scevenging the heart of mananga

SCAVENGING THE HEART OF MANANGA

by Jona B. Bering

Making love with the book entitled, The Good Women of China compiled and written by Xinran, a feminist broadcaster who hit the hilt of her career amidst the tight domination of Mao Zedong, awakened some known unknown right here on the navel of my chest.

I got an appetite for The Scavenger Woman: a real story of a mother who wanted to have some glimpse of her rich politician son through camouflaging as a scavenger.

For some reasons that even I can’t fathom, I always have heart for scavengers which drastically led me under the Mananga Bridge, a fifteen-minute ride from the city. And together with my three friends, we made a documentary out from that visit and fortunately, it won during the university’s Green Screen: An Earth-friendly Video documentary Film Festival.

According to Noy Nido, who farmed the right edge of the river, ilado kaniadto ang mananga tungod sa misterhiyosong pagpakita ni Maria Cacao, kaniadto, kay karon ilado na kini tungod sa basura ug sa kabaho. (Mananga was known for the mysterious appearance of the legendary Maria Cacao, was, since now, it is known for its rubbish and foul smell.)

We went back there, dragging the whole staff of our publication this time with few bags of canned goods and the likes (Noy Nido and the rest of the gang’s part of the prize) --- trying to stir the sleeping Samaritan out from them. They gladly roused from the sick bed of noncompliance.

Levy Balgos dela Cruz, a multi-awarded playwright and scriptwriter, who was one of the judges of the film fest, said that “…Mananga (the documentary) shows lives striving to survive in the dumpsite, making a living out of junks amidst all the health hazards and among the stray dogs and disease- carrying pests; or trying to eke out a ‘living’ by making pork chorizos where yards and yards of pig intestines are washed in the river polluted by the toxic seepage from the dumpsite…”

Noy Nido, Teresito, Rosilo and Randy, the noisiest mute I ever encountered and the rest of their families never expected that we would be back there. They were thrilled.

Rosemilda, a mother of five, and feeding them all alone, once again, appealed to everyone to never pull out the dumpsite.

The dumpsite which is the home of diarrhea, malaria, dengue and doctor-knows what else, is now became the spring of their lives. The irony of it.

Well, featuring common people is so un-lifestyle.

We just wanted to be a Xinran, appealing to everyone that there are lives away from the societal and political pages of the newspaper who are still breathing the air of poverty.

Don’t worry; suffocation is a foreign country for them. :D