Some of my friends know that my eldest brother recently passed away at a very young age of 46. We were devastated as it is totally unexpected. During those times I repeatedly thought of creating an entry here because I wanted to immortalize my Brother's memories. I have done that for other people, so why should I not do it for my departed Brother (Kuya Obet)?
The problem I have is how can I put into words my brother's story without boring readers. Why am I so concerned about it? Well any writer's goal is to make the topic interesting that the readers will take time to read the entirety. Otherwise my goal of introducing my late brother to the world will fail. Anyway, I will try my best and I hope I will do good here. The stories come from my memories and from Kuya Obet's own accounts (his life in Papua New Guinea) mentioned to me over bottles of beers in 2006.
My earliest memories
We grew up from a very tightly knitted family which is common to most Filipinos especially the poor ones because that is our only wealth, i.e., strong love and affection for each other. We were born poor that in most days our meal consists mostly of rice+saluyot, on good days rice+carabao's milk + salt (my favorite) and on worse days rice + plain water + sugar. But while we lack a lot of things, we were very happy growing; abundant with love for each other that we don't care much about those. We were physically fit and being children do not complain much.