Now it Can Finally Be Told:In the Exigency of the Job, teaching in mountain barangay, nearly carried away by current, hailstones

Now it Can Finally Be Told:

In the Exigency of the Job

Now it can finally be told.

Where the road leads us, we follow. As 

mentors, only bringing with us our 

dedication and skills, we face 

challenges, without question, just so 

we can teach and bring light to 

everyone, even if  deep inside, 

we are uneasy leaving our

comfort zones.

Sworn to the job, we shed fears and

doubts, and try to put on a mask of 

courage and with hearts quivering, 

we go forward to uncertainty.

 

Dumalama Road

Sometime 2007, this was long before I

retired from the service, I took up a 

teaching post in Mindanao. It was 

the second farthest barangay in the

municipality. We were not

entirely alone because my husband's

sister lived in the town proper. 

But up in the mountains where 

I taught, most of the poblacion 

people have not even been 

there. There was an army outpost 

stationed in the area, and that speaks 

a lot of how it was in that place long

before. From the town, it was rough 

road (that time) all the way, passing 

by sugarcane fields on both 

sides of the road, going slowly uphill

to the mountains...

lonely, lonely roads...

only very few houses on its 14.7 km

to the barrio.

But the views suffice. They were 

stunning.

The blue hills 

Very early morning on the way to school

on a motorbike

Imagine passing by this view every 

morning

The view at the back of my classroom

I wrote a poem Rain Over the Mountains

in dedication to the  place, one time 

when it was a rainy, gloomy day and 

looking out of the window to the 

majestic mountains before me. 

The poem is on another blog. 

I'll put the link below of other

poems I wrote during my stay.

Here is the link: Rain Over the Mountains

https://eleanorangulobaguio.blogspot.com/2018/05/thursday-october-18-2012-rain-over.html

My pupils were stout-hearted. Living

simple lives, they walked far everyday

to school, some going up and down 

mountains. A few were Manobos and 

speaks a language like twitting birds. 

I taught them to read, we learned 

dances and oral presentations, 

and we played games. Miss those kids.

From them I learned, kids no matter

where they are, are just the same. Even

for some they lack many material 

things, but they have grit, resiliency,

and stout-hearts - things one cannot

buy. They don't easily fall, they learn

courage. And intelligence is innate. 

You'll be surprised how some

can easily catch up.

It is not easy for Joy and I going 

up and down hills everyday riding

in tandem on a motorbike on a 

14.7 km route one way. More so 

when it rains and rivers overflow. 

You can't see the roads, they're all

covered by knee-high, at times even 

thigh-high rainwaters. The rush of 

water coming down from the

mountains sends shivers to your spine.

One time, I told Joy to cross to the

other side of the road despite the 

strong rush of rainwaters flowing 

across a part of the road on our way

home. He was adamant at first, 

but I insisted because we were wet 

and hungry and it was getting dark. 

We had been waiting a long time 

for the waters to slow down and

subside. But we crossed.

Midway, Joy was fearful the 

motorbike's engine would die 

down and that would mean us 

getting carried away by the 

rushing waters to God knows where. 

Luckily, the engine fired on, 

though you can hear it fighting

against the current. We were able to

cross safely. News of a couple 

crossing against the current 

reached the poblacion, way

ahead of us reaching there. While

refueling up our motorbike on the

gas station, a guy said, "Kamo diay 

tong mitabok sa Merangeran. May

gani wa mo mapagngi

noh?"( You were those that crossed

the current in Merangeran. It's

good your engine didn't die down.)

Wheww! What a job. 

Roads look like these after the rains

During Barrio Fiestas, the school

prepares for a presentation, both 

teachers and students. Head of barangay

(my co-teacher's husband) prepares

a feast, lechon was ever present, 

and fresh, succulent veggies come

down from the mountains. Very nice

handicrafts like wicker baskets were 

sold cheap.

 

Until now I have this with me

People in their finest get-ups gather

first to hear mass, then celebrate, 

amid blaring loudspeakers with 

upbeat music.

Children play under multi-colored 

banderitas decorating the only main

 street of the barangay

and the elders in groups chat and

drink. As the sun goes down, 

people slowly disperse after 

becoming tipsy from a

whole day eating and drinking.

 'Til next year, they say, and 

go home happy.

It was my first time to see and eat ice

that fall from the sky. Yes! They fell 

from the sky like rain, one very, 

very cold afternoon while classes 

were going on. It was an extra-

ordinarily cold day and what 

happened was truly unexpected.

Sounds like someone was throwing

stones on the roof, nagtaguktok lang

ang agi! "Unsa man ron?(What is

it?)" And when the kids looked 

outside...there were small, crystal 

stones scattered on the grass

...hailstones as they were called 

in English.

The hailstones looked like these

We were all happy, most especially

myself, it was my first time to see

a rain of ice. My students were

so happy, they ran outside and 

ate them! I, too, tasted it,

and it tasted...just like ice. Sooo 

happy! Nothing like this happens

in the city.

One last experience that I was hesitant

to tell for a long time. But perhaps now

is the time. Many years had already

passed when this happened. To this

day, my husband and I, never, 

never really knew the honest

details of what happened that fateful 

night.

We opted to stay in a room in the 

barangay since it was so expensive

going up and coming down the

mountains every single day. So 

being on a far-flung area, we tucked 

in early, locked the door, ate supper

and prepared for the night - 

our usual routine.Three nights before

it  happened, I heard footsteps, like 

the sound of boot heels,

walking down the hallway in front of 

where we were staying. I brushed it off,

did not think much about it and did not

even tell Joy. It was always dark 

outside there is not a single light

bulb on the hallway. Three days 

later, having finished

our supper, we were off to bed again 

early. As I am a light sleeper, I am 

easily distracted by noises and that

night, around midnight, there was 

a noise - like it was

the sound of a doorknob being 

repeatedly turned over and over again

so that whoever or whatever it was 

outside wanted to come in.

I strained my ears, and there it was,

someone trying to open our door. I

immediately woke Joy. My heart was

pumping fast, I was terribly afraid -

what if the lock gave in? what if the

extra nails and lock that Joy added

for safety would gave in, too? God,

who was that on the other side of the

door? why? If money was the intention,

I was still a few weeks into my job, and

haven't received my salary yet.

So, many things running in my mind 

while Joy made a flimsy barricade  

and moved things to distance us from

the door. I  muffled my cry as tears 

roll down my face. Is this it? Your good

intentions, and now this? What 

happened next because he could

not enter  through the door was 

he tried turning the knob from

the inside by twisting the metal grill 

and inserting his hand  through 

the window glass panes breaking

 2 glass panes in the process. 

The door was just beside

the window. Thank God, he could not

reach the doorknob. But we were afraid

what he would do next, in frustration.

So Joy had to do something. In a 

quivering voice, Joy talked to him

and called him Brod to sort of pacify

him.  He told him, whoever he 

was, that if he wanted money,

we don't have any because I was still a 

few weeks into my job and had 

no salary yet. There was no reply.

Only dead silence. So, the hours

flew by and  still we heard him

moving around, sometimes at 

the back part of the

room outside then again near

the door, but he never tried 

again to open it. We never slept 

the entire night, and when we were 

sure he was not there anymore,

around dawn, we sighed in relief.

He was a "one-man(?) welcoming

committee" so to speak, for this

incident happened barely a month

after I arrived at the area.

We reported the incident, and someone

was caught. They said in that same

 night, this man that they arrested

broke into a store in the area and

afterwards stole livestock.

He was notorious according to them. 

But was it really him? He wore boots

or shoes that made a tiktak sound on

cemented floor? For I am sure that

what I heard a few nights before

the incident had something to

do with what happened

that night. Or was it pure harassment,

to instill fear, to let us know they 

were there. And  that 

we'll never know till this day.

In the exigency of the job. 

When I informed my immediate head

of what happened, the reply I got

was -"Wa man kahay nahitabo ninyo?

( Nothing happened to you.)"

In the exigency of the job.

Despite what happened. Despite the 

trials. Despite the challenges. 

They were all  part of the journey. And

I'm pretty sure, the kids I taught

on that gem of a place will remember

me as someone who taught them

to read... and that will bring a 

smile to their face.👦👧👩

My husband and I learned courage.

I continued teaching and we stayed

in the area for 7 long years.💑

Link to the poems I wrote during my stay:

1. Rain Over the Mountains

https://eleanorangulobaguio.blogspot.com/2018/05/thursday-october-18-2012-rain-over.html

2. The Blue Hills of My Home

https://eleanorangulobaguio.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-blue-hills-of-my-home.html

3. Song of the Mountains

https://eleanorangulobaguio.blogspot.com/2018/05/thursday-october-18-2012-song-of.html

4.  Out Into the Cold

https://eleanorangulobaguio.blogspot.com/2018/05/out-into-cold-i-have-never-liked-fog.html

To open the link in laptop/

PC: -highlight the link(https://....)

                            - right click

                            - click Go to.....

To open link in cp:

- highlight the link by long press

on the link

- press 3 vertical dots on the

side

- press web search

To God be the Glory!💗

/EAB💗