ROMERO, Jansen Joel C.

1lit

WASHING OF THE DISHES A scorching day inside a studio-type condo unit filled of Hope, dreams, and memories there sits alone a fair looking 30 year old Filipina named Jasmin stunned in front of her small four-sided dining table that can only accommodate 7 persons, with a half-empty glass of water in her hand that was not able to be finished because of the news she received a while ago from her other co-workers. Her heart is filled with grief, fear, and worries as she received the news that there were Filipinos sentenced for execution and some are sent home by the Arabian Government after being caught from a Christian gatherings, and she as well with her co-workers are warned to stay at their respective homes, never go beyond the borders of their area, and avoid to make phone calls because their telephone lines are tapped. Everywhere is a hot spot, authorities have their eye upon every structure where Filipino Workers are living, and they are just waiting for one careless move. As Jasmin received this warning, the only thing that came up from her mind is the undesirable consequences she might get whenever she would be caught. The atmosphere inside the small room is jam-packed with fear, lonesomeness, worries and noisy spoken-words that come from the television. Jasmin, as she sits blankly and stares at the left-overs of her meal, became worried as memories came flashing upon her. The picture of her gathering the left-overs of her three sons from their meal which is sardines and eventually scolded them for being too playful that even their food becomes a toy for them, Jasmin along with her mom takes care of the three restless boys. Her mom cooks and she is the one who helps the children to eat and the one who also washes the dishes. Tears falls with faint whining to those

smooth and pinkish cheeks of hers down to her glass of half-emptied water as sadness slithered upon her heart, the desire of a mother to see her children was upon her, the intense yearning that seems nothing to cure just made her more restless. Being young, single parent and still young at her Faith, Jasmin is not yet matured and sometimes emotionally unstable. So Pastors at their condominium always allots time to visit her, talk with her, join her in meals, and encourage her in times of trouble and loneliness, she often calls their Pastors or co-workers to pray for her or even just spend some time if there would be no gatherings or hospital works. Unfortunately it is not possible at this time, because telephone lines are tapped and being monitored by Arabian Authorities.

Financial support for the studies of her sons was the primary cause of Jasmins decision to go abroad and practice her profession of being a nurse. Even it is hard to be separated from her sons, she worked fervently, and do the best for her sons. She always makes it sure that the needs of her sons and even their wants will be satisfied. She always finds time to write to her children, mom and his older brother and asks if they are in good condition. Jasmin cannot tell to her children what her true condition is, She doesnt want her children and even her mom and brother to worry about her, she would always write that she is okay and they must do their responsibilities well because she works very hard in order to meet their needs. Whenever she sits at the dining the table to write to her loved ones, she would always place the yellow paper and the blue ball-pen on the table and think deeply how would she make her relatives feel at peace and not worry about her. She would always have in her mind the image of her loved-ones, her innocent three sons, old mom that keeps on doing the responsibility of raising a children in spite of her old age, and her brother that helps in raising up money by involving himself in various

businesses, longing for her so that when she starts to write, all she will be saying is words of encouragement and relief to her family and not cause of apprehensions.

After recovering from being emotionally down, Jasmin decided to fix her left-overs, with swollen eyes, as she always do even when she was still at her home time. She placed the glass of water in her hand on the table, stood up from her chair and removed the stains, bits of rice, using a spoon and fork on the dishes and piled them up along with her glass of water. She headed to the kitchen near where she was seated earlier; the kitchen was not quite big, populated with various appliances, such as blender, microwave, egg-beater, and coffee-maker. The sink is located beside the entrance of the kitchen, so that she could still watch television or somehow have a glimpse of her Filipinos shows whenever she is washing the dishes. She gently placed the dishes upon the marbled sink and turned the faucet on, cold water poured from the faucet and runs through her hands as she hold and rinsed the dishes. The clattering sounds of spoons and forks while washing somehow helped Jasmin to divert her attention and forget her sufferings even for a couple of minutes. In times when they are advised to just stay on their respective houses she just keeps her place clean and sing praises to God while doing the chores or read some books or invite some of her colleagues that lives on other rooms. They would talk about their next plans on their gatherings, when, where it will be held. Most of the times, they would have a gathering in some of their members places. As they gather and held some fellowships they would assign people that would serve as a look-out but still can join the Fellowship. They would close every door, window, or anything that would serve as an instrument for the Mutawas (or the religious officers that are in charge of arresting people

who doesnt comply with their beliefs especially the Christians) to know that fellowships are being held. They would pass the message secretly; they would do all possible ways in order for their other members to pick up the news and when they are joint together, there would be lots of laughter, encouragements, singings, testimonies and words of God. For Jasmin this is the best thing that she gets besides from companies, money; the atmosphere of being blessed, spiritually renewed and somehow physically refreshed. This is the only thing she can state to her letter whenever she writes to her loved-ones, that she is spiritually fed at her place, so her morals, point-of-views are still okay. After finishing washing the dishes she also returned to reality but now full of joy, utensils are now clean, no more stains or grease can be found in the dishes the same in Jasmins face, no marks of sadness or even depression can be seen upon her light face. She started to clean up the sink that is now full of soapsuds because using a wet semi-clean cloth. No more tears or even signs of pain can be seen in her beautiful, wide, hazel-nut colored eyes. It is now full of Hope, joy, and strength that would help her to do the remaining chores that would also serve as an instrument of encouragement for her and a reminder that she can still do the job she wants even she is away from her children and loved-ones. To have time reflecting, doing her chores, recalling how God has become so faithful to her giving her companies, activities, encouragements, time to do everything that would bring good benefit to her life. It is just her that puts herself in despair where she does not do anything, letting herself being eaten by depression. Jasmin went to the living room and sat at her pillow-soft sofa chair that brought comfort to her aching back after standing a couple of minutes in washing the dishes. She stretched her legs towards the living room table and looked around the condominium unit and uttered a prayer

Thank You oh Lord for giving me rest in times of distress, peace and protection in times of trouble like this. You are so faithful to me, inspite of my frailties. I cant wait for the next fellowships to come, I am so excited! As Jasmin sits at her sofa chair, cheerfully, with smile upon her face and eyes that sparkle because of gladness, courage filled her gentle heart. That she doesnt need to worry because she experienced a lot of rough roads in her life, she must not quit the race and she shouldnt be afraid or even back down because God gave everything she needs in every moment of her life.