Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines – Ever since working with the IOM in Mindanao, I regularly get to spend time with the family only during weekends. I leave Cotabato City every Friday afternoon (arriving Cagayan de Oro in the evening) and go back to Cotabato City every Monday early morning. Saturdays usually is a day spent on catching up on family concerns like going to the bank, attend some meeting or meet with friends. Sundays are always the day spent most of the time exclusively and solely for and with the family.
TREES GROWING ON CONCRETE - Trees seemingly growing out of concrete along the underpass of the Lim Ket Kai Mall in Cagayan de Oro City
On Sundays, the usual fare would consists of attending/participating in Sunday mass and having lunch together afterwards. Sunday lunch has always been a tag of war between the kids opting for the more famous fast food chains (usually McDonald or Jollibee) and us (Azon and I) wanting to try a different place to eat as we would prefer variety over fixed menu of food to eat. After lunch, doing the grocery for the week usually follows. After this, if time permits, we watch a movie that we all would like to watch this is if a movie is showing that is to our liking (and allowable for the kids). If not movies, we do other things that needs to be done in preparation for the coming week like have a haircut. Otherwise after the grocery we go home and watch television, tend the garden/water the plants and prepare a dish or two for dinner.
ROASTED COFFEE - Imported roasted coffee beans displayed for sale at the grocery section of the Robinsons Mall in Lim Ket Kai Center in Cagayan de Oro City
Sunday afternoon for us is pretty simple but offers us with the needed time to do things together as a family (considering that I work far from Cagayan de Oro and I’m basically away the whole week). In one particular Sunday afternoon, I decided to bring my point and shoot camera and take random shots of our activities. After downloading the photos in my computer and as I was going through the photos one-by-one to select the “best” shots or at the very least the shots I have a liking, my attention was drawn to the set of photos taken while we were doing our grocery. The series of photos showed abundance. A variety of vegetables and fruits filled the racks. The canned goods section had different brands and types of processed food. All racks in the grocery section were filled to the brim with food products for sale. While going through the photo set, I was immediately reminded of the time I was in Zimbabwe. I enter a shop (any shop for that matter) and I in most cases am presented with rows and rows of empty shelves.
TAKE YOUR PICK - Various types of vegetables displayed for sale at the vegetable section of the Robinsons Mall Grocery Section.
While doing grocery in the Philippines was a matter of choosing a preferred brand or the cheapest brand/product, in Zimbabwe, as soon as you see the product you need, you don’t think twice, you just get it. There was very little room for one to choose between white sugar or brown sugar. There was no room for one to choose between Castle Beer or Eagle or Bolingers. This makes me think that there are indeed a lot of things that we (in the Philippines) should be thankful about. In the midst of plenty, it is easy to forget that on another part of the world fellow human beings are experiencing the opposite.
PHOTO JOURNAL 