After we passed by a balot vendor, the technicolor of skies and sunset started to paint above the road of Pantaland, and our continued walk became brighter and brighter as we passed by different kinds of people sitting beside this road full of hope and story.
If you look closer at these people, you will see not only mere faces but a manifestation of soaring dreams. Such is the face of a young girl we met by the end of the road. And you would be amazed at her story.
Before we actually met her, we passed by this band that often practices in this place almost every day. I guess it is because the people would not complain about the nerve-wracking sound since it is a public space. I have a nostalgic memory of these people when my best friend and I visited this place for the first time with the same set of music and heart. I listened for a minute and left because my ears would crack if I stayed a bit longer.
I started to feel hopeful after seeing those people create sound and music that would possibly brighten someone’s mood—like me.
A few moments later, we finally reached the end of the road, and the first to witness was another Pantaland you can see from afar. It was a Pantaland from the neighboring place of this town, and I also have a vivid memory of it. If you read my second blog in Hive, this is the port where we first had our journey as warriors of journalism.
We watched and talked while waiting for the sun to set. Everybody passed by in front of us. Some stayed longer, but some just took a round trip—a reminder that some things we encounter are just fleeting in nature.
My friends had their talk I could not relate to, so I enjoyed the time by searching for something meaningful and taking a photo of it. First, I saw an elder below the road and observed him navigate the first spot of waters. Second, after I dissociated from focusing on that elder, when I looked back at it, there was a young girl washing her feet in the water. When she heard the camera click, she looked at me with no emotion at all—just staring and calm, like a kind person.
Later, she turned out to be the girl I will be highlighting in this blog, and it was when I scanned the photos for editing that I learned she was the same girl we had a conversation with.
Her name is Dede. After our talk, we gave her another name as The Kangkong Queen of Pantaland, carrying her basket full of green nutritious leaves around the Pantaland, hoping to sell one or two just to buy rice for last night’s dinner.
Dede is the middle child of the family and is borne by a parent facing financial disparity every day for their children. Her mother is just a housewife and sometimes the harvester of the vegetable she sells, and her father is working in a parking area, assisting visitors and hoping for a gift that would save them every day.
Pantaland is just a narrow road for common people, but for Dede, it is her world, where the food they eat comes from its visitors. She always strolls from the start to the end of the road, hoping someone kind will notice her presence, and she often repeats it back and forth just to make sure everyone in the place gets to see her.
Some days, many would buy, but for most of her daily stroll, people would just pass by or not notice her if she approached. It takes a kind heart and a keen eye to talk with this kind of kid, and maybe that is why some are not going to entertain her.
We were just talking beside the road and spotted a kid carrying the same basket, and I took a photo of her. Beside the kid was the little girl Dede I didn’t notice until my friend said I should take a photo of the other girl. Who would have thought that it would lead to something deep and emotional?
We talked about her life together with my friend, who is a good listener. And when I say good listener, she listens carefully and replies with great empathy. She is also a hiver named @anniesty here.
I cannot tell everything she shared with us because it is private. But looking into her eyes is the agony of suffering from poverty and, at a young age, barely making ends meet. We bought kangkong from her, and it only cost Php10.00. We were the first ones to buy her vegetables, so she smiled and was grateful for our presence.
It took us almost an hour before we ended the conversation, and for Dede, I believe it was a break from her unsaid thoughts as a child.
We could not leave her carrying the same weight of basket after the conversation and swallow our empathy, so we decided to help her sell the vegetables. It was dark that time, so I didn’t take photos. I don’t actually think of taking photos when I meet another person/people.
We approached each and every one in the Pantaland, hoping, like Dede, that they would be of great kindness and buy this weight of vegetables. We were not able to sell the 6 remaining vegetables but were able to sell at least 8 bundles before we left Dede.
Since it was night at that time, we treated Dede in the same shops we visited before (shops featured in Part 1 of this story). We first treated her to the street food cart and a drink in WaCo shops, the same as what we ordered. The kid didn’t ask us to buy it for her, but she kept asking about the empty cup I was carrying in my hand, and I figured out she must be hoping for one.
Before we left Dede, she said how grateful she was and expressed her gratitude to us. Then she went back to the end of the road, with the same hope of selling all the vegetables and making her family happy with her sales.
Dede was an inspiration that day, and until now, I keep thinking of what life could be if I dreamt like Dede at a young age. Maybe I could have turned out better and seen the world differently in its vast expanse.
Dede, a young kid strolling on the road, unfamiliar, carries this weight of an everyday dream that lifts her up whenever no single penny is reached into her hand, and when walking to her home bravely that is an hour away. She is a symbol of perseverance and a never-ending dream, and she is likely to be successful in life in the near future.
Without hesitation, she uttered the word "Police" as her dream job, making me more emotional about a simple kid with a big and fiery dream. I wish that life gives her the abundance she needs. Until then, she will be as happy as she should be.
POST CARD:
While sitting in the Pantaland, here are the people and features I saw during the stroll that I think are worth sharing with you.
A pair of men looking for sea creatures that can be sold in the market or fill their stomachs for dinner. They were walking and searching for these foods until the night had come and the visitors were fleeing.
A family bonding in the same simple road, conversing about the future and present (possibly). It might look raw and simple, but it actually is deep and collectively connected. There are also some kids and passersby at the end of the Pantaland, and I saw them enjoying the view.
A sunset with changing colors as the time goes by—first a blue-filled sky, then an orange paint, and lastly a pink-purple gradience as the last color of that day’s sunset.