MENDE’S WARD

The lion was snuggly seated at the cemented bench outside their backyard watching the “habagat’s” raging waves slam their fury at the seawall when he heard his tamer holler from inside the gate saying: “Maning just called, he requests you call him back at his landline phone.”

On the lion’s way back to the house, he was told Maning is asking whether his ward “Tata”, that’s the sobriquet for the name Isabelita Equipelag, can stay with them for about a month or two as she was assigned to do her “practicum” (or practice teaching) at the Guindulman Elementary School as final requisite to her graduation at the University of Bohol. The lion tamer also added that arrangements that she board at another place with sixteen other “practicumers” were already made but that Maning preferred that she stay at our den not only for cost consideration but also for her safety as well. Which made the lion chuckle; it now is clear that “cost consideration” is a phrase that all retirees must grapple with!

At the phone, VW Mende repeated his request and the two sentences that the lion could utter was” “VW Sir, your wish is my command. When will she come over?”

It turned out the transfer was not as easy as VW Maning thought it will be. The school administrator who was in charge naturally wanted that all “practicumers” were housed in just one roof as was the standard procedure in that kind of activity. But Maning was insistent and so he contacted WB David Tirol and explained to the latter his wish. His reasons were repeated and when WB David asked “And to whom will he stay?, ” VW Maning’s classic reply was: “At the residence of Bro. Jun in Guindulman!!” And thus ended the argument to finally plead his case.

Last August 9 at noontime while the lion as usual was at the backyard, “Tata” came introducing herself to the missus and promised she will return later in the afternoon with her bag and other amenities. And she did.

While at dinnertime that evening, we assured Tata that being Maning’s ward, she is definitely welcome at our house, and in between bites, told us her story.

Tata, now aged 23, is the fourth child in a family of eight children of a farmer-couple of one of the barangays of the interior town of Alicia called Katipunan, who, even at her very young age of fourteen already dreamt of becoming a schoolteacher someday.

But it was not an easy dream. As is common to rural folks, planting rice during seasons is ranked more important than being inside classrooms. Not only that!, she had to walk two kilometers each day (and back) at the adjacent town of Pilar where the high school is located. And so with the help of her schoolteacher, she started “nag-working” (a corrupted word coined for a desirous young student who is accepted as household help by generous patrons in exchange for free education) at the nearby town of Pilar and there finally completed her high school studies.

After graduation, her mother took her to the wife of one of the University’s owners at the island’s only city to enable her to pursue her dream and was promptly accepted as a working student.

But her stay in the place of her next benefactor was, to her, a little difficult to perform as the human traffic that daily goes in and out of the house was something she was not previously accustomed to. Which compelled her first benefactor to look for another patron where the girl can realize her dream without much difficulty. And that’s how she was taken in by VW Maning who has a farm in Katipunan where the parents of the girl live, and whose wife is also in the field of education, and promptly took her in their protective wings.

Tata at this time is already in the last stage of her studies and this coming October will finally earn her diploma. All these five years she has been with VW Maning, her job was to act as house caretaker during the day and when her patrons return from work in the afternoon, would attend classes at the University and there pursue her dream with vigor.

Definitely not an easy task for her and neither for her patrons who not only must provide for her school expenses but also for clothing, lodging and food. But as a philosopher once clearly echoed: “A dream, if done daily and with precision, can surely be turned to gold!”

Which makes the lion glad. He and his tamer may not be able to help much at this final push of her interesting search for her own place in the sun but knowing Tata’s dream may also prod the children of the poor fishermen at their backyard to dream of better worlds likewise.

And the lion at the sidelines roars!!