Howa’s Bayongs

Noemi Lardizabal-Dado’s blog about I’m Not Plastic venture inspired me to showcase my mama Susan’s bayongs. See my picasaweb slideshow.

The Story Behind Howa’s Bayongs

My mom, called Howa (baby talk for Lola) by her grandchildren, 3 out of 4 of them mine, is a very creative and resourceful lady. She was into recycling stuff way before environmentalism became a fad. Well of course it wasn’t because she wanted to save Mother Earth even then. It was more of the need to save some money for our family’s basic necessities. Being a working mother (she was a teacher) to four children in the late seventies and early eighties was difficult especially on a tight budget. To make both ends meet, she reused and recycled.

I remember her keeping old spiral notebooks when a schoolyear ends to collect and stitch the blank pages with colored strings. These later became our new notebooks for the following year. Two years ago, when my own daughter entered pre-school and I renewed my interest with school stuff, I saw notebooks sewn with different colored strings on display at the National Bookstore. It reminded me of our grade school notebooks and seeing them brought a smile to my face as I salute my mom, an ahead-of-her-time environmentalist.

Fast forward to 2007, my mama has long been retired from teaching and now stays in Baguio. Living in the mountain city and having an environmental daughter (my sister, Lala, not me) ignited the bayong passion in her. Thanks to the Balik-Bayong Campaign and my sister’s constant reminders to keep her out of plastics. When mama learned about the bayong campaign, she went out and bought one for herself but she didn’t just purchased it. She jazzed it up and actually used it in the market. The vendors noticed her designs and remarked how pretty her bayong was. That motivated her and led her to design another one that she gifted me for my birthday.

When my daughters saw my gift from Howa, they asked her “E asan yung sa akin.” So what can a lola do but buy more bayongs and decorate it with old ribbons, clips and ponytails. Each one lovingly and uniquely handmade:

PS: I had to add this bayong in the roll because Trinity cried when she saw that I did not include hers. I told her it was because she was still redecorating it. She really is putting more bead necklaces and ribbons to this one.