BY NYRA ARMADA
IN THE heavily populated and remote area of Barangay Mali-ao in Pavia, Iloilo, there stood a shanty, made of bamboo and plywood – plastered to seem like a wall. The house looked close to the wreckage. The holes in its roof were like stars dazzling in daylight.
When it rains, the floor automatically turns into a puddle. Muddy and slippery to the foot, with an unwanted stench that is their least favorite.
However, it is the makeshift barong-barong where the 31-year-old Loren Jagolino patiently spends her time making rugs, pot holders, doormats, and pillows out of strips of leftover clothes or retaso. She does the job with nothing but her hands. No machine is to her comfort to make the task easier. She had no choice. It was her comfort over her family’s survival.
Being the sole breadwinner in their family, Loren endures the fatigue, the stress brought about by her work. Making pot holders, rugs, and doormats were the only means she knew to make a living.
Loren is a person with a disability. She was born with an undiagnosed handicap on both feet.
“Mabudlay ang akon kahig kun tam-an ka kapoy. Pirme ko ga ka-outbalance, gasakit sa sobra nga pangabudlay. Bisan magtindog kaw kabug-at,” said Loren, while weaving something that would then become a potholder. Poverty was not the only hindrance, for she had to continually endure the burden caused by her disability.
Before daylight became known to the rest of us, Loren would already be in her barong-barong. She has to weave and finish the doormats. Sometimes her friend, a fellow person with a disability, will visit and pick up her products and sell them to the market. This was a favor each had to grant one another. She then would stop to work when the moon crept back to the sky.
This was Loren Jagolino’s daily routine. The livelihood she knew best, so she can earn money to buy medications for her mother who has a nervous breakdown. She still has her 56-year-old father, but he could not find a job due to eyesight problems. Everything was left in the working hands of Loren.
“Kun makabenta amo lang na pagdarawat sang bugas,” Loren told Panay News.
Having no money to fund her operation, Loren could not afford to undergo surgery. Much is a struggle in securing to have something to dine everyday. Such thoughts would never cross her mind.
But, a cane would make it a bit better for Loren to help her walk life everyday. Her busy hands, be it day or night juggle more struggles, and continually work to weave the clothing strips to life for her family./PN
