It wasn't so easy for me to tell the story so clear so I thought it's better if I share the video here instead. This is that documentary of GMA-7's iWitness that I watched last Tuesday midnight entitled 'Mga Batang Inasal,' about children who sell charcoal to grilled meat or 'inasal' (especially chicken) vendors to earn a living.
These teens and preteens from the mountainous province of Sipalay, Negros Occidental trek the mountainside to get to a high area where they cut down trees and "cook" the wood to make charcoal. They would stay there for about three or four days with just a makeshift shelter that unfortunately couldn't cover them from the cold of the night. These kids hardly have anything to eat. It's sad how little the ratio of food is compared to the tedious toiling they undergo. They'd have to rummage for whatever food is available around them to feed themselves. Sometimes they cook something that's barely even considered as food by the majority. The only rice they are able to afford is actually not the normal rice at all, but chicken feed - the one that's made from corn and that's supposedly meant for chickens alone.
In their young age, they've been under such tough conditions to make sure that somehow they'd have something to feed themselves and their families that they can't go to school. One guy among them only finished his second level of elementary or grade 2 because he's been doing the job at a young age, and now he's already 17. And ever since his father died, he had no choice but to stand as the father for his siblings especially now that their mum works away in town as a maid.
The labor is tough, heavy and scorching hot. I wish they were in school every day instead.
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