TVI

You used to tell me that the world is just at my fingertips. You used to tell me that nowadays, everything is reachable with just a click, a push, a touch. You used to tell me that we can make a difference in our own little ways, that you believe in me. I believed in you. Here I am now facing the world as I must.

When I received my diploma last March, you were there, of course, the most important, doting person in my life, in your best clothes, your hair fixed the best way you thought it should be for the occasion, and your face wearing your happiest and most affectionate smile. Once in a while, I’d glance at you to make sure you remained comfortable where you were seated. And as I looked at you, memories of the many sacrifices and academic pressures I had gone through flashed in my mind and I thought I could not have overcome all of them without you.

(Top) Canatuan, the land of endless possibilities and opportunities. (Middle) Though literally mountains and seas away from home, Rianne Marie finds fulfilment in the beauty of nature in Canatuan, the native land of the Subanon indigenous people of Zamboanga Peninsula. (Bottom) Rianne, on board on a hydraulic excavator, a usual fixture at the minesite.

Even after graduation day, I continued to struggle with my uncertainties: Where would my life’s journey lead? What would I become? Who should I believe in the “outside world”? I had imagined myself in the queue with a multitude offresh graduates for a one-in-thousand-chance at employment. Fortunately, I was spared the trouble. A few days later, I received a call from one of the companies to which I had submitted my resumé two months before graduation. After an interview, I got hired a month later.

You used to remind me to give my best, to look my best and feel my best. That counsel of yours has never failed me, you never failed me. And now that I am away from home—literally mountains and seas apart—there are certain things I wish to tell you.

I want to assure you there is really nothing to worry about. I was hired by TVI Resources Development (Phils.) Inc. as a project officer at its Canatuan mining site because they saw in me the independence, the determination and the skills they wanted, and the spirit to learn more about life, the world and anything beyond imagination. The challenges I encountered during my academic and teenage years had prepared me for this life. I want to tell you that I have complete meals every day-from entrée soup to main dish to desserts. You do not have to worry about me not liking vegetables or “tinolang manok,” the chefs here (yes we have chefs!) exactly know where and how to cater to the taste buds of the employees. I also get free ice cream from generous officemates during payday.

(Left) From entrée soup to main dish to desserts, the chefs in TVIRD Hilltop Restaurant exactly know where and how to cater to the taste buds of its employees. (Right) Touring around the Sulphide Tailings Facility with the Public Affairs (PA) team—from left, Rianne, Joseph Arnel Deliverio, Ron Jabal, PA Director, and Lullie Micabalo, PA Manager.

I wish you would not worry too much about my health. Yes, I have been to the company clinic three times already, but my asthma attacks are controllable. I always have with me my inhalers and maintenance medicine and vitamins. And I do less strenuous activities here, though at times, I really wish to climb the mountains.

I wish you’d sleep soundly at night without getting worried about bedbugs or mosquitoes biting me. The dormitory rooms here are safe and sound, and my windows have screens. My electric fan is working. I even have “glow-in-the-darks.” I go to bed early, and I rise before the sun does. My laundry is washed every other day, and I have enough clothes for the six-week-field-work-and-two-week-break regimen.

(Left) The senior staff house, one of the housing facilities of the company for its employees. (Right) The company clinic caters to the medical needs both of its employees and the host community.

I wish to tell you that I am, modesty aside, doing fine with my six-month project here. Each day opens a new world for me. I get to meet and interact with the Subanon indigenous people here as a result of my work with the Public Affairs team. I have come to realize how blessed I am to have finished my schooling, to be able to eat three square meals a day, to have clothes on my back and a roof over my head. I owe these all to you. I want to tell you that no matter how much you want to shield me from the world’s harsh realities, I’ve got to face them on my own now. Yes, there are times I’d get disheartened seeing the plight of the people here and wish to go home, but I have to stay strong, accept the realities and be flexible so that I can do my part in making a difference here.

(Top) Meeting and interacting with the Subanon host community for her current project, the Subanon History and Traditions Book. (Middle) Cameras, light, action! The PA team in their usual productions around the minesite. (Bottom) Getting accustomed with the culture of the Subanons, Rianne tries her best to dance the Subanon dancesteps.

The local folks around here have a lot of moving stories to tell, and there are times when I get deeply emotionally affected by them. But one thing these stories have clearly shown me: there will always be ways to get through any “rain.” Their lifestyle here is sometimes hard, but they are not without priceless treasures—close family ties, strong faith in God, hardworking hands, to name a few. I have learned that simplicity in life is still a key to genuine happiness.

Simplicity in life is still a key to genuine happiness. (Top) The Subanons’ history revisited with Timuoy Jose ‘Boy’ Anoy, the tribal chieftain of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte. (Middle) Annabelle Combi, (in green) President of the Siocon Subanon Women’s Association, Inc. (SSWAI) incessantly shares experiences and stories about Subanons with Rianne. (Bottom) A Gumpiya ritual is being performed in order to formally ask permission from the Subanons’ ancestors for the making of the book.

I wish I could tell you that you have done enough for me already, that I have grown into the lady you wanted me to become, that your love and care greatly helped to make me what I am and bring me to where I am now, that your sacrifices for me are eternally appreciated. Like you said, the world is at my fingertips and I believe because you taught me to believe in the impossible. I may never be the same again, but I will always be close to you and you will be forever in my heart.

Ma, I am BIG girl now.

This time, let me be the one to tell you that it is time for you to enjoy life—smell the flowers, count the stars.

It is my turn to take care of you. I may be a grown-up person now, but you are still—and will forever be—my best friend, my closest and most dependable confidante, my inspiration, my mother.

“I may be a grown-up person now, but you are still—and will forever be—my best friend, my closest and most dependable confidante, my inspiration, my mother.” (bottom) With Papa Toto, Mama Girlie, and younger brother Ryan.

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Rianne Marie P. Miranda, 21, is a project officer at TVI Resource Development (Phil.) Inc. (TVIRD). From Dipolog City,  she finished her BS Mass Communication, cum laude, at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University. Prior to her work in Public Affairs of TVIRD,  she was a trainee in ABS-CBN and Manila Times and wrote a column for the Mindanao Observer, a local paper circulating in the cities of Dipolog and Dapitan, and the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay.