Here’s the Sunday cover story of Sun.Star Davao.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/weekend-davao/finally-real-farmers

The story tells more about our friends, the Matigsalugs, one of the original residents of Davao City who now live in the fringes…

After 40 years, agricultural technology finally reached their upland villages, the sloping agricultural land technology.

The message on the boy’s shirt seems to say it all. Although he may not have even realized his shirt was speaking out loud. In these villages, most children only reach fourth grade, the last grade offered in multi-level primary schools.

But like any child, they are very competitive. This was the best we could do while trying to get a photo of the tug-of war because as the signal is given to pull, all you can see is dust and you’d risk being bumped by the wriggling, squirming, pulling children.

Poverty, however, constantly stared at us wherever we looked…

Their realization that they now know how best to nurture their farmlands was a big reason to celebrate.

They showed off both wild and grown vegetables. Sayote, wild ampalaya (at least that’s what they called those round green fruits, muti leaves, and pangi nuts (the ones inside the plastic bag).

A closer look of what the Matigsalugs call wild ampalaya.

And smoked frogs.

As if to drag us back to reality, fiesta fare is a kilo of pork cooked in soy sauce, chicken adobo from one whole chicken, and bihon made of plain bihon (rice noodles), shared by all of us… two visitors, two staff, three local assistants from the next village, and everyone else who have not had any food for the day… close to 50 of them, adults and children alike.