Estremera: Resourcefulness beyond just resources

THE meeting was in progress in the sitio hall that was nothing but a paved structure with roof, no walls. With village folks in remote areas, meetings for any concern will tend to drag on as members would take time to stand up and say their piece.

My hassled and harried world could hardly put my pace in stride and so I wandered off, the voices in the background fading to become the giggles of young girls at play.

With dusty feet spread out in front of them, the girls they take turns throwing small stones and... playing jackstones without the "stone" or the rubber ball that was supposed to be thrown up and caught, in time to gather whatever it was to be gathered of the "jacks".

Here, the jacks are small stones, and there is no stone. They flip their right hand up, like throwing the ball, gather the stones depending on what the imagine they are doing ..in ones, twos, threes, or fours, or making the "exhibition", without the ball to bounce and keep time.

I shared the video in social media and friends reacted as I expected them to, with pity. It was how I felt at the start. But seeing their happy faces and hearing their laughter, I knew I stepped into their magical world that only the imaginative can comprehend... the beauty of uncombed hair, dusty feet, and the odor of sweat, included.

It was my friend Gauss Obenza who put some thought into what I have shared. For those who don't know Gaus, she is a songwriter and composer who was the 32nd Star Awards for Movies Indie Musical Scorer of the Year in 2016 for "I Love You, Thank You", a film by fellow Dabawenyo Charliebhebs Gohetia.

She was also a nominee for Best Music in hte 37th Gawad Urian Awards in 2014 for "Riddles of my Homecoming" by fellow Dabawenyo Arnel Mardoquio. (I'm writing this down to show that this lady is not just any singer, composer, but is one who can put music to visuals, and that requires a lot of creativity).

"Lack of resources is not necessarily a pitiful situation. It's the lack of resourcefulness that's more kawawa (pitiful)," she wrote. "Ito yung klaseng mga bata na hindi mo maringgang 'I'm bored' (These are the types of children who will never say, 'I'm bored')."

I can only nod in agreement, and type: True.

Many a parent, nowadays, in their bid to give the best to their children, have constricted the very source of their child's creativity their imagination and the art of making do.

The tablets and cellphones take care of all the images they could have conjured all themselves; these stretch reflexes but not imagination, and when the game or apps prove to be more difficult than expected, they switch to something else, and later on become bored.

Out there, in sitio Upian, Marilog village, Marilog, little girls giggle in glee and play with stones and their imagination. Let's give them real jackstones, a friend said. And all I can say was, "But it will take the fun out of it."

Sometime ago, in a similar trip up those mountains with Kinaiyahan Foundation's executive Director Betty Cabazares, she admitted that many times she had to face the reality that it is harder for the people looking in than for those who were born into such existence and that the best thing that can be done in order not to corrupt the values of a community is to guide them into improving what they have been doing all this time, but not imposing on them what as outsiders we perceive as lacking.

All this just by watching jackstones played with real stones as jacks and one's imagination as the stone and find nothing lacking.

saestremera@yahoo.com