Duct tapes and Astro shoes
-Kaye Ouano
Walking around the city can be tiring. But if I were the shoes people used to walk around the city, I’d be exhausted, beaten-up, and maybe even mutilated. That is exactly why duct tapes were invented!
On May 2nd and 3rd,2011, we had our Social Discovery Walk which was like The Amazing Race spiced with Cebuano culture and poverty plus unlimited water supply. Travelling was on foot but jeepney rides were twice mandatory.
For the first day, there were seven checkpoints namely Casa Gorodo, Colon, Freedom Park, Tabo-an, Pagtambayayong Foundation, the Pari-an Drop-in Center, and Estero Pari-an. Each had different challenge tasks which were to be completed in an hour. By finishing the challenge well, the team gains points. The number of points the team has by the end of the first day determines their supper and what they sleep on.
Our first stop was Casa Gorordo where we transformed our net bags to “net-backpacks” and had a tour around the house. We were then off to Colon, diligently looking for heritage markers and copying what was written on them. I never knew Colon was so glorious before.
Next was Freedom Park. Key words were Nanay Mary, flowers, interview, and grocery. Freedom Park is the only station where we didn’t run out of time. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for lunch, so we ate our cheese bread on the last four minutes of our stay in Freedom Park.
I bet by now you’re wondering why the title is about duct tapes and astro shoes. When we were on our way to Taboan from Freedom Park, the sole of my left shoe fell off - more like detached itself. Either way, I was walking the rest of the journey with a sole-less shoe. We repacked charcoal in Taboan and got our hands dirty. Like literally.
After Taboan, we were on our way to Pagtambayayong. While we were on the right track, we asked for directions and got the wrong information. We were lost. Trying to think clearly, we sat on the gutters outside Cebu City Medical Center. Ate Venus (my buddy) finally told Silver Cloud (our facilitator) about my shoe and how tired I was so he called “The Van”. I got in, and that was when Mista showed me his duct tape. A huge roll of duct tape. Silver Cloud helped me fix my shoe and since the duct tape was silver, my shoe looked like it was from outer space. So Silver Cloud coined the word “astro shoes”. Since then, my teammates and I started calling my shoe “astro shoes” even if only my left shoe was fixed.
I rode “The Van” going to Pagtambayayong while my teammates walked another, say, 800 meters sweltering. Thankfully, our Pagtambayayong challenge was to listen to a lecture (about Pagtambayayong and their housing programs) and ask questions in an air-conditioned room. It was such a relief. After languidly listening to the lecture and asking questions, we were to depart for the Pari-an Drop-in Center. That was the first time we rode a jeepney.
Pari-an Drop-in Center housed children and it was there when we were educated about the statistics of children who are abused, abandoned, and the like. We asked the kids what their names were and how old they were. Some actually look small for their age due to malnutrition. After that, we played a game. It wasn’t long until time was up, so we started to make our way to CTU.
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