Work Together, Play Together

That’s how they appeared to me and I had fun watching them. They now stick to my brain as the most ideal of families. Working together, if we view it from the point of view of the parents, but definitely playing together if we consider the view from those two kids! I loved watching this family and they did not really mind if I was at their backs… and throwing questions!

The parents are (of course, and obviously) Pomelo vendors, and on a Friday afternoon, this activity seemed to be such a fantastic playtime for the girl and the boy. Yeah yeah, I am always drawn, with gusto, to what kids do nowadays that are not computer-related!

The story:

I still walked, amidst the intermittent drizzles, around Davao. The nearby blocks of The Pinnacle, at least. Keeping myself in a hotel room, even on a gloomy showery afternoon is just not my kind of thing. Even if BBC and CNN were bannering interesting enticing intriguing November 9 headlines! I thought I’d go a bit further down towards the seafront (and that would be the Sta. Ana Wharf) where I know there is the Magsaysay Park, and the tourism offices. and fruit vendor stalls in a long row, and this was part of Nicaragdao, and part Chinatown!

For some reason, I turned right somewhere from Sta. Ana street (I think that was at that corner where McDonald’s is), and for reasons unknown, I turned left to this street (Monteverde, I guess). Perhaps I wanted to see those places I have not been to, or do not remember about Davao. Or perhaps I was trying to avoid the drizzles so I opted to walk amidst buildings, a good series of them. where I could take cover and away from the light showers.

Voila! I passed by a building where the commercial spaces were already closed, but on the garage gate, was this family selling Pomelo – yeah “suha”!

I stood there watching them wash the fruits. How do they do it? With laundry soap, water and a toothbrush! Yep, laundry detergent! First, I was a bit dumbfounded at how that “cleaning operation” works. Wouldn’t the soap make the fruits inedible? Doesn’t soap cause anything to people who eat those fruits? So I asked the parents. And they told me that ‘they think’ it doesn’t since they and all other fruit vendors in Davao have been doing this for as long as they can still recall! And the mother said something like ‘anyway the peel of each fruit is so thick it won’t probably be penetrated by the detergent. Okay fine. And I think that is probably true!

I asked the kids if they don’t have school. The boy said they just came from school as it was already day’s end. I looked at the time on my phone. Hmm, it was only 3:55PM. Well, I thought maybe they’re in the “morning shift” since that is how most schools schedule classes in this country. I further asked if they don’t go out to play. The girl said they were already playing. Hmm, I think she sincerely meant it since I saw that she was having fun transferring the cleaned fruits to their display stand. And the father said something like so that they’ll have “baon” for the next school day’!

So, well, I think those kids were genuinely having fun!

 

 

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