Metamorphosis_Kalahi-CIDSS Compendium 2015

The Beauty of cORDIllera mornings
By Mayrose Urbano-Cariño
In the cold mist of between mountains and the breeze crossing the river of Abra,
the dawn breaks slowly to a radiant Cordillera morning.
This nature beauty of a morning may observe by a tourist. Unfortunately, this may also
forget or ignore by the locals who consider their sunrises as their normal days of waking up
as experienced by a couple of Langiden.
Before the sun rises, Maricel and Glenn Berońa already wake up. Walking towards their
kitchen, one makes a cup of coffee then goes out to check and wash the tricycle, while the
other stays to prepare for breakfast and calls the rest of the family when the food is ready. As
one leaves for work with the children for school, the other remains to do other household
chores. To the couple’s household, this scenario is their household routine, their typical
morning.
But when Maricel became a community volunteer, her usual doings had changed. Unlike
before, she was no longer a home buddy. She later went out of their house for a community
work, a set up which turned the couple’s struggle, leading into some household quarrels.
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For Maricel, experiencing changes and adapting to them were not new. She was originally