Living in the provinces, Do we really Know what this means?

[Jack Peterson]

Following on from Queenies Quote, can I ask if any of us really understand about the Interior of the Provinces and how living there as so many do, creates a seperate life from what we know especially when it comes to Poverty. Not brought up for arguments etc but a healthy debate on a statement I made (well more a mulled thought really) does abject poverty really exist here in the Philippines? I believe there is more of a poverty thought in towns and exterior of the provinces than those happy people we tend not to know a lot about.

 Thoughts G & G's  

[stevewool]

Interesting this maybe, but what is poverty and i am sure that many of us have never lived in poverty, yes we all  have gone without things and maybe never having things that other folk have had but is that called poverty.

Listening to Emma on how she was brought up by her parents in her provence , but not having much in material things in her early years made me sad to think this is how she lived, but as she says she was happy she ate and she new she was loved , its not until you see what other folk have and you cannot have then maybe you feel you lived in poverty, but you did not really.

[OnMyWay]

15 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

Following on from Queenies Quote, can I ask if any of us really understand about the Interior of the Provinces and how living there as so many do, creates a seperate life from what we know especially when it comes to Poverty. Not brought up for arguments etc but a healthy debate on a statement I made (well more a mulled thought really) does abject poverty really exist here in the Philippines? I believe there is more of a poverty thought in towns and exterior of the provinces than those happy people we tend not to know a lot about.

 Thoughts G & G's  

I would venture to guess that a very high % of Philippines abject poverty is in Metro Manila.

Yes, there are certainly many poor people in the provinces but it might be easier for them to find something to eat than it is for those existing in the dog eat dog Metro Manila area.  So they may seem happier out in the provinces.

https://www.google.com.ph/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enPH748PH748&tbm=isch&q=manila+poverty+pictures&chips=q:manila+poverty+pictures,g_3:tondo&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiDl8-Y_MPcAhVOPJAKHRwwBKYQ4lYIKygA&biw=1536&bih=732&dpr=1.25

[Jack Peterson]

2 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

So they may seem happier out in the provinces.

 Well! that is exactly not what I had Intended, they are so very much Happy, I am sure that Poverty does exist in large Cities But My Topic is about Life in the Internal Province and how I do not believe that poverty is there to any degree even with reports and blogs that may make us think that way.

 OMW, i take it then, that you have no idea about the Provinces in the way  I  am  trying to portray it?

[Kuya John]

2 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Yes, there are certainly many poor people in the provinces but it might be easier for them to find something to eat than it is for those existing in the dog eat dog Metro Manila area

I agree  100% OMW, and I'm sure so would the Street Kids in many Cities across the Philippines.

Not quite sure where Jack's coming from by the Title, but I have heard the expression " I'm not from the mountains" which I guess refers to less educated poor people, so "does abject poverty exist here in Philippines?" being the question,from what I have seen in some of the Provinces I have visited,

YES it does!

Just watched a documentary about the homeless youngsters on the streets of England! so the problem exists everywhere in varying degrees.

Edited July 29, 2018 by Kuya John

[Jack Peterson]

2 minutes ago, Kuya John said:

Not quite sure where Jack's coming from by the Title,

 So JB then you too I fear, have no Knowledge of the Interior and how they cope with what we term poverty?

[Kuya John]

14 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 So JB then you too I fear, have no Knowledge of the Interior and how they cope with what we term poverty?

Jack my dear friend sincerely, I have meet "poor" people maybe we should call them indigenous people in Mindanao.

They may have little by way of materials possessions, but with their skills of survival, they would outlive the lot of us, in the event of a catastrophe.

Here I go with yet another quote......"What you never had you never miss" that's not to say the lovely people of Philippines

are a bunch of unhappy souls, quite the opposite, I have found that those with less are more hospitable than those who have more!

My regards JB

Edited July 29, 2018 by Kuya John

[GeoffH]

I’m not sure I would claim to ‘know the provinces’ but I have made the trek to visit some of the family who live in a village 30 kilometres from the nearest small town (no malls, just a small market, some shops, a church and a small gas station).   The nearest medical care is in the next nearest (larger) town but it’s not a hospital.  To get to the village meant a very slow drive along a road that was more potholes and ridges than road for an hour, then another 30 minutes of narrow dirt track and then a walk up and down hills an through a valley to a small collection of bamboo huts.  The house was bamboo and I could feel the whole structure flexing as I walked in it.  They had electricity but most in the village did not and they had a small second hand fans and an old box TV that just got 1 channel given to them by SWMBO when I first started dating SWMBO.  They cooked over wood, ate outside on a hand made bamboo bench and relied on the income from the husband of a daughter who is a security guard with help from SWMBO.  We took adult diapers and milk formula for the very frail and elderly great grandmother who was blind and who could no longer walk by herself.  There are family in Ozamiz who also have little but the ones in the village seem more self sufficient and much more content, maybe because most people there live a similar life I am not sure.  But the difference in attitude between rural poor and city poor is real.

Edited July 29, 2018 by GeoffH

[Jack Peterson]

8 minutes ago, Kuya John said:

Jack my dear friend sincerely, I have meet "poor" people maybe we should call them indigenous people in Mindanao.

They may have little by way of materials possessions, but with their skills of survival, they would outlive the lot of us, in the event of a catastrophe.

Here I go with yet another quote......"What you never had you never miss" that's not to say the lovely people of Philippines

are a bunch of unhappy souls, quite the opposite, I have found that those with less are more hospitable than those who have more!

My regards JB

Exactly JB and that is just what i was getting at 

[Jack Peterson]

4 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

There are family in Ozamiz who also have little but the ones in the village seem more self sufficient, maybe because most people there live a similar life.

 Geoff, now we are getting somewhere about all this