Lola Nena

by Obret Maria Battung-Calubaquib

On a silent alley, near Mabini Street, there was this interesting establishment
below the People’s Gym. A wooden door with a signage in front welcomed us, telling
us to come in. I become more curious when I saw the symbol of Persons with
Disabilities in the tarpaulin, saying “Massage Service”.
We entered, and a lady welcomed us. At first I thought we were in a wrong place
but when an old lady spoke from the corner, that’s the time I said to myself, “At last,
I’ll be meeting and talking to a real one.”
It was my first time to talk to a blind person. She doesn’t have any cane nor any
guide, I observed that she knows every part of the massage center.
She is Lola Magdalena Taguibao, an eighty-year-old blind massage therapist. She
was not born blind. According to her, when she was four years old, she was cursed by
a ‘mangkukulam’. At first, her situation became a hindrance for her to go to school
and to do things that normal people can do. She didn’t finish her studies but because
she wants to help her family, she entered various jobs.
Lola Nena is a very hardworking person despite of her condition. She became a
baby sitter and a rattan weaver before she became a massage therapist.
By the he help of DSWD and Dr. De Leon, she managed to study massage in
Dagupan and they also taught her how to walk all by herself.
With these, I believe that with perseverance, determination and hard-work, we
can do things beyond what the society expect us to do. Even she is physically
challenged, she managed to help her family and did various works that normal
individual can do. So, I think there is no or less reason for citizen to be unemployed, if
he is given opportunities and has capabilities. It is up to the person if he will strive or
not because we are the main creators of our destiny.
Blind or not, we all can have our own roles in the society and be a productive and
useful citizen of the country.