Project Rice

From Manila: "11M Filipinos among 1B living on less than $1/day"
© Inquirer.net.com

the story here on Inquirer.net from Manila

Quoted excerpts from the article:
"Francisco Inorme, 78, can be considered one of the world’s most deprived....He makes a living by mending shoes in a stall beside the Barangay UP Campus clinic in Diliman, Quezon City.

"...Inorme, who charges P40 per pair of shoes, says on good days he earns P200 a day. But dividing this daily income equally among himself, his wife and his wife’s parents gives him a share of a meager P50 a day. “And these are on good days,” says Inorme."

That story reminded me of a day I went to eat at a cheap local eatery on Bantayan - I ordered a small meal of ground pork & rice for P20, and sat down at my table where a frail old man was trying to eat his noodle soup, and had spilled it all on the table...he was very weak and had barely taken a spoonfull; spilled the rest, and just sat there as if he were in a daze.

I looked at the owner and quietly said "please bring him another bowl of his soup, on my bill..."

The owner looked at me kind of strange; I just nodded my head with a smile and motioned for her to bring it over, which she did.

The old man didn't speak a word as she put another bowl of his soup in front of him - he didn't even look at me.
...he just took his spoon & slowly began to eat again.

I paid for our meals and left quickly; the server was giggling a bit to the other workers there, and that made me uncomfortable that it might turn into a conversation topic - maybe because they saw me take a quick phone cam image.

But he was a sweet old man and I just wanted him to have his soup back.

April 7, 2007: Bantayan Island, Philippines

It's not the image of the man in the news link above, but the man above at my table appeared very weak, and looked very poor, as many elderly people do who have to exist on $1 or so a day.

Food for Thought.
PJAMES