Japan ODA 60th Anniversary

Dumanay Meets JICA

Angel Joy Orpilla, First Place, Tabuk City National High School

Barefoot, Dumanay labored with each careful step along the path of the slippery mountain slope. It had rained hard the night before; the water-soaked trail that she now traversed had become a great obstacle in her desire to reach their elementary school.

It must have been thirty minutes ago when, just at the break of day, she left home for school. "I guess I still have to walk for another hour to reach school," Dumanay thought as her petite feet continued in arduous travel. She, too, felt the native back-pack, full of school materials and her packed lunch food, propped against her back become heavier with load as time passed.

She finally reached school just barely in time. Heavy with sweat, she was able to heave a big sigh of relief as school bell tolled the appointed time.

Many of Dumanay's schoolmates were similarly placed. The lucky few were only those whose houses were nearby.

When the school bell rang to end the school day, Dumanay yet faced again the same struggle she endured in the morning. Yet she was full of character, a spirit unbroken despite the ravages of daily rigor.

Back at home, Dumanay helped her Mom with the washing of the dishes after they had partaken of their meal of rice and vegetables. The sun had just set and the creeping darkness in their home was soon illuminated by an improvised gas lamp. Dumanay lit another one and proceeded to a roughly-made wooden table; she brought out her tattered book, paper and pencil and begun work on her school assignment. The shadows in the dimly-lit home danced to the sway of the gas-lamp fire; the cicadas started their nightly ritual.

With her school homework done, Dumanay eased the gnawing tension from her body; this was to say that the day is done. With the tension released, sleep came not long after. Sleep a welcome medicine to the pains of extreme labor; early tomorrow begins anew the daily struggle.

In this remote mountain village where Dumanay lived, houses clung close to each other. This is why it is called a tribal village. People here live off the fat of their swidden farm or uma high up in the mountains, their payaw or rice terraces, and whatever game their hunting expeditions bring. Life, then, is hard; poverty a reality to contend with.

It is for this reason that Dumanay values much education. In her youthful mind, she dreams of that day in the future when she could help her family live a life with much less deprivation. And she knows that only by finishing college and having a stable job will she be able to make life better for her and her family.

A few years later, when Dumanay was in sixth grade, construction workers came to build a road which passed by their school. Not long after, construction work started in the river below; she came to know that they were building a micro-hydro there.

Dumanay found out from her teacher that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded these works. She said that through Japan's kindness, life for the people in the community would now be much better.

Dumanay experienced this herself. For one, she now can get to school much faster and conveniently. Gone were the days of dangerous travel along slippery mountain trails. More so, their home now boasts of electric light at night. A lone bulb, with non-flickering light, has replaced the improvised gas lamp. She now can study at night much better and with much less eye strain.

The road, too, has greatly helped the community. People now have gone into planting many vegetable crops as their produce can now be transported for sale in the market. The sick needing hospitalization can speedily be given medical attention. Needed goods, unavailable in the community, can now be bought at a cheaper price. One household, too, started a small convenience store.

Dumanay, in her young age, noticed all these improvements. "Even the behavior of the people has changed," she thought. "They can now afford a smile on their faces; it seems that they now are more confident in facing the challenges of the future."

Dumanay went on to finish college. She took up a course in Community Development in the state university. When asked why she chose such course, she replied, "People in this world cannot survive if they do not learn to help each other. This is the valuable lesson that JICA has taught us."

Dumanay went back to her home village. There, she was able to organize a cooperative with the villagers. She also assisted the people in identifying projects needed by the community, prepared project proposals from these, and submitted the same to funding agencies. Not all proposals were approved but those which were successful were implemented and helped in making life better for the residents.

A project of great impact that Dumanay initiated was the reforestation of a 150-hectare barren area of land where now stands, after 10 years, a lush growth of forest pines that has greatly improved the landscape of their tribal community.

"Trees are the lungs of the earth," Dumanay always echoes to the community people, young and old alike. "It cleans the bad gases in the air."

Surely, the generations yet to come will always salute the exemplary works that Dumanay bequeathed to them. And, through it all, it was JICA's works that kindled the passion to serve in the heart of the youthful Dumanay.