The Real Challenge Starts Here
By: Shirley Anne Labuen
Most of us enjoy great lifestyles: Enjoys weekend going out with friends and family. Enjoys good food at home or even go to a new restaurant to try their best dishes. This is the life that most of us are used to. But everything changed when we had our first community exposure at Barangay Lower Sto. Niño, Mahayag. And the Real Challenge starts here.
It was difficult to adjust during the first week. From a cozy house to an incubator house for ducks that served as our accommodation for the whole duration of the community exposure. From a soft and comfortable bed to a very thin mattress that we could still feel the floor. From a mouthwatering food to dried fish and vegetables. And from cold water, soda and juice to a tap water. We rarely ate the usual food we eat and drink cold water and juice.
As we prepare ourselves for the community, we thought that transportation was a big concern in reaching out the people since it’s a remote area. Not even one motorcycle or what we call “Habal-habal” passes along the way. We were used to driving our own vehicle or commute to get to our destination but that time, it was a long way walk to get to the houses of each family. We used our feet most of the time and wasted not much of gas and money for the transportation. But that didn’t hinder us in reaching out the people.
People speaks visaya in that area and only half of our group can understand and speak a little of that dialect. We also had a hard time reading and understand the survey tool, which was written in visaya, and most of the words were unfamiliar to us. Some of the people were unwilling to be interviewed and some would even close their doors. After every interview, we make them sign the survey tool as a proof that we interviewed them. We were brought to a surprise when a person asked us if the survey tool had something to do with the Bangsamoro.
Not only were the people in the community were aloof but also some of the key persons. It took us a long while to establish rapport with them. We needed their cooperation, but help was given when they knew that no one was a member of any rebellion. People were paranoid, thinking that some of us were rebels because we came from Zamboanga City and they knew about the Zamboanga siege. This was the biggest challenge that we ever encounter, getting their trust and cooperation.
Just like those old fairytales, it always ends with a happy ending. In the end, we were able to acquire and finish the things we needed to accomplish. Trust was also acquired from the community and most especially from the key persons. One of our goals was to be with the people, live with the people and be one of the people. And we were able to face and survived the challenges that we encountered. But that was not the happy ending that we were expecting. It was more likely the beginning of a difficult but fulfilling journey.
