Where Miracles Grow: A Family Drama

By Lydia Bongcaron Wade

The story starts at a small town in southern Philippines, progresses to Manila, then to Nigeria where most of the story takes place. and ends.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468598308

Lydia Bongcaron Wade

This is the sixth book written by the author. Her first was a family drama entitled Where Miracles Grow. The second and third are memoirs: Grandma Series I and Grandma Series II. The fourth is a romance fiction, Love Born on the High Seas, and the fifth is an epic romance novel entitled Love Born in the War Front. She was born and grew up in the Philippines and has been living in the US since in 1985. She was a teacher for seventeen years in Manila, worked as an education officer in Nigeria for nine years, then was employed by the Department for the Aging as a case manager, benefits/entitlements specialist, and food and nutrition lecturer at four senior centers in Queens, New York, for eighteen years. She has traveled extensively within the United States and to many countries around the world. Her book Grandma Series II: Grandma’s Travels details her travel experiences. In between writing her books, she attends meetings with a writers’ group at McHenry College and hosts a radio show called The Homemaker with Lydia. This show is available at 101.5 FM, Huntley Community Radio, every Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and at HuntleyCommunityRadio.com.

Book preview

Chapter 1

A Family’s Agony

A middle-aged man wearing an old baseball cap and a boy of about eight years old get off an old bicycle and walk to the door of a bungalow-type wooden house situated on the south side of Lojaena town. It is about 7:00 in the evening, and the hot sun had just disappeared behind the rows of coconut trees bordering the house. The man knocks and when nobody answers the door, he knocks again more loudly and urgently.

Oh! Mang Tomas, come in! I was busy in the kitchen so I did not hear you right away. The man and the young boy come in without a word and follow the lady of the house into her small living area. Before they can sit down, Mang Tomas says in a low, husky voice:.

Lily, it’s about your boy Jim. We could not find him! Lily Rama almost drops the ladle in her hand as she gazes at the two in surprise. What? What happened to Jimmy?

Jim and I and two of our neighbors were playing Hide and Seek this afternoon, in our backyard. I easily found my two other friends but I could not find Jim. We think he is lost somewhere, Manuel says in rapid succession. ",

My grandson here ran home to ask my help and his uncle’s help. We searched everywhere around the area but.. .he shook his head without finishing the sentence. Lily sinks into the nearest chair unable to say anything. Her Jimmy had asked permission to sleep over at Manuel’s house across town this Friday evening. They are classmates at the Lojaena Central Primary School. Sometimes it is Manuel or one other boy, Jose, also his classmate and one of his best friends who would sleep over at Lily’s house during week-ends This has been going on since Jim, Lily’s third child started school this year. Jim, Jose and Manuel belong to the same class in Grade one..

The boys got tired playing with our dogs and decided to pick guavas and then-Mang Tomas tries to continue the conversation but is interrupted by his grandson. No, grandpa, we did not pick guavas, we played Hide and Seek. Manuel turns to Lily and continues:

.It was my turn to be It. The three of them went off in different directions. I did not take much time finding Jose and Danilo. When I could not find Jim, my two friends helped. We searched and searched every bush, behind trees, backyards, even under homes but nothing. He just disappeared!. Manuel ends his story wiping his tears away with the sleeve of his t-shirt.

Cindy, Cline, Glee! Lily calls out to her children. They come out of the dining room one by one still munching their dinner. Your brother Jim is lost somewhere, the mother says fighting hard to keep back her tears. I am going to the police to ask help to find him." Cindy, 10, Cline 8 and Glee Ford, four years old come around their mother as Lily Rama removes her apron and puts on a scarf over her head nervously.

Cindy, look after your brothers. Bolt the doors and keep one lamp lighted. I will tell Nita next door to keep an eye on the house while I am gone. I do not know what time I will be able to come back, she says halfway to the door. The children huddle together in silence as their mother leaves the house. Manuel, take the bike. I will walk with Lily behind you," Mang Tomas says to his grandson. Mr. Pineda, the town’s chief of police summons two of his men. They all get into a jeep. Lily. Rama settles in the front seat with Mr. Pineda while the two policemen sit in the back seats. Mang Tomas heads back home to call three of his neighbors and his two sons to join the search party..

In no time, a small party of grim looking and determined townspeople set out to the place where the boys had played Hide and Seek and the surrounding areas. They scour every nook and corner of the possible places the boy might have wandered.

It is now very dark and the air is filled with oppressive humidity. Perspiration soaks the searchers’ clothing as they trudge along shrubs and bushes with torches and flashlights, calling Jim’s name as they go. They fan out in groups of four to cover more ground as the night wears on. They find no trace of the missing lad.

Just before midnight, Mr. Pineda calls off the search. We shall continue the search tomorrow. It will be easier to do the search in broad daylight. Mrs. Rama, let me take you home. You need not come with us tomorrow," he adds, concerned by her haggard and distraught appearance.

At home, Lily looks at Jim’s usual place at the dining table with overwhelming worry for her son, her third child. She had cooked her children’s favorite meal of rice, vegetables with coconut milk and grilled dried fish. Jim loves her coconut dishes so much he used to finish eating what his little brother Glee left out in his plate. She had anticipated his coming back tomorrow and had doubled the recipe.

Many possible scenarios crowd in her mind as she sits down at one end of the table. Fear and anxiety for her son grip the young mother. Lily weeps uncontrollably. The tears she had tried to hold back at the police station and during the search are coming down profusely now.

Mommy? Cindy came behind her unnoticed. Where is Jim? Lily Rama is crying harder now and tells her daughter about the failed search in between sobs. Cindy hugs her mother and weeps with her. It is the longest, saddest night for mother and daughter..

Mrs. Rama does not report to her classroom the following morning. Nita volunteers to inform the principal about the sad story. The news spreads like wild fire throughout the school and around the small, closely knit community. Jim is the best pupil in his Grade I class. His teacher, Mrs. Roman is visibly upset. She offers Lily the best assurances she can give.

Lily Rama is a 34-year old school teacher at Lojaena Town Central School in a province south of the Philippines. She handles the Home Economics classes in Grades 5 and 6 and is generally liked by her pupils. Her dedication and hard work has earned her consistent high performance ratings every school year during her past ten years at this school of about 200 pupils. The sad news of her son’s disappearance is received with so much sympathy by everyone in the school and in the community.

Don’t worry, Mrs. Rama, they will find your boy, Mr. Fortich, the principal of the school reassures her. Miss Magno will take your place momentarily. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help. "Lily’s co-teachers rally around her offering the much needed support.

More people volunteer to help the police in the ongoing search for the missing boy. The mayor of the town himself gets involved and enlists more of his men to join the search group. Word of Jim’s mysterious disappearance is passed around in every nook and corner of the town. In this smallest town in the province, there is no newspaper. The only radio station in the province is in the capital, 80 kilometers north. News spread only by word of mouth.

After a week of fruitless search, Mr. Pineda says to Mrs. Rama, We can no longer go on from here, Mrs. Rama. We have tried very hard as you well know. "But Lily Rama is unwilling to give up. She continues to search for her Jimmy on her own, looking even in the most unusual places, asking strangers, following all leads no matter how insignificant and farfetched.

A month, 3 months, 6 months, then a year elapsed. No word of hope, no clues are heard of Jim’s disappearance. Speculations abound among the local people. Jim has been kidnapped, killed or snatched by fairies. The latter is popular among the older folk. They consulted a fortuneteller who declares that Jim was taken by a fairy and was brought to Magindang mountain, a high, imposing structure full of mystery and superstition. Magindang mountain borders six towns in the province including Lojaena which sits geographically opposite the mountain some forty kilometers from its foothills. When the day is clear and cloudless its magnificent structure can be seen from as far as the tip of the province framing the blue sky like a well-painted landscape.

Local believers organize a party of elderly men and women and set out to the foot of the mountain to plead for Jim’s return. They trek to the foothills with torches, build bonfires and chant pleadings directed at the supernatural beings believed to inhabit the towering and menacing mountain. For three consecutive nights they do their rituals with increasing fervor. Nothing comes out of their efforts. However, some farmers who live not very far from the base of the mountain claim that they would hear music and merriment during nights when the weather is clear and the moon is full. Sounds of children’s laughter could be heard and aroma of delicious cooked food would permeate the forest air.

Rumors had it that some years ago a team of foreign excavators came to locate ore and gold on one side of the mountain. They were never heard of again. A couple of children had also disappeared afterwards, 6-year old twin boys and a 5-year old girl. There were other stories of abduction and disappearances which superstitious people blame on the mountain. It is therefore a common conclusion that Jim encountered the same fate, in peoples’ minds in this small, sleepy town, and enhances their belief that Magindang mountain is indeed enchanted.

Lily Rama does not believe in superstition. She had been educated in a prestigious Teacher’s College and lived among unbelievers of folklore and mysticism for many years in a big city during her college days. She does not allow superstition to come against her strong religious convictions. Nevertheless she openly expresses her gratefulness to all who sacrifice their time and energy to try to help in her utmost need of assistance and moral support. Ultimately for the sake of her young children she has to be strong in the face of tragedies she can neither comprehend nor accept..

First, it was her husband’s abandonment. He took off with a tour guide in Singapore, where he is captain of a commercial vessel and cut off all communication and financial support. Now, her loved son’s mysterious disappearance. Could there be anything more devastating?

Yet, there is always hope, she consoles herself. A person who has hope is like a boy who has a kite. The kite may conceivably be too high that he cannot see it, but he can feel the tug of it on earth.’

She recalls this passage from Bishop Fulton’s writings. This passage has inspired her immeasurably.

Her older sister Mary who lives in metro Manila wrote and asked her to move with her and her family. Although her house which she shares with her husband and two teenage boys is not very big to house two families she has a spare room for her and her kids. Alternatively, an apartment next block is vacant. She can hold it for her if she chooses to live independently.

Lily contemplates on this proposal for a long while. Relocating to a distant place is not going to be easy. Manila is the biggest metropolis in the archipelago. It is more than a thousand miles north of the country, a week trip by ship. Her children will have to leave their school and adjust from a humble, simple life in a small town to a big, bustling city life. And she will have to resign from her teaching position, which she had held for a long time and hates to give up. The house has been paid up but it is old and needed a lot of repair. She would be lucky to sell it even at a minimal price.

Lily, there is a couple from Cebu just hired for teaching positions at St. Francis Xavier High School. They are looking for a house to buy close to the school, her cousin Tessie tells her. This makes her ponder on her sister’s proposal more seriously and helps her make the final decision to relocate. Besides, her children have also shown excitement over the prospect of living in a big city.

The ensuing months put a lot of pressure on Lily Rama. She almost forgets her heartaches and misgivings in the process of packing and attending to other details attached to relocation. In the midst of it however, the uncertainty ahead frightens her .She is not in a way concerned about herself but with her three young children. The big city offers many attractions, on the other hand, danger of all sorts lurk around. This thought above all fills the young mother with apprehension.

Moreover, the money she got from the sale of their house may not carry them far enough until she gets a new job. What will she do then? Expecting help from her sisters is a remote option .Reflecting on the possible scenarios waiting for her and her family in metro Manila daunts Lily as she finalizes the packing. She wishes she had other alternatives.

Mary appears shocked seeing her little sister so thin and so much older than when she saw her two years ago. Lily must have lost about 30 pounds.

I almost did not recognize you, Lily, Mary peers at Lily worriedly. She gives each child a hug then turns to her younger sister once again. Lily has always known her Manding Mary to be strong willed and unemotional, but today she actually sees tears in her older sister’s eyes. After dinner at her house that night, Mary informs Lily that she had inquired about possible jobs for her..

Lily, I had spoken to the principal at Marikina High School the other day. One of his teachers is going on maternity leave next month for three months. I would like you to apply for that position while you are looking for a permanent job. The information eases Lily’s anxiety about finding a job. Trust her older sister to make things easier for her.

It’s good you have finally decided to move here, Lily. Mary speaks again in her usual motherly tone. .There are more opportunities for you here in the city than in our small town. I heard some teachers in the area have successfully applied abroad."

Yes. I have the chance to attend Friday evening and Saturday classes at my old alma mater. I only have a few units to finish my masters degree. Better teaching opportunities might open up for me then.

Alone in her bedroom, Mary weeps silently. She cannot get over her Lily’s sickly and miserable appearance. How she has been transformed from a pretty, vivacious young lady, to an old-looking, sad woman. How she wishes she could put a smile back on her once lovely face! If she could only take the burdens off her shoulders, she would have done so gladly.

At 45, Mary, a nurse, has two teenage boys who are at present at a Boy Scout camp outside town. Her husband is a sergeant at the Military Intelligence Service currently on a trip down south. She could boast many times over that she is a happy family woman, with smart, good sons and a loving husband.

Lily is the youngest among six children, while Mary is the third from the oldest. Lily was the darling in the family and got the best of everything the family could share. Mary was Lily’s favorite among their siblings. She would carry Lily on her back during their jaunts around their big farm even when Lily was already big enough to run around on her own.

Mary doted on her youngest sister and Lily relied on her on almost everything. She helped Lily through college and when she got engaged to Jowell, a Marine officer in an ocean-going vessel, she was skeptical. However, her sister’s happiness transcended all her doubts and misgivings toward the man..

Jowell was not only good looking but the son of prominent and wealthy parents from the southwestern part of the country. Above all, he was captivated by her pretty and smart sister completely, and she him..

Mary was furious when she heard the news of Jowell’s unfaithfulness and desertion. But there was nothing she could do. It had to be her sister’s problem to face . And now, Jimmy’s disappearance is one other torn in Lily’s flesh. One torn is painful enough. Two can be devastating and unbearable. Mary’s sympathy for her beloved sister is beyond words.

Chapter 2

A Sentimental Journey

Lily Rama takes the pillow and blanket on seat 24-D on the 4th row by the window and settles down. Passengers on Fit. 227 Philippine Airlines bound for Hong Kong are busy locating their seats as boarding is in progress in gate 10, Manila International Airport. It is early Saturday evening in late July, a very humid and rainy day. Her itinerary indicates that they will have 4 and 1/2 hours layover in Kowloon and then onwards to Paris on Lufthansa Fit. 212 where she and 49 other contract workers from the Philippines will stay overnight. The following day they will board Nigeria Airways Fit. 72 to Lagos, Nigeria, West Africa, their final destination.

It had been a rigorous 4 weeks training for the group of 49 teachers and 1 doctor hired by the Nigerian Government as contract workers through the Overseas Employment Development Board, a Philippine Government Agency, sponsored by the Department of Labor. The selection process conducted by a team of evaluators and commissioners from the Ministries of Education and Health in Lagos, was very tough and competitive. Working closely with Department of Labor officials and OEDB personnel, they set up interview locations in the heart of Manila.

Nigeria’s economy is booming in this period from rich oil deposits. Recruitment in the fields of Education, Health, Architecture and Engineering is intensified to bolster the country’s low literacy, provide much needed medical services and enhance infrastructure. Other teams are also sent to Pakistan, India and to some European countries.

Lily Rama was strongly encouraged by her sisters to apply. Mary paid for her application and other expenses related to the application process. More than 200 applicants got selected for interview but only half got approved and included in the final list, among them, Lily Rama. They are awarded their contracts after a series of tough physical and psychological examinations.

Fasten your seat belt, please, Mrs. Rama hears the flight attendant address the lady next to her. The woman looks around nervously