October 8, 2010

I Am My Father's Daughter

When I went to visit my home-country, I had a day-out with my father. I'm 40 but it still feels good to be my father's daughter.

When my son went on vacation with my parents, he came home telling me how proud he was to see his grandpa's work. That made me curious so I made sure that I go and see for myself.  I enjoyed to opportunity to be toured by him at the city hall and to his field office.


My father (the man standing on the 2nd floor) used to be the mayor's executive secretary of Panabo City but now he holds an office under the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office or CENRO .


He drove me to this site by the beach where his nursery project was. They are planting mangroves to save the coastal area from erosion.

I was amused to see what he had done to the seeds he collected when he came to visit us.







He likes to collect different kinds of exotic plants.


The man has a vision for the city. Whatever good he saw in progressive cities he's been to, he wanted it for Panabo.




Then, my father showed me another flourishing project of the city.


 The mariculture project.


This is one of the 300+ fish cages on the site where each cage can hold up to 15,000 Bangus (Milk Fish).


The harvested fish is then sold fresh or frozen, dried or in jar as sardines or mackerel.





You can imagine how much help it gives to the livelihood of the local people.


 My father bought fish products before we left. I had to bring them all for my family and my other sibling's who now live outside the country.


Tonight, we had the last pack of dried Bangus for our dinner.






 I can't just not share to you how I felt during my visit at the father's workplace. My son was right. I was proud to follow his lead that day.

I'm proud because my father unselfishly serves the community. The same thing I wanted to do. I am indeed my father's daughter.



If I were to go back to my home country, I would serve (or invest) in this very young but promising city, my ancestral home where a good part of my childhood was spent, where my husband and I made our first home.

God bless the beautiful and bountiful Panabo City.



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great photos, hey ! you and papa left me behind :( I want to go .
Tell Papa Hi for me :D

*renee

Illinois Lori said...

Dear Ruth,

I'm so glad you could join this week at Friday FarmGirls at Heart! What a lovely post, and a wonderful tribute to your father's work! We like to vacation in Florida along the Atlantic Ocean and also there is the Indian River Lagoon, where the manatee winter and all the delicious US citrus fruits are grown. (They also grow citrus in California and Texas but the Indian River citrus is my favorite!) Anyway, along the Lagoon the mangrove trees are so important; we've toured a mangrove swamp and seen the beautiful roots they put down and all the neat things that those roots provide. Your dad is doing a good work there!

Blessings,
Lori

Christine said...

Ruth, how beautiful Panabo is! And your father is amazing. I love all the pictures. That is an amazing corner of the world.

Blessings to your day!

Love,
Christine

Annie Kate said...

How wonderful that you could tour with your father and show us what he does! It is all so amazing. You must be very proud of him.

Blessings,

Annie Kate

SandyCarlson said...

Beautiful photos. What an opportunity.

Michelle said...

WOW, thanks for sharing this with us.
I remember when I was a child and my dad built houses, I loved playing in the houses before they were sold. Pretending they were my houses. So much fun! My car was my bike..LOL

Joanne Olivieri said...

What great photos and memories you made that day. I never had that close relationship with my Father so seeing these photos and hearing your words make me feel so happy for you.

Illinois Lori said...

Hi Ruth, me again! Annie Kate tagged me, and I thought it would be fun to learn more about you and your traditions and Christmas memories! You can get the questions from my post, then copy them into yours but insert your answers instead. I don't know if you've been tagged before, it was a first for me! If you don't have time, no worries...but if you do, I'll look forward to reading it! Here's my post:
http://illinoislori.blogspot.com/2010/10/lets-play-tag.html

Blessings,
Lori

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