The women of Narra

There is this group of women doing social work that deserves to be recognized. They are the members of the Narra Club based in Las Piñas. We were curious when our friend Charito invited us to the opening of the Academy’s practice room. We did not know what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised and thought this could be a model community for others.

The ladies behind Narra are Menchu, Joy, Tet, Evelyn, Mel, Jose, Marietta and Charito. The group, headquartered at the Narra Home Academy building, is a project of People Engaged in People’s Projects., Inc., manned by volunteers. It is a club for girls aged 7 to 22, who are encouraged to hone their talents and skills within a conducive home atmosphere. Grown-up women, wanting to improve their skills, whether as household helpers or entrepreneurs, may also enroll in the school. At the end of a course, they are given a certificate with the seal of TESDA. Narra has a socio-civic arm called Gabay, giving academic and spiritual tutorials to less privileged grade school children.

What caught our attention during our visit was the Home Academy Culinary Practice Room, a mock-up of an ordinary apartment – with a receiving area, a functional kitchen fully-equipped with appliances and untensils, and a bedroom. It is here that the group will offer a complete culinary course from schoolyear 2008-2009. Sessions will be held twice a month, with cooking experts conducting the classes. The ladies promise to make the sessions fun and interactive and by March 2009, after developing the participants’ skills, a food festival will be held.

Starting July 8 (1 pm to 4 pm), the first culinary course will have the following dishes – potage cultivateur, bacon-wrapped roast pork with apple gravy, Mediterrenean potatoes and buttered vegetables plus banana foster. Course fee is P500 per session with discounts for four and 16 sessions. Call Narra Club at 806-72-73 for the full schedule of activities.

The Narra program actually reminds us of how our Inay trained us to be efficient homemakers. As early as in our pre-teen days, duties were already assigned to us with regard to the family’s meals. My sister and I were sent to the wet market in the center of town, to ‘feel’ what fish was fresh, to check on weights and measures, to see that the meat we were buying was newly butchered and to bargain hard. Then from our aunt, the ‘Kitchen Queen’ in our house, we learned what was sangkuchado (pre-cooked by sautéing),  what was pinausukan (smoked). Today’s homemakers may double as office workers and hence such training for their younger siblings or children may be impossible. So send them to Narra.   

In the course of seeking more info on Narra, we met Evelyn Umali, who cooks, bakes and operates from her home (17 Ozamis, Alabang Hills, tel . 842-9406). Friends and those who have sampled her sans rival give it a 10. They come in five variants – mango, chocolate, caramel, mocha and original, in various sizes from P60 for a mini to P1,100 for the large one. We surmise her decadent chocolate cake is as good as well at P900.

We decided to go by the Ayala Alabang Village Saturday market last weekend and found Estela Francisco with her fresh catch, definitely priced much lower than in the supermarkets. We got half kilo of prawns (of good size) for P240, a kilo of medium size lapu-lapu for P240 and a big tinapang bangus for P180. Estela makes good bagoong and has also added pancit Malabon to her wares. From Joy’s Smoke House, based at 1321 Perez St., Paco, tel.524-2891, we got one fourth kilo of rolled ham at P195. It comes with sauce and is a reasonable alternative to the more popular brand. Others we put in our basket were mangoes at P70 a kilo, onions at a high of P85, tomatoes at P35, Baguio beans for P62, suman sa Ibos P20 for a bunch of five and a big espasol from Santa Cruz where the tasty and good-sized ones come from, for P25 each. Here is something that pleased us: when we were paying for a slice of squash (P10) and were asking how much one eggplant would be, the seller waved his hand and said, ‘Sa iyo na lang yan.’ This reminds us of the time long ago when we could just ask a seller to give us a piece or two of finger chilli or a stalk of kangkong. Indeed, there are still some generous people around us.

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