hay. sunday. rest day. blog day? hehe.
:3

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last night, after im done with the dishes, i went outside to turn off the tap on the meter. it's just by the door of my grandma's house. so after i turned the tap off, i realized that my cousin is still up and just came home from somewhere. She was with her boyfriend. I went inside and had a little chat with them.

then they turned on the TV. it was on GMA channel 7. it was exactly the start of the show called SINE TOTOO(ST). its a show where award winning documentaries of GMA is shown every week. that night, the featured show was a documentary entitled "Buto't Balat". the show was first aired last june 6 2005 or 2006(i dont clearly remember the date). It was on I - witness and was hosted by Kara David.

At the start of the show, ST host Howie Severino(another acclaimed documentarist, if my term is correct) interviewed Kara David and one of his close comrade when they did the documentary. Howie asked them what made them choose the said topic. Kara said, "it was when we attended a symposium sponsored by UNICEF about malnutrition in the Philippines. Sabi dun sa event, we're at ranked second in the world, just next to Sub-Saharan Africa. Then there, it catched me."* Kara added, "may nakapagasbi sa min na sa Bicol region daw mataas ang cases ng malnutrition, so we went there and we were shocked na totoo nga. nagbigay yung informant namin ng tape na naglalaman ng evidences na ganun nga."* so they talked for some time. then the show.

the first few minutes of the show, it showed a video of a 19 y/o girl, bed ridden, and needless to say, a true manifestation of the Filipino term, "Buto't Balat". the girl, named Angela, is diagnosed with severe malnutrition. She stands up from her bed just three times a day to eat plain rice. just plain rice. Angela is the first case studied on the docu.

the next case, was about a 14 y/o boy named Jeremy. there are nine of them in his family, together with the parents. that day, his father went home with a dozen crabs and about 2 kilos of rice, i think. those items will be their food for lunch and dinner. well, of course, 12 pieces of crabs and 2 kilos or so of rice is not enough for nine grumbling stomachs. according to Jeremy's mother, Jeremy is sufferings from asthma. but other than that, Kara David thought worse. so to confirm her gut feeling, the family went to the municipal health center for the children to be checked up. after the check up, Kara was right. aside from suffering from severe malnutrition, Jeremy also has a heart condition and suffering from pneumonia. both are complications of malnutrition. also, during the weigh in, Jeremy was about 12.6 kg. and 12.6 kg? it is supposed to be the weight of a two-year old child and to think that Jeremy is already 14. doesn't that ring a feeling to you yet? Jeremy is the second case study of Kara's docu.

the last case, now related to infant malnutrition, is about a 3 y/o child. I dont remember the name of the boy. but his condition, is no better than the first two. at his age, Andy(ill just give him a name to simplify things. but this is NOT the true name of the boy) is not yet able to walk. how could he walk if his legs is no thicker than his arms. its just as earlier, "Buto't Balat". His mother also told Kara that he does not drink milk. instead, he drinks COFFEE! i dont want to sound exaggerated but i really cant think of coffee being a substitute for milk. i really cant. Andy, is the last case studied in the show.

before they went to a commercial, they said that according to studies, 3 out of 10 filipino children suffers from malnutrition to severe malnutrition. to exact the figures, 26.7% of filipino children suffers from the said condition, and as i said earlier, we are ranked second after Sub Saharan Africa by just a margin of about 2%. actually, 29% is the figure for SUb-Saharan Africa(i dont want to look lazy and dumb but you do the math :). then after that, is a commercial.

i didnt choose to finish the whole show but what i saw was enough. just enough to make me think about what ive done for the last 17 years or so that ive been living here on earth. i remember not eating if our viand if it is not what i want. i remember walking out of the table because we have just tinapa ang rice. but now as i reminisce the past, i know that ive done something wrong along the way. i can do nothing much today to change the past but i can do more than something today to change the future. i realize now that im so fortunate. very, very fortunate to have a viand and an ample amount of rice on my plate and eat three times a day(sometimes, more than thrice a day).

well, i hope ive made something out of the words i typed in here to change the future. i really dont want to sound didactic but i hope that we realize how fortunate we are that we are born on the upper part of the bracket.

the next time we have just a dried fish wrapped in old newspaper on the table, i think i would say "Dig in", rather than "Ill pass on this one".

:)

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* - these statements are NOT the exact words of Kara David during the interview but has the same idea