means let's see it from every possible point of view. Almost everyday, Nanay are occupied with the household chores starting with cleaning the house, gardening, washing, preparing food (although her husband seldom eat at the house), fetching water, sewing, and this just go on and on. You may think that this is a usual habit but try to ask a question on their economic resilience. I am not here against a housewife but I believe that one still need to maintain his/her economic resilience. This family income generates from the husband salary and luckily they have coconut share also (every 3 months). Food and daily need is their biggest expenses.

They are looking for libo'o, no matter how old they are-no matter how hard it is. Looks like fun?

So, what have changes in terms of environment related to gender issues? The development of aquaculture somehow limit women access towards their environment. Their activities might not give the family big bucks but you know what this actually more sustainable. The fact that they are still able to do something to support their family gives them a sense of pride, it helps them to gain their confidence and it surely more environment friendly. I dont really want to go through this debate of mangrove-or-aquaculture but I think whatever that is it should be environment friendly and can be accessed and benefited for men and women. Any macroeconomic policy that related to the environment and have a good intention on increasing 'people' income should have a positive impacts toward the grassroots community especially women.

Freshen up after a muddy exercise down in the mangroves. 

The Project Challenges: Titanic Syndrome

This post got nothing to do with a naked picture with a gorgeous necklace. Sorry to disappointing you. This post is about that moment when you think and believe that you get the best support gadget and well prepared for your trip totally believe that nothing can't go wrong and then all your believes collapse..at the same time.

The ultimate challenge:

 Before my departure, I got myself that silver fancy laptop. It costs me  a fortune but I risk it thinking that I will need a good laptop since my research work will be depend on it. I dont wanna be hassled with small problems that may arise from another laptop. Besides, I want a laptop that lasts longer. This is wht I thought; I thought this shiny thing is perfect. It could not and would not go wrong. C'mon it's the gem. 

A friend of mine remind me to have data back up, I still remember she said : Don't forget to buy CDs and burn everything and save copy of everything. Well I did, I did have the copy of the photos that I took in the field but I didn't put the effort to save copy all my paper and literature review and my draft report. Don't know why, but I believe they will be safe there. Ok, now you know yes am such an idiot.

This is what happened: Last week, I came back from the field to the town and want to transfer all my photos, the freakin laptop won't reboot!!! There you go, I was panicked as crazy. How, what, when, Sh*T!!

I took it to Davao, the nearest MacService in Mindanao. It was like 18 hour bus drive (round trip), I came to point where I can't feel my butt anymore. I had to leave my laptop there for a week the technician said. They didn't know what went wrong also.Just today they called me and feels like I got struck by thunder. My hard drive is no longer mounting (whatever that means), so they will get the new one and they cannot safe the data! There you go, my gem only lasts for 3 freakin months. 

the second challange:

I opened an account for my research allowance, the logic was this new account can withdraw a bit more than my regular one. Since I'll be taking from another country I know that they will charge you as big as $5 every time you withdraw. Si I think I am save, I might just take one or two times per month and that would be enough. Turn out this is not the case either. 

I have been living without atm for 2 months so I kinda run out of money. When I saw the atm machne in Davao, I ran and enter the card right away; then weird thing happened: it said that I entered the wrong identification number. I know I did not. To be honest, I didn't have money to go back that day, so I needed it badly. I kept trying until the third time.. and the next second it got blocked. Yes, people, my day was just perfaaaittttt!

I try to contact the Bank but they can't lift the block, I need to go home. That is not a option for me now, unfortunately. 

Actually, there are a lot of things happened during my 3 months here; I am done on my mourning and will list it down here just so I can laugh at it:

> I lost my umbrella, bad thing: I borrowed this umbrella from the donor office

>I lost my belt

>Someone stole my shoes

>I broke my bag (seems like I have to throw some of my clothes)

Sorry If I sounds like a lousy complainer but not really. I just feel the urge to write this, just to express my feeling.

Well, at least am having fun so far and all of this challenges still solvable. I am still here standing, smiling, and surviving. I don't know where all this positive vibes come from but what I am really really thankful is I got to meet so many nice people and the fact that they are all stranger but they treat you like sister. I still have that warm feeling that this is part of God's plan, as one of my best friends said; 'Eventually, it will all make sense'. I do believe on that. Life is still good..so good here cos am having pizza and ice cream now :)