The true picture of poverty in the
The story of 68 years old Carmen Chang-ilig Tarongan of Baguio City is only one of the many stories that depicted extreme poverty in the country. It was in late 60’s when the orphaned and uneducated Carmen worked her way as a hawker selling bread in the community. She got married and was blessed with six children but later her husband died of illness.
The burden of raising her children made her to work hard and having an extra job is all she needs. Instead, she collected junks or recyclable materials like empty bottles and old newspapers from the neighborhood in exchanged for a few pesos. Her daily chores of hawking bread and collecting junks continued for decades but it did not change her living condition.
Carmen still walks in the neighborhood. Her hardened body could still carry bundled old newspapers to be sold in the junkshop for recycling. Four decades is already too long for the old woman to remain in the streets to do her trade. But poverty prevented her from retiring. Her trade brings a lot to her family’s subsistence. Maybe, scratching the face of poverty is difficult for Carmen to do, but fighting it in high spirit makes her more inspired to continue her trade.
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