I was motivated by the article about award-winning blogger Ree
Drummond, known as “The pioneer woman” who encouraged her audience to use blog
to physically document the life of a family, and likening blogs to journals and
diaries. I felt her suggestion really made sense, especially with my constant
desire to leave for my children and posterity a record of my family as far as
my personal knowledge and family history research can provide.
The Story of my life is one of poverty and deprivations, of
painful struggles and survival. I was born on August 25, 1952, in Anao-aon,
Surigao del Norte in a family of a poor carpenter father, Millian Guhiting
Betita and a dressmaker and fish vendor mother Francisca Mangle Gasta
Betita. Fourteen of us were born in such
a marriage, one still-birth and one a special child. We are seven boys and six
girls. From our eldest Senecia followed Flordeliza, Ismaelita, Marrieto, the
twins Carlito and Manolito, Virginia, Janedina, myself, Clemente, Millian Jr.,
Arnold and Bernadette, the special child. I was the ninth to have been born. Twelve
of us siblings have reached grown-up years.
My mother, as I was told, married when she was sixteen years
old, which was the reason perhaps that the family have grown so large in
number. I was told in later years by my
grandmother, Tecla Mangle, Gasta, that during the time that I was born my mother
contacted a serious illness and was brought to a hospital in Surigao. There was
no bottle feeding at that time and so I have to share with a cousin Robita
Gesta Gasta, who was born the same month for a breast feeding from my aunt
Elvira Gesta Gasta. My mother eventually recovered.
During my infancy I was afflicted with severe illness which
according to my maternal grandmother almost claimed my life. There was very dim
chance of survival. My Maternal grandfather Porferio Marqueda Gasta, a known
quack doctor in our place have to go to a river bank and talked with evil
spirits whom he believes to have caused my sufferings. There was no doctor in
town during those years and there was very limited opportunity for modern
medical treatment. However, with the help of herbal medicines which my grandfather
initiated and prescribed for my illness, I eventually recovered and survived.
My maternal grandparents had also a large family---my uncles Felicisimo,
Pancrasio, and Fermin; and my aunts Mercedes, Policronia, and Lolang, and my
mother, Francisca.
When I was born my paternal grandparents where already dead,
hence, I did not have enough information about them. But I later learned from
my father that my grandfather came from Cantilan, Surigao del Sur, and
originally bear the family name of Arreza. However, after they came to
Anao-aon, Surigao del Norte, my grandfather changed his family name and thus
came to be known as Jose Betita. He married Nieves Guhiting from Anao-aon from
whose marriage was born my uncle Ricardo Guhiting Betita and my father, Millian.
I grew up in the family of gamblers and wine bibbers both
from my paternal and maternal ancestry. But early in life I was taught by my
maternal grandfather to refrain from following such unhealthy vices and habits.
He always reminded me of his own failures even as an expert gambler. He even
showed me his gambling tricks, while telling me of his ups and downs and
eventual disappointments. During
weekends I usually go to my grandfather’s house to do some household chores for
them. At times he would give me chicken for a pet. He loved pets. When my aunt
Policronia Mangle Gasta decided to renovate the house, he got angry because the
cats could no longer get inside the house and sleep on cushioned chairs. He
would say to me that the cats are the only animals who wished that their master
would have an abundant life, because they always desire a place of comfort.
My maternal grandfather always read the Holy Bible. He has
his Bible always on the center table inside their living room. He knows of many
varieties of medicinal plants and many of the populace in our town go always to
him for medical help. Many times, while at their home, I witnessed him
preparing to cook some kind of fish which are at times poisonous. Before he
prepared to cook the fish, he always made sure that an herbal antidote for
poison is ready. And he would even allow me to it assuring that it is safe.
I remembered my maternal grandmother as a very good woman. I
never heard her complain about my grandfather. She is such a simple little
woman, but very industrious. She could not just sit with nothing to do.
They both love fruit trees and so their backyard was filled
with trees of different varieties, so they always have something to offer for
their grandchildren to enjoy during family visits. They always have animals at
home.
In 1964 when I was twelve years old, a very strong typhoon
hit our place. We immediately went for shelter at our grandparents’ house which
is one of the few strongest buildings in our town. Many cousins my age were
kept at the room of grandfather. Later, during the strongest fury of the
typhoon, he came over and covered us with a strong mat and just as he finished
and went out, the window glasses broke and feel upon us. We were all saved from
possible serious injuries, because of the inspiration that he received to cover
us at the right moment in safety.
My maternal grandfather died at age 113 as estimated by my
aunts. A few years after his death, my
grandmother also died at age of more than 100 years.
Despite our poverty and limited education, our parents tried to
encourage us to go to school and obtain the highest possible education that
they could possibly afford to support with their meager earnings.
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