Because the more the merrier?

I attended a small event the other day: a donation turn-over event to a community organization in Manila. There were some community members who attended the event and the donor got quite interested to interview them (the ED of the organization was also eager in introducing them to the donor).

One of the mothers was asked, “Ano'ng trabaho ng asawa mo?” She replied, “Disabled po kasi ang asawa ko. Bulag siya. Dati nagmamasahe siya kaya lang mahina ang kita. Ngayon, beggar na lang siya sa kalsada.” Follow-up question: “Eh ikaw, ano'ng trabaho mo?” Reply: “Dati po nagtitinda ako ng basahan. Kaya lang tumigil na po ako nung nagka-baby ulit ako. Question: “Ilan ba ang anak mo?” Reply:”Lima po”

BINGO!

It's really hard to understand why a family who doesn't even earn 300 pesos a day could actually have the courage to raise 5 kids. Honestly, the thought of raising kids still scares me. It’s never a simple thing: you need to be financially capable and it also means being able to raise kids with good values (you have to provide them everything from good education to a good environment, etc.).

While here I am thinking of what kind of life I could probably give to my future kids, there are couples who continue to procreate even if it’s way beyond their capacity to give quality life to their kids. It’s hard to imagine why they keep on having kids even if they don't have enough money to feed a child (or probably themselves).

You'll usually hear, "Masaya naman kami kahit naghihirap. Tulong-tulong kaming mag-anak."

Honestly, are they really happy? Well, they try to be happy and accept things as they come.

[To be Continued]