TAMPA BAY AREA - I just came back from Batanes (August 7th to August 25th.). It was a wonderful experience to bring home my first grandchild Callista age 3 to connect to her roots. She came back with some Ivatan words and knowing all the parts of the body in Ivatan. She also likes to take your hand for blessings (It took a few days until it sank on her that it is alright to talk to strangers.)
She has a goat that she named Kadin. Every day we go mamalas and she feeds the goat and greets him "Hi goat Kadin." She also has a favorite Ivatan song that she sings very well: "Maymohamoha ko."
On the hill between Alapad and Loran station (Payapay), she had the greatest time specially talking to a tame carabao on pasture.
trolling and he caught a small Tuna fish. It was a thrill for him and my son-in-law.
We stayed 10 days in Uyugan at my late brother's house fulfilling his dream that the house he started would be a meeting place for all his siblings and relatives. My sisters came home to join us for only 3 days as their flights were cancelled twice because of the weather situation.
Basco, Ivana, and Uyugan Centro are experiencing shortage of water. I see friends passing by Magno's house everyday to go take a bath at a house which is a few meters from my late brother's house; some with pushcarts and plastic containers for fetching water for home use. Sad to see this situation.
Some say that the water source is depleted while others claim there is water but there should be better construction (pipeline) to bring the water home.
Conserve water
I have 2 personal observations: 80% of households wait for the water to come into their homes and leave the faucet open and run the water hose to a container unwatched and overflowing, who knows for how long, sometimes the whole night. Another is that almost every household has pig pens and uses water to clean the pens.
I was suggesting to everyone I have in contact with that it would help to keep the water used for laundry (grey water to environmentalists) to be used for cleaning the pig pens and for flashing the toilets.
Educating the people on water conservation is necessary.
I spent a few hours in old beautiful Imnajbu and for a while reminisced the good old days. O' youth: the days when we were not so ...
In Basco, I visited Mayor Demi Narag. We were very happy to see each other. He gave me a big hug in his office and we exchanged some jokes. He made me laugh.
Batanes ... I will come back. - August 2007
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Olive Blackburn, an Ivatan, lives next to a pond and among the crocs in Tampa, Florida |
