The White Clear Book and Gold Bracelet

(Photo credits to delramos)

WITH A BIG earth-coloured tote bag slung on her right shoulder and a white hardcover clear file on her right arm pressed against her chest, Shiela (not her real name) walked briskly along F. Ramos Street in Central Cebu. 

She wore a thin shiny gold bracelet with charms made of colorful precious stones that looked attractive on her right wrist against the white cover of the clear file she's holding. It was precious because her dad gave it on her 18th birthday, the same year she got her first white hardcover clear file where she put musical sheets on its clear pages. She simply called this file as her "clear book."

Sweat slid down her left temple as she anxiously turned right onto Mango Avenue. It was Thursday and she just got off from a hard day's work after politely refusing her supervisor's plea for overtime. 

She looked at her wrist watch. 5:56 PM. Her heart beat with anxiousness, slowly accelerating as the minute ticked away. As she increased the speed in her steps, she quickly closed her eyes. "I hope I can make it," she silently prayed as her brows creased in worry and nervousness.

She passed by Rain Tree Mall, then a small branch of Jollibee before she crossed the street to the other side. When she got to the opposite side of the street, she noticed a man behind her trying to catch up with her speed until he was almost beside her. Shiela walked even faster trying to avoid being tied up in any conversation with a stranger asking for directions, delaying her even more. 

However, she sensed that the man also kept up with her speed until he was already beside her. He was saying something but Shield did not quite hear him. "I'm sorry, I'm really in a hurry," she said as she quickly glanced at the man, without bothering to stop walking. She noticed that he was eyeing her clear book. 

She did not want to be rude to him, but now was not just the time to entertain anybody. She held her clear book tighter as her bracelet swung with her steps then glimpsed at her left where the man took long strides to keep up with her. 

(Photo credits to Shamelessly Sparkly)

The man was about 5 feet and 6 inches, just a little taller than she was. He looked very serious yet there was a trace of nervousness in his expression as he kept fidgeting with his hand in his pocket, trying to find something. He kept eyeing her clear book, which made Shiela curious but did not bother investigating further.

When Shiela was just about two hundred meters from her destination, the man grabbed her left arm. But before he could say anything else, Shiela almost shouted at him first. "Will you stop bothering me!? Can't you see I'm in a hurry? I'd be late for the voice drill," she reprimanded then immediately walked away from him half running towards the huge green-roofed five-spired church.

The man was so stunned by the response he got. He was not an expert in the field yet, but it was the first time he chickened out and let his target walk away without taking anything from her. He put back the small knife in his pocket and shook his head in disbelief as he walked away faster.  

A short middle-aged man in a battle green vest printed with SCAN greeted her, "good evening sister, did that man give you any problem?" He asked her with a concerned expression.

Shiela looked at her clear book, then at her gold charmed bracelet, as she realized something that was just about to happen if she was not so focused and determined to fulfill her duty in the choir. Her clear book became her shield that protected her gold charmed bracelet and herself in the facet of danger.

She looked at the man wearing the SCAN uniform and smiled. "No he didn't. It's the other way around. I think I gave him a problem,"  she said before she finally entered the gate to the Iglesia ni Cristo chapel and made it at the nick of time for their 6:15 voice drill. 

The story is adopted from a real life experience with slight changes to the name of the character, location and some details to protect the people involved.

Woman Worked Harder to Celebrate INC Day's 95th Anniversary

AMONG the long lines of vendors along the roads of Nivel Hills in Lahug, I spotted Adelaida Labajo, a 60-year-old woman working non-stop until all her vegetables and charcoals were sold out. 

At her age, she should be at home instead of working all day long under the heat of the sun. However, she even doubled her efforts in finding financial means by doing more than just selling along the road. Adelaida would also go around the neighboring places, as far as her feet would take her just to sell all her goods.

Being a born and active member of the Iglesia ni Cristo, she revealed that she was enthusiastic with the church’s 95th Founding Anniversary in the country on 27th of July. This was in the same month but seven years ago (in 2009 to be exact). She even planned on preparing a little gathering for the celebration. This was her inspiration and the mere reason why she never got tired of selling vegetables and charcoal everyday.

“I will really strive harder at work for the preparation of the church’s 95th Anniversary, because I’m really thankful that God has never forsaken me,” she said in a plain Visayan vernacular.

Adelaida was married to Amateo with twelve children, and with such number of children, life was not easy for her and her converted husband. Moreover, when financial and health condition seemed shaky before, she would find herself slipping away from her faith and courage.

Furthermore, with too much struggles for their everyday survival, she would even feel her spirits weakening then. Everything even worsened when an illness struck her in 2008. Due to lack of sleep and rest from selling vegetables and repacking charcoals as their only means of income, Adelaida’s health declined for more than two weeks, which made his husband took over their small business.

Because of her illness, she was forced to stop attending church worship services twice every week for a couple of months. Moreover, despite her silent protest, her relatives took her to a faith healer. “I was so depressed when I have to stop attending church services. I didn’t believe I’d get healed by the faith healer. I just prayed at that time,” she said with teary eyes.

However difficult the situation was, Adelaida made it through the painful trials that life had beset upon her, and because of those challenges, she became stronger in her faith and regained courage in life. She went back to attending church services in the House of Worship in Tisa, Labangon in January the following year together with her husband.

“I will die within the church’s flock because this is where truth is. I am just very thankful that despite the hardships I have experienced, God never left me,” she proudly said. (Jasmin Vailoces)