March is International Women’s Month, coaxing, drawing and highlighting attention to effort and enterprise of women for family and society’s common good, while reciprocally underscoring no discrimination against them.
When then Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Department of Health – Cordillera Administrative Region(DOH-CAR), Ah Kong was chiefly responsible in advocating and promoting women’s gender sensitivity and child protection, in as much as gender sensitivity is gender equality in general.
This much, Ah Kong, extends profound gratitude to DOH-CAR for having given time for Ah the opportunity to inform, educate and communicate on women and child concern, underscoring in a nutshell, government’s aspiration to remove gender barriers.
An aspiration exemplified last Saturday by the Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) which, aside from its mandate in stamping out illegal drugs, takes gender sensitivity seriously.
It was a particular case manifested by PDEA – Region 1. That day, an unidentified PDEA-R1 organic member took on a multi-faceted role: he taking care of a baby girl while busy with other house chores. The baby girl wasn’t his daughter. Nonetheless, he took on the job like fish takes to water.
What made the circumstance originally aesthetic was, the PDEA-R1 member approached his baby-sitting chore with a touch of indigenous art, by cradling the baby girl comfortably in a basin and held securely by him.
As Ah Kong watched, the baby girl’s delight grew, thumping the basin’s edges, somehow feeling that being cradled in a basin was a blissful experience, compared to confinement in a crib like a prisoner.
That PDEA-R1 member’s devotion to child-caring was a regard towards the fairer sex and children, raising a role to a higher responsibility in creating a cultural context that allows for creative abilities to shine at home or in the workplace.
I caught it on camera, hoping it sees print in today’s issue of Herald Express and captioned it, “Rock, my baby on a basin; when the wind blows, the basin won’t fall,” parapraphrasing “Rock-a-bye Baby” nursery rhyme, which many there may have sang one time or another while caring for a child.
(Ed’s note: The photo failed to make it to the print section. But we are posting it here, just below, as well as in our photo gallery.)
A bit of history. “Rock-a-bye Baby” was composed by an unnamed pilgrim who sailed to America on the Mayflower ship in 1620 when the person observed the way Native American Indian women rocked their babies in cradles made from tree barks and suspended on high branches.
Strikingly similar were the circumstances leading to the writing of rhyme in 1620 and the care of a child by that PDEA-R1 member this 2017: It was the use of indigenous “ukis ti kayo” (tree barks) and “batya” (basin) as cradles. It defines ingenuity in baby-sitting, unheralded yet unique. The pilgrim was unknown, so is the PDEA-R1 member. Yet both had the same idea of baby-sitting with indigenous common sense. Quite an interesting coincidence.
Daily Laborer salutes PDEA-R1 for its consciousness on International Women’s Month and Child Protection.
Also, Last Wednesday, Ah accepted an invitation to be arbiter between groups of enterprising women and men in the Benguet farmlands. They wanted to engage in friendly discussion on the topic, “Can man survive without woman?”
Oi! Really an ageless and interesting question I was never able to answer and caused me splitting headaches even when I was still with DOH-CAR.
At the start of the discussion, I said casually said, “Woman cannot live without man.” The women groups upon hearing this, ferociously glared at me like they wanted to scratch out my eyes.
One woman produced a pen knife she uses to clean harvested vegetable for packing, pointed her finger at me and casually made motions of cutting an important portion of my anatomy. I unconsciously covered my crotch with my hands. The women cackled with glee.
So I rephrased the question, saying, “Woman can live without man.” Hearing this, all the women clapped their hands and wanted to hug me to death. I looked at the men group for help. But they sat silent. Ay-yay-yay! Nagtakrot da nga padpadak (They were afraid just like me). Score: 1 for woman.
The women guffawed at our discomfiture. Soon, one male debated women makes excessive talk. The women retorted the reason why men are never bored, the home is full of gaiety and there is love in the world is because of their incessant yakking. Score: 2 for woman.
The men then argued woman came from man’s rib, citing Genesis 2:22 and that being the case, man is well-made. The women pooh-poohed, countering woman’s physique is beautifully and attractively unique because it attracts man. Score: 3 for woman.
The men then contended men do what they can. The women countered they do what the men cannot do. Score: 4 for woman.
So, the men boasted they are like Tarzan and the Apes. The can beat their chest and roar, adding they can also crow like roosters. The women snickered and countered that on the other hand, they, like the hens, are the ones that lay the eggs. Score: 5 for woman.
Here, the men boasted they are handsome. O la-la! The women giggled, counter-debating they are like flowers, the most lovely and beautiful things God has given to the universe. Score: 6 for woman.
The men claimed males are great composers of love songs and are great singers. The women checkmated, saying they are the reasons why love songs are composed. Without them, no love songs. Score: 7 for woman.
The men said they are strong. Tut-tut-tut, the women chimed, saying, women are wives of husbands, companions and nurses when husbands become old men. Score: 8 for woman.
As the women’s scores piled up and we, in utter defeat, I whispered to the men to retreat, find a grocery store, buy a gin and drink to our woes.
Mebbe next year, when International Women’s Month comes again, we’ll prepare ourselves to do battle of wits with the women again. Just mebbe.