El Niño

Year 2015. I was assigned in Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga Del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, and Misamis Occidental. That was the year when El Niño hit the province hard and I was there to witness it.

That was the time I realized how important water is. That was the start of treating water like every drop counts.

In my own province, water is abundant. Clean and clear. In my younger years, me and my friends would go hiking on the mountains bringing food, soda and alcohol only. No water, why? We can drink on a spring we pass by or from a spring near the waterfalls that was our destination.

In northwest of Mindanao, electricity was scarce. Businesses ran through generators. It was scorching hot. The one mall in Dipolog, where I was based, was packed with muggles and nonmuggles (ha! ha!). Thankfully, my room in the boarding house was at the 3rd floor; I can catch a breeze or two. Water was scheduled but at least there was flow 2-3 times a day.

It was in Zamboanga City that I had a hard time. There were long blackouts. Water won't flow for a day or two, and no schedule when it would flow. I learned to bath by splashing a small amount of water on my body. I bought a very big basin to catch the water I used to bath, gargle, wash my clothes to flush the CR. General Santos' heat is the same at Zamboanga City.

Going home after almost 3 months was a luxury. It was easy without electricity but so hard without water.

I experienced it again just last year after our province was hit by earthquakes. Water was so scarce, we turned back to looking for springs and bathing in them. The trickle of water from the faucet when it flows was dirty and colored. We used to wait for it to flow late at night or at the crack of dawn. It was also good that it rained at times. We used it to flush the CR and water the plants. For drinking water, I filtered the water from the faucet for 3-5 times using clean clothes, boiled it and refrigerated it after cooling down.

Water really is life! We have to conserve it and take care of our watersheds. We must save and take care of our trees and our land.