The Circle of Lives
“Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.” – Albert Schweitzer
Invisible to many of us, there are individuals who live on the streets, trying to make ends meet every day. They often go unnoticed, their stories untold, their struggles and strengths unacknowledged.
Christopher Jaconde and his five-year-old son wake up at 4am to prepare for the long day ahead. Unlike many of us enjoying the comfort of a nice, cool bed, Christopher and his young son greets the new day on a wooden cart covered by cardboard which they consider home.
They traverse through the damp and icky streets of Carbon Public Market to clear the garbage and segregate cardboards from market deliveries. They organize and secure the cardboard on their wooden cart and head to the recycling depot, where it is weighed and measured so they can get paid. Once done, they search for another batch of cardboard and the cycle continues.
A tiresome and daunting task yet it is what’s keeping him and his son alive on the streets. It’s how they survive. In their travels, the father-son duo meets other weary members of the street community. One of them is Natividad Fernandez.
Natividad Fernandez is a 62 year-old woman who has been living in the streets for most of her life. She has no husband or family of her own. She lives near a well-known public water well called “Tabay sa Palma” for over 15 years and there she makes her living in various ways.
This public well is used by many locals to bathe, wash clothes, and even cook with. To survive, she would offer massages and laundry to the locals who come to use the well. An entire ecosystem has developed around this well and Natividad has made this corner of Cebu her home.
Despite living on the streets, Natividad likes a clean home and thus cleans her area on the daily. As she sits and waits for customers to come and the day to pass, she also meets other people making their living off the streets.
Jay Bacus is a 23-year old father and husband whose primary source of income is selling ‘puto kutsinta’ which is a popular local delicacy in Cebu City. His day roughly starts at 2:00 AM and needs to leave home early so that by 6:00 AM he can start selling his tasty treats to hungry morning commuters and hopefully sell everything in his bucket.
On some days, his product would sell out early in the afternoon. On other days, it takes until dinner to finish off the last of his items. He navigates the streets of Cebu with his little horn to call the attention of his customers. After a tiresome day on the streets, his long journey home begins again.
The journey of these three different people who call the streets their home allows us to see the daily challenges they face and the resilience they demonstrate in the face of adversity.
We get to know their unique situations, their hard work, their perseverance, and how they thrive in their difficult circumstances. This is a story about human beings who are often marginalized and forgotten.
Watch the full video and discover the humanity that connects us all, no matter our circumstances.
We hope that this will inspire you to make a positive difference in your own community and support initiatives that uplift the most vulnerable among us.
If We Hear You has moved you to do something anonymous for someone, we want to hear about it. Reach out to us at sohearn2@gmail.com and tell us more!