TRAINING DAY

My mom woke me up very early. It was 4:30 am and I was still suffering from a big headache, cough and a slight fever. Today was a a scheduled day to train and shoot some photographs with my dad and several other foreign photojournalists who are part of the Asia Europe forum that will be held here in the Philippines.
We left our house at 6:00 am and went to Leanne Jazul's house to fetch Joachim, a Belgian, and then we went to the Bayview hotel to see Nasha, a Korean. After we had a short rest, we headed directly to Baseco. We also covered a parade near Manila and shot homes beside the railways (just see the following posts).


PHOTO: Joachim from Belgium(left) Nasha from Korea (right)
and me, Akira from The Philippines.(photo by Luis Liwanag)

The children of Baseco

The first part of our journey was covering the mud covered makeshift streets of Baseco. We walked a long way until we came into the polluted white sand beach that was a home for many families. The children's reactions and emotions when we took their pictures were so overwhelming that I had to hold back from shooting and stop my eyes from shedding tears.

Baranggay fiesta

After we have eaten our lunch and made a short rest, we headed towards a community feast. The fiesta included games not only for the children but also for the adults. There was a dance parade which featured fire-breathing transexuals.

Life beside the railways

Our party's third destination were the homes beside the railways. I observed that striving to survive in that place is really hard. People push train-like vehicles for a fee to make a living and some people just collect and search the garbage for something to eat.

At the end of the day, after we finished our trip throughout Manila, I realized that you should be happy and thankful with what you have because someone, somewhere, is not that privileged. It is truly a lesson to be learned.