Always summertime for Nelly

Alas, a beloved friend of media has passed on, and we will sorely miss her presence. Nelly Sindayen, 59, wrote finis to an exciting, fulfilling life as a journalist the other day — after a prolonged bout with diabetes complications. As a Time Magazine stringer, she worked double time to flesh out stories that her colleagues had written ahead of her. She always had eyes and ears for late-breaking news, and like a good soldier, always left a party, or dropped anything she was doing, to run after stories.

Nelly was born in Siasi, Tawi-Tawi, to a Christian father and Muslim mother. She edited the high school paper, and in Manila, among the first jobs she held was with the Saudi Embassy, until she was taken in by Time Magazine more than 20 years ago.

She looked exotic in a malong and sandals and large earrings. She was always asked to sing at gatherings, and she acceded to requests to sing Gershwin’s “Summertime,” her voice low and cool, like the sound of deep ocean waters.

But most remarkable was her very caring nature; she shared what she had to help friends in need of cash, a listening ear, a soul-lifting advice.

Nelly left behind two daughters, Tarhata Sari, 24, and Junne, 18. She was buried at the Muslim cemetery in Maharlika Village, Taguig, her body wrapped in white shroud, hours after she died, as is the Islamic practice.

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A text message from Dr. Florence Macagba Tadiar says, she would rather have nurses in rural areas called “wellness” or “health promoters” instead of “wellness warriors.” The latter term smacks of violence, according to Florence.

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If you live in Pangasinan or thereabouts, in a short time you will be able to pick vegetables in a garden and pay for them on your way out. You can choose the greenest, most fresh and crisp, too, thanks to the Gulayan sa SM City Rosales, in Pangasinan which is launching the pick-and-pay marketing concept at a vacant lot behind the mall. The Gulayan is a joint project of the SM City Rosales Mall management, SM Hypermart and Supermarket, SM Foundation, Inc., and Harbest Agri-business corporation.

The pick-and-pay garden will be on an 8,000-sq.m. lot behind the mall. There will be four segments, one to be planted with vegetables, watermelon, melon and sweet corn; another with leafy vegetables scheduled for weekly harvest; a third to serve as Gulayan sa Barangay showcase. Harbest Agri-business Corporation will supervise the vegetable garden project that will be participated in by graduates of the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmers’ Training program in Carmen, Rosales.

I hope a pick-and-pay garden will be organized in Metro Manila. There are idle lands that are privately owned, but can be rented so they can be made productive and useful.

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In connection with farmers’ training, SM Foundation has identified eight provinces to be sites of its Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmers’ Training program. These are Cavite, Batangas, Cebu, Camarines Sur, Davao, Negros Occidental, Pampanga and Laguna. The KKFTP is SM Foundation’s livelihood program that aims to help marginal farmers improve and increase their productivity. So far it graduated 814 farmer-participants from 201 barangays in 64 municipalities.

The maiden KKFT program was conducted in Barangay Handumanan, Bacolod City from May 17 to August 18, 2007. Out of the first batch of 102 graduates, 80 percent successfully replicated the technology they learned from the training program in their backyard.

Encouraged by the success of the training program, SM Foundation put up similar programs to Sta. Rita, Pampanga; Pagbilao, Quezon; Marilog, Davao City; Sta. Rosa, Laguna, and Rosales, Pangasinan.

Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan is a joint undertaking of private and government agencies, namely, SM Foundation, Inc., Harbest Agri Business Corporation, the Department of Agriculture regional field unit, and local government units as project components.

The undertaking trains farmer-participants to improve their income by producing high value commercial crops with the use of modern technology such as plastic mulch and organic fertilizers and pesticides. The training program consists of lectures and hands-on training that incorporates Farmer Field School concepts and methods from agro-ecology to experiential education, and community development.

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Here’s a letter from a Pinoy living in Canada, in response to my column on Sen. Manny Villar’s “rescue” programs for overseas Filipino workers. Nestor Dimaculangan writes: “We are so glad here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, for your writing about workers in the Middle East. In Canada we have great problems regarding OFWs — we call them TFWs (Temporary Foreign Workers). The Filipino TFWs keep on coming but when they come, there are no jobs waiting for them, and they end up frustrated and becoming destitute, surviving only by the charity of Filipinos who are Canadian citizens. Some of them were given the opportunity to work, but only for a short time, maybe a week, then were laid off eventually due to the recession. These Filipinos are featured in broadsheets and on TV due to the diligence and hard work of a charitable organization called Filipino Society for Growth and Change. After they were featured on TV and the Edmonton Sun, a major paper, help came in buckets from Filipinos and from the white community in the form of cash and food.”

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