Rice Emergency.
If, in America, rice was transported in 50-kilo sacks atop jeepneys, and a sack happened to fall off the top and rip open on the busiest street in town, it is doubtful the owner would bother to get down on the ground and scoop as much as possible back into the sack, in the face of honking traffic. But yesterday, I saw a man do just that in Tagbilaran.
Folks often remark
gamay ra sueldo, pero mahal bugas (wages are low, but rice is expensive.) Barrels of crude ain’t getting any cheaper either. I do not know how to define basic commodity here in the Philippines, but prices are certainly on the rise. A liter of Coca-Cola just jumped from twenty to twenty-two pesos. All canned goods recently went up a fraction of a peso. Life is tough for most Filipinos. I often wonder what a Filipino who lived 500 years ago, eating fish he caught and vegetables he grew, with plenty to spare, would say if he could see where all the progress has led. I wonder what the man whose rice exploded would say if he were sent back in time 500 years.
It’s a busy week for this particular daniel bowman simon. I must finish up the script for the dengue fever slash solid waste management video we will make provided we find a budget, write and deliver a speech about my relationship with television (plus a brief introduction biography), prepare a presentation on appropriate technologies for the Philippines, go to the market and the post office, and make time to occasionally eat, sleep, bathe, stretch, and watch geckos battle moths on the wall.
I was honored to host both of my sisters, my father, and even my mother in the Philippines over the past couple months. There was plenty of excitement, drama, lively debate, and gazillions of questions, with far fewer answers. I invited all of them to write a little something for me to post here. Hopefully, they’ll come through.
Posted by dbs at
12:27 AM
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