A 71-YEAR-OLD Banana Que vendor Erlinda Tanie continues to sell despite her old age.
Tanie roams around various commercial and government offices to sell her main product, Banana Que, where she sometimes mixes it with Bechu Bechu, Toron, Okoy, and Shanghai, among others, which are the favorite snacks of locals.
She said she has five offspring composed of two males and three females.
Since they were still in the elementary level, she is already selling bananacue and she had been doing that for 15 years
Her husband, the late Celso Tanie, was a farmer whose income could barely sustain their basic needs, especially food.
To help her husband earn a living, she continued to sell bananacue.
A native of Escalante City, Negros Occidental, Tanie now lives in Barangay 9.
"My sons and daughters only finished elementary education because it is very costly to send them to school... we have ensured that we have food to eat, and education comes second in terms of our priorities,” Tanie lamented.
Although the food on their table is not enough and complete, she said they are still thankful that they are alive and can still enjoy the simplicity of life.
“Poverty is typical to us (because) that is how we live, nonetheless, we are happy as a family,” she stressed.
Right now, she has two grandchildren who give joy to her even if she feels tired sometimes from a whole day of vending.
Being elderly is an advantage because many would buy from her not only because of the taste of her barbeque but generally because people have a compassionate heart.
During Mother's Day celebrations, she would often have dinner with her offspring and grandchildren.
“A mother's pain and hardship are part of her life yet she does not consider it anymore as a hazard to life, rather a practical reason to live with love,” she said.