Nanay Paro is my mother. Born in 1920, she was the 4th among 11 siblings in rural Philippines. She was three months shy of 20 when she married her first husband, Jesus Gazo Jordan on May 6, 1940. Last Sept 16, 2010, she celebrated her 90th birthday. All of us, her 10 children and our families tried to be around to celebrate it with her. Afterwards, I spent a couple more weeks with her. I intended to stay one more month, but dengue fever (me) stopped it short. Sayang, we planned on going to Cebu together, spend a few days in Guimaras, and go to nearby beaches.
Anyway, our chats were precious. We seldom have the chance to talk heart-to –heart with our parents, do we? Especially in a large family like ours, ten children, imagine that – one has to be intentional in order to get some information out of our parents. We talked about how were they raised, their chores, relationship between siblings, courtship, early family life to name a few.
So here am I, attempting to record what I gleaned and hopefully not miss a thing. Well, someone else has to fill in some of the gaps later.
Amparo Pineda was born in rural Candumarao, Hinigaran, Negros Occidental, Philippines. She was the 3rd girl in the family. She was/is best friend to her older sister, Aurea, because they share the same fate of being the second and third child of the family. The eldest daughter was conferred some degree of authority and favor – she could tell the younger girls (Aurea and Amparo) what to do, and was sent to a dressmaking training as a young woman. Their father believed that only one should be trained, the others will just catch on, if they can. Aurea and Amparo learned to sew by taking turns sneaking in and working the sewing machine when their parents and elder sister Florentina were away. They both became good at it too and were able to sew for their families. In addition, Nanay even learned some embroidery, even ‘callado’ (lace work) from those stolen time with the sewing machine.
Education? No, not for women, according to my lolo (grandfather). This was why male child number 5, was sent to school, with the idea that he will help his siblings get higher education later on.
Back to Amparo. She went to school, finished 5th grade under American volunteer teachers. She was smart, and easily became one of the top students of her class. In 4th grade, her father wanted her to help out in the rice farm, so she missed a quarter of school. But oh, how she loved school – she returned to school after three months, caught up with the lessons, and managed to be salutatorian at the end of the school year.
After WWII when the country needed lots of teachers, her young husband encouraged her to study. Training was just for a few years, maybe even just months. She refused because she had a baby daughter then. She thought that if she will have to choose between a sick baby and a school test, she would choose her baby anytime. She vowed to send all her children to school, whatever it may cost her.
With all the domestic duties my parents have to do, and with the responsibility of looking after such a big family, there was very little time for a relaxing talk in our family. For as long as I can remember, there was always someone in college, high school, elementary, primary, a toddler or a baby in the family. Is it any wonder that Nanay and Tatay never talk about their courtship? This time she did. I will post it next time.
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