Hanging Rice

Last week I went to Lorega, a district of town known for it's pig slaughter house, drugs, and some of the most extreme poverty in the city. I went with a church ministry from the area that visits families there weekly. We walked down the road, and turned into a pathway that was only about a foot wide and whose walls were stained with every imaginable toxic substance. This path looked like it might lead to a sewer or an outhouse. Instead, it took us to a small community of homes that were situated in and around a cemetery.

One of the women we talked to said she had been living in this community since she was born, 35 years ago, and her mother had lived there before that. The homes were literally stacked on top of and all around above-ground grave sites. People were sitting on top of graves as if they were park benches, smoking cigarettes and laughing at each others jokes. Children playing with handmade toys in front of the deceased whose living relations had long since forgotten about them.

This may seem kind of weird for Americans, but the weirdest thing to me is this: Filipinos are terrified of cemeteries and typically avoid them at all cost. A local Pastor who was coming along on this trip for the first time was amazed, and said he'd never seen anything like it. But it's survival of the fittest in these parts, desperate times call for desperate measures, and (insert survival cliche here).

The same woman who has lived in this cemetery her entire life was working intently at weaving with her mother. They were weaving little pods that are used to cook rice in, and it makes individual servings. It is called "Puyo" or Hanging Rice, because when it is sold, the Rice is hung up for people to buy from the vender. The two women sit on the graves for around 5 hours a day, making these little pods. Together, they can construct about 300 of them in that amount of time. Later they will sell all 300 for 21 pesos. 21 pesos a day is the entire income for this family. $0.46 American cents.

As you can imagine, this area is also known for trafficking. Some families would rather try to sell their children than spend five hours weaving for a almost no profit. It doesn't make it right, obviously, but it's the reality.

(finished product: multiple cooked Puyo in a bowl, ready to break open and eat)

It's important for us to see where the clients are coming from. It's important to know what is driving them and their families towards decisions that seem unthinkable and outrageous. It's important to know what we are up against. We can't save all of Lorega. But we can make a difference for some. One life at a time.