GK Apartment Lorega

 

 

GK Lorega is a partnership between LGU of Cebu City, Congressman Raul Del Mar, Action for Nurturing Children headed by Fr. Max Abalos and Gawad Kalinga. The City of Cebu closed the old cemetery and converted the land to socialized housing. The beneficiaries are families who used to live in the cemetery even on top of tombs that are abandoned. They are composed of employees, construction workers, house wives and mostly unemployed.

 

這是一處由宿霧地方政府、國會議員Raul Del Mar 和由Fr. Max AbalosGawad Kalinga領導的救助兒童組織共同舉辦的社會住宅。政府把舊墓園用地轉換成社會住宅。受助的成員包含過去住在墓園的家庭、建築工人和家庭主婦,而這些成員大部分都是失業。

 

 

 

This is a three-storey apartment, the number of families is not necessary in one residential space. For example, we visited two families who live in a twenty square meter room. There are two families sharing in one space and the total number of members are seven in this room. There are no personal rooms. The place has only a toilet, a storage room, a living room at the same time a bedroom. Kitchen and living room is linked together, there is no privacy at all. The time of our visit was in the afternoon, in the house there was a girl taking a nap so we can only chat while whispering. Her mother was using the fan to let her feel cool because the house was a kind of hot and stuffy. The whole space shares only a small fan stick on the wall. The aunt whose picture above, told us that her house was burned, so her son and her moved to this apartment. They must pay 200 peso (about 120 NT$) to the government every month, and another water and electricity charges.

 

這是由一棟三層樓組成的公寓,每個空間入住的家人數量不一定,像我們拜訪的這一戶人家小小不到七坪的空間就擠了兩戶人家共七個人,沒有獨立的房間,只有一間廁所、一個儲藏室、客廳兼起居室,廚房又和餐廳是連在一起的,完全沒有隱私可言。拜訪的時間剛好是午後,房子裡有一位小女孩正在睡午覺,他的母親正在用扇子幫她搧風,因為屋裡其實滿悶熱,整個空間只有一台小小的黏在牆上的那種電風扇在轉動,然後我們就在輕聲細語之中聊起天來。照片中的阿姨告訴我們,她說她的家被大火燒了(據老師說,這附近三年前發生了一場大火,很多人的家都被燒毀了),所以她和她兒子就搬到這裡來。如果沒記錯的話,他們每個月必須付給政府200披索(120元台幣)的房租給政府,另外水電、瓦斯費都必須額外支付。

 

 

 

 

It’s like a small community here, which includes a small grocery store, a community center, a square and etc.

 

這裡就像一個小型的社區,有小型的雜貨店、社區中心、小廣場。

 

 

 

 

It's summer vacation when we visited them. Most children are in the community. They danced very well for us. Some of students cannot help but to dance with them.

 

而我們拜訪的這天正好是暑假期間,住在這裡的小孩大部分都在,他們為我們跳了一段很棒的舞蹈。有些同學情不自禁也跟著一起跳了起來。

 

 

 

 

The social issues in the Philippines are straight showing off everywhere. Is this a culture shock for me? This astonished me that I can't speak any word as if my heart was cut by a knife, but it doesn't danger my life at all. The reason is that I am only a visitor and I'm going back to my country soon. However, this is totally their life. They can't press the "pause" button even this isn't a good movie to see in their mind.

 

菲律賓的社會問題是直接毫無保留的展現在隨處看到的每一個地方。這是文化衝擊嗎?對我來說是一種說不出來的震撼感,就像你內心被刀子劃了小小的一刀,但這一刀完全不會危及自己生命的一刀。因為我只是一個過客,幾個月之後就會回去自己的國家,但這完完全全是是他們的生活,無法按下暫停建,就算這不是他們心中的一部好電影。

 

I almost cannot face this culture shock. The only way I can assume is to imagine that this is a kind of ‘'normal life'' in the Philippines. It's like when I'm passing by a bridge every day taking a van going to school. A mother is always standing under the bridge and holding her baby. I guess that maybe she will just stand there or she wants to go to somewhere. However, after several days of seeing her, she is still staying at same spot and feeding her baby. Afterwards, I realized that she lives there with just a piece of cardboard under the bridge. It's hard to imagine how she will be parenting her baby in the future, yet this situation is only a miniature in society.

 

這樣的文化衝擊幾乎無法面對,只能想像這就是這裡的''正常''生活模式。就像每天早晨搭車去學校的途中都會經過一座橋,橋下每天都會站著一位母親抱著她的小寶寶,第一次經過的時候,我以為她只是站在那裡或者停在那裡待會要去某個地方,但之後的幾天,她都是站在同一個位置,餵她的小寶寶喝奶,後來,我理解到她是住在這裡,住在只有鋪著一塊厚紙板的橋下。很難想像未來的她要如何在陰暗的泥土地上撫育她的小孩,但這也只是這個社會的一個縮影。

 

Actually, Filipino's character as optimistic even if they are in the worst situation, they still manage to enjoy the present. So, maybe it's unreasonable to use our views and values to observe the society in the Philippines.

 

其實菲律賓人在性格上是屬於樂天派的,就算處境再如何壞,他們依然很享受當下的生活。所以也許用我們的角度或價值觀去觀察這樣的社會是不合理的。

 

Anyway, this is a very special experience class that combines different kinds of emotion. And the most important thing is we have learned to live our life to its fullest and enjoy every moment in our life.

 

總之,這是一次很特別的體驗課程,交集所有的感觸。最重要的是學習到了好好過著當下的生活、好好享受生命的每一刻。

 

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