I don’t often speak of my race in any context, mostly because I get easily upset with political decisions and the general opinion of the Filipino population. I often frown upon the decisions and attitudes of my kin. The natural disasters sadden me, but oddly, I remain silent on the topic. However, a documentary striked my attention last night. An issue I’ve heard of but never saw or understood completely: the issue of pagpag. 

It’s always been difficult for me to find an actual translation for this term, the closest I can get is “wipe off” or “shake out” or “air out”. All my life I connected this word to cleaning because my mom would ask me to pagpag the throw pillows or the rugs. But today I learned a new meaning of this word: leftovers people of the Philippines recook and eat to survive. 

When I say leftovers I don’t mean the leftovers in the fridge; I mean the leftovers found in dumpsters outside of restaurants or in the trash yards. I watched a reporter document the lives of a married couple, Cristy and Buboy, who lives in a squatter and find earnings by working through the night to collect cardboard, cans, plastic and glass bottles. Along with their hunt for goods which can be sold at the local junkyard comes the process of keeping an eye out for pagpag to feed themselves, their three children and Cristy’s mother. On top of the pagpag feeding their family, Cristy also leaves some to the side to sell to their neighbor for a mere twenty pesos, equivalent to about forty-six cents in the United States. 

I watched as the small family ate their lunch, I was awestruck. For the first time ever, I realized the lengths people would go to survive. To me this was amazing, completely and utterly brilliant—noble even. So I began to do research on the Philippines andpagpag. I learned that it is actually highly frown upon by the nation. 

I found another reporter from a different television station also did a piece on a family who relies on pagpag, a few years back. From the comments provided on the blog I found, it is easy to understand that human reliance on pagpag is often debated. I guess to some, the health concerns of microbial diseases living in the unclean food is a bigger issue than the fact that people are starving and finding ways to continue living.

(This is besides the point, but people are criticizing the reporter for actually eating the food, claiming the network is glorifying or encouraging the consumption of pagpag and only did so to achieve higher ratings for the program. I got really upset by this because I believe that a true and amazing reporter is the kind who lives their stories not just listens and repeats—hearsay, in my opinion.)

A few more clicks around Google and I came across a sort of magazine/newspaper article. The author provides pagpag in the deepest slums of the Philippines along with a short interview with a man who relies on pagpag. (Q&As that really got to me are at the bottom through the “Read More” link.)

Anyway, I guess the point of this long story is closely related to the coming of the New Year. I hardly ever make any resolutions, well at least I don’t write them out. I think about them, never saying it out loud because I know deep down I will never fulfill them. But here I am stating my resolution: to help more. I feel like I need to help more. The biggest problem with my resolution is calculating whether I’ve actually done the most I can or the best I can or nothing at all. It’s nothing as defined or solid as losing weight or finishing my reading list, but I’m hoping to be aware enough to know I’m trying.

One day I’m gonna help people. It may not be tomorrow, next year or in the next five years—though, I fervently hope it doesn’t take such a long time—but I know I will. Here’s to not hoping but actually knowing I’m going to make a difference, and never forgetting these goals.