FEATURE: 'It's another year of survival'

CEBU, Philippines - Rice, dried fish, a cup of soup and water.

While many families feast on sumptuous food for their “media noche,” Vicenta Laureto, 44, said these are what they can only eat as they welcome the New Year.

Vicenta’s family is one of the eight families that live in the pavements near the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.

With five children to feed through the earnings she and her husband get by selling goods in the streets, Laureta said the New Year means nothing more than another year of survival by enduring the cold nights, sacrificing more to make both ends meet, and hoping that they will have healthier lives.

She told The Freeman that they have been celebrating New Year for as long as she can remember and have endured the fact that they have been left out of “good tidings.”

Her family, according to her, spent all their lives in desperate hoping that their New Year celebration would become “special and comfortable.”

“Unsaon ta man, mao man ni ang among kapalaran. Unya nadawat nalang namo nga ingon ani among kahimtang,” said a teary-eyed Vicenta.

With the meager profit they earn by selling goods across the street, she said they just get contented by being able to eat at least two times a day. “Mao na basta mag bag-ong tuig, ari ra gyud mi mag-estar sa asiras. Kung naay ipanghatag na mga pag-kaon, moadto dayon mi, unya malipay nami.”

Meanwhile, Maribeth Sultan, 28, married, said she welcomed the New Year with just a simple prayer that one day, they will have their own house and start a new life.

She said that all their eight families, composed of at least 50 members, never liked to stay in the sidewalk, but were left with no choice because most of them are unemployed.

“Ang among makolekta sa parking fee diri dapit sa Cathedral kay mao among gipalit ug gamayng pagkaon ganina,” she said.

Both Vicenta and Maribeth said that life was never easy especially in times of utter hunger and desperation.

They both revealed that over the years, they have their fits of loneliness knowing they could hardly alleviate their economic status.

“Maayo unta makakita mi og tarung na trabaho para makalingkawas na mi sa kawad-on,” Maribeth said.

She added unemployment coupled with poverty have pushed them out of their original homes and seek a life in the streets. —/WAB (THE FREEMAN)