Hunger is a daily reality for a growing number of our population. The latest Social Weather Stations survey notes that in the last quarter of 2005, more than two million families, or 14 million Filipinos, experience hunger. The figure represents one of every six Filipinos.
In an attempt to understand this gut issue, reporter Jay Taruc immerses himself for one week among families referred to in the survey. First-hand experience truly changes his perspective on the issue of hunger.
What used to be just an empty lot went on to become known as Barangay Pinagsabugan, after several families started building shanties in the area and the population eventually boomed.
pic2Rolan Barron, 28, makes a living by scavenging for garbage from a canal and selling “reconditioned� plastic sprayers. His meager income has made feeding his wife and seven children a constant problem.
Living in a shanty built on the edge of a dirty canal, Rolan also grows on a small patch of land sweet potatoes and grated coconut, which he feeds to his children when they have nothing else to eat.
Rolan only finished third grade in elementary school so finding a job is difficult. The children cry when they are hungry.
“They say their heads are aching. They become rowdy…they cry out that they are hungry. But I tell them not to shout as the neighbors might hear,� says Rolan in Filipino.
At Barangay Baseco in Manila, Jay learns how residents cope with everyday hunger through “altanghap�, a Filipino word that takes the first syllables of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They survive on a single meal each day, then go to sleep to let hunger pass.
pic3One morning in Baseco, Jay woke up to find the residents gathering what was to make up their day’s altanghap -- mussels and snails called “sundot-kulangot�. They search for sundot-kulangot through Manila Bay’s muddy shores that also serve as their garbage dump and toilet. The families have become unmindful of the health risks, especially the children. What’s important is their stomachs are filled.
The Tome family in Port Area, Manila does another way to survive everyday hunger. They earn a living by selling rejected newspapers to junk shops.
They have learned a way to stretch the few pesos that they earn to ease their hunger.
“We make it enough. Sometimes, I ask them to buy 25 pesos worth of kaninbaw…that’s rice in soup�, Mang Angelito says in Filipino.
According to the SWS survey, the average poor family misses eating one day every three months. But in the five days that Jay spent with these families, he witnessed hunger that is much worse than was reflected on the survey. - See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/25102/publicaffairs/iwitness/gutom-hunger#sthash.MvQ8n3nD.dpuf