Full heart in the rural

Away from the city into the calm and slow-paced impulse of the rural is where I reorient my goals. It was only recently when I started working for the agricultural sector in the region. But like how I’ve always felt as though a cactus in the bathroom, I could always use a day in the rural where my mind freely wonders, outstripping the distance the wheels could cover.

My team and I visited two farmers' associations in Surigao del Sur yesterday. Both groups are beneficiaries of the special program I am working for. There wasn’t any apparent hassle in the eyes of the women I interviewed. The first one, a mother with a son trailing her behind, welcomed us to her home and cooked us lunch from the native chickens we bought from the area. That was in Bislig City before we hit the road around 2 PM off to the municipality of Bayabas. We arrived four hours later. I sat down with a humble barangay health worker and talked about the chicken production she heads as president.

It was my first time in SDS; I had just a slight clue of how expansive the area is. Though, in some areas, the roads are narrower than the truck we transported with. But it was to make way for the abundant trees saving people from direct UV rays. It was sunny. Stereotypical as this sounds, I saw kids and teens at their balconies, fathers transporting lumber, and mothers tending eateries. And busy commuters and ever-active public drivers were trying to make ends meet.

The city I currently reside in has turned gloomier because of the pandemic, but the rural, at least to me, remains the same—vibrant, simple, and hopeful.

And I remain in love, more attached to rural areas, as well. I sound too privileged, my narrative far removed from the reality of the many families I passed through in a day, but with the same token, my curiosity and wanting to help thrives. How can I be of help to this community? I always wonder—and try, with all my might, to know where to fill in.

One way I know is through visiting the field whenever I have something to write for work. And write with inputs from the people I interviewed first hand. To write with a heart, I tell myself.

By next week, I might turn in a different sounding article. I have reservations, but if I don’t write to tell what’s been going on, what else is worth writing for? My interviews with the two women went just right and frank. That’s what I will write about.