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

[expatuk2014]

I live in Los Banos which so my wife informs me is in the Province of Laguna. The road we live in runs alongside Laguna De Bay, as far as poverty yes there is poverty basically all around no matter which direction we travel, for example a family friend is a tricycle driver and his home is made out of wood and metal roofing sheets, the floor is dirt they dont have electric or running water, in the other direction i can see a family living in the middle of a field with their plywood and roof sheet home built under a large tree there are a number of homes being being modified by using hollow blocks as walls instead of plywood but even though there is poverty the one thing that amazes me is the children ! Playing with stones, making kites out of shopping bags, rolling bike tyres along with sticks, and jumping off of the fishing boats tied outside in the bay ! No signs of expensive toys,ipads etc just the sound of children laughing and playing when you think the average tri-cycle driver if he is lucky earns 150-200 pesos a day ! Everybody always have a smile. We have been here since 2011 not a lot has changed in our Barangay ! Apparently there is going to be a new SM being built on the National Highway which as is the case  with SM malls  being built it brings lots of jobs into the areas so that should improve things in places.

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

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

I did kind of know what you were talking about, and your answers and others comments have further clarified it.  I think.

I 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.  So they may seem happier out in the provinces."  To go deeper on that, I was insinuating what others mentioned.  In many rural areas, the locals know how to farm and live off the land and feed themselves, and are very happy doing it.  It is the life they know and they don't need much money to live and be happy.  Is that what you were getting at?

You said "does abject poverty really exist here in the Philippines?" and I think maybe you meant "does abject poverty really exist here in the VERY RURAL PROVINCES of the Philippines?  We know abject poverty exists in the Philippines, and my link showed that.

We have the AETA indians locally and they are certainly poor, measured by Western material standards.  However, they are very happy with their lives and I don't see them trying to change there lives much.  Perfectly happy fishing and hunting, etc.

However, take a person with rural skills and drop them in Manila, and they will soon be part of abject poverty, most likely.  Unfortunately, many of the abjectly poor in Manila came from the provinces, seeking a better life.  Some get it, many don't.

[Jack Peterson]

9 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

However, take a person with rural skills and drop them in Manila, and they will soon be part of abject poverty, most likely.  Unfortunately, many of the abjectly poor in Manila came from the provinces, seeking a better life.  Some get it, many don't.

Yes! I concede to your points and apologize if I sounded terse, it is because I live in and among the provincials ( people)

that makes me love this place and have absolutely no desire to live in or around the city 

9 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

You said "does abject poverty really exist here in the Philippines?" and I think maybe you meant "does abject poverty really exist here in the VERY RURAL PROVINCES of the Philippines?  We know abject poverty exists in the Philippines,

You are right on this Young man  Thank You for kicking my Butt into gear 

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

it is because I live in and among the provincials ( people)

that makes me love this place and have absolutely no desire to live in or around the city

Now I am curious what you are getting at.  I have stayed up in the mountain barangays for weeks at a time when having different girlfriends from those areas.  I see HUGE differences between the life they lead deep in the province compared to life in Junob.  Both are good, don't get me wrong, but when you say you live among the provincials, I see you with a very nice life among suburban locals.  Is there more to the story?

Some examples:  In the mountains of Borbon, a few hours north of Cebu, the people are poor in cash but rich in spirit.  There are exceptions and those exceptions make life miserable for people who are around them.  The exceptions that come to mind are:  An old woman who had money but her husband died so now she is poor and a miserable bitch who wants to spread misery for what she has lost.  A young wife who is not happy that her husband does not make a ton of money because she loves to spend it so she is always on the lookout for a rich guy to steal her away.  She is lazy and gloomy and spreads that attitude.  A young man, now deceased, who tried to make a little cash for a similar money hungry girl.  He is now deceased because he chose to make that cash dealing drugs.   So the vast majority in that area of the province have a fun-filled life, similar to the life I led in Northern Canada when I was a broke ass youngster, living in a rural area, who did not know I was supposed to have money to be happy.

The other province areas I have lived/stayed in all have similar stories.  I could be happy living in one of the backwoods, rural, mountain provinces if I was younger and if I could get safe-to-eat food.  My guts don't handle filipino food very well.

[Jack Peterson]

3 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I see you with a very nice life among suburban locals.  Is there more to the story?

 Oh Yes, My life is good as you say but as a man of thought I see & hear more than meets the eye, i will agree with your post in most parts, But the people I live with all have families that can take  anything up to 12 hours just to get to Dumaguete ( if they come at all) the last 3 helpers we have had all come from these interior areas I relate to and we take them to their homes if needed (well as far as I can get the car) We attended a wedding not long ago [ well 2 years now] far north of Santa Catalina and the last 3 km.s was like a jungle track and we had to go on Hable Hable until the track became a Solo job.

I was absolutely amazed at what I saw in the clearing of the Purok, it was like an African village you see on TV and Films. One Stand pipe for water in the Centre Hand Pump), No Electricity, candle light was all there was + a couple of Oil lamps using I guess coconut and some additive, Everyone had a Task to do and it was a very industrious day with a wedding to boot BUT the Houses although rough and Ready were Colorful and decorated with flowers of all sorts, The Only Money about was from a Son who works with Azon and the helper of ours who's family Wedding we attended. Now maybe I have not expressed this Topic in a good way but it put me to shame (Even with my good life) that these people live like many do I am sure where money is just not KING. Men and Women in the field doing whatever their task was that day, Even the work Areas are a ride away or however they could ( and townies moan about a 15 mtr walk from a trike or bike to a shop)

 I am sure I could not live there but it was a pleasant Weekend and would do it again, For me when we talk about Filipino pride this is pride and I can guess there are many little Puroks like this all over. the main thing is Where families pull together to survive here I found a community that more than pulled together  

 Such was my meaning so sorry if it all sounded wrong  

Moral? Money is not always important and those that chase it and fail, sometimes add to the problems that others face 

[Dave Hounddriver]

10 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

it put me to shame (Even with my good life) that these people live like many do I am sure where money is just not KING.

I hear that loud and clear.  On another occasion, where I stayed up in the mountains of Biliran, I financed the purchase of a hectare of farmland and bought some rice seedlings, and paid for the labor and fertilizer for my (then) partner to start a rice field.

Whilst all her family were knee deep in mud tending to this rice field, I was sitting nearby having a drink.  Dona told me that many helpers told her they wondered why I did not get into the mud and help her and her family get the work done.  This regardless of being retired and paying for the whole works.  THATS life in the mountains where money is significant but not king.  It put me to shame too.

[fillipino_wannabe]

We have 2 maids who's families live up in the mountains, about a 4 hour walk from the nearest town. Most kids stop school at 11 years old as they'd have to rent a room in the town to go to high school.
They've got a rice field but there's no water supply so they can only get 1 harvest per year, the family of 12 lives off the rice from that and about 6000 pesos per month that they get sent by the maid working for us and 1 other sibling. A couple of the other grown up kids seem to be lazy, one was offered a job in town on 350 pesos per day with free food and accommodation and just turned it down lol.

They all seem happy but as soon as there's a medical problem it's game over, one of their kids died a few years back because they couldn't afford 5k pesos. Another one fell off the roof of a trike nd split her head open a couple of months back, all the local hospitals said they couldn't treat her so they had to go 100 miles to the city to get her treated, luckily she was ok in the end.

[Jack Peterson]

1 minute ago, fillipino_wannabe said:

They all seem happy but as soon as there's a medical problem it's game over, one of their kids died a few years back because they couldn't afford 5k pesos. Another one fell off the roof of a trike nd split her head open a couple of months back, all the local hospitals said they couldn't treat her so they had to go 100 miles to the city to get her treated, luckily she was ok in the end.

 Sad to hear but there is always a downside to things and medical problems are the one thing no one ever thinks about until it is too late 

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

medical problems

Thinking of the quote that Queenie posted about "Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice", this falls in that category IMHO.

Whilst a person may choose whether or not to live a poor lifestyle (by other people's subjective standards) those same people should not have to die because they have no money to pay for a medical problem beyond their control.  This means if you choose to smoke and get cancer then that's too bad, but if you are a kid who falls down and gets hurt then society needs to ensure that the kid gets reasonable medical care, whether the family can afford it or not.  If the child dies because society does not ensure they are treated then that IS an act of injustice IMHO

[softail]

This is a great topic. If I may I will share a little experience that my family and I had when i was a young lad.

My dad got a wild hair and joined a colonization group that was to establish a colony in the Galápagos Islands, 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. When the company ship dropped anchor in the harbor the company was declared broke, 

Dad decided to stay, he had $20 in his pocket, we were basically stranded in one of the most remote places on earth at that time, 1960. We lived on a dock, no power, had to burn cane whisky in our lamps, toilet was an outhouse on the dock. We ate fish we caught off the dock, beef when a cow was tied up to the slaughter house a mile and a half around the bay, We had to strain our water thru a sock on the Spicket, then cheese cloth it a few times then boil it so as not to get hepatitis. 

We had nothing, no TV, radio, no modern conveniences, it was the happiest time of my life. Finally dad got enough money selling stuff to the locals to get us home. As we were leaving on the ship,  I was standing on the stern of the ship looking at what we had called home, I cried.

Edited July 30, 2018 by softail