MELMARY Moscoso may not be as blessed as other people, having been born without a left forearm. But she is surely full of grace, being the first schoolteacher in a remote village surrounded by mountains and the sea.

With her right hand, she holds a wooden pointer before the blackboard, writes lesson plans, and patiently teaches each of her 60 pupils at the Cabibihan Elementary School in the village of Talisay in Calatrava, Romblon, how to read and write.

?I really wanted to teach here. Most of the people here are illiterate and use only thumb marks as signature,? says Melmary, 33, who grew up in this somewhat isolated community of about 30 families.

Built in 2003, the school is the only learning institution in Sitio Cabibihan in Talisay. The nearest elementary school is a 30-minute boat ride to the poblacion.

Disability

Melmary stayed with her aunts at the town proper until she finished high school. She moved to Odiongan town when she entered college.

?I used to come home only on Fridays and return [to Odiongan] on Sundays,? she remembers. Traveling back and forth was expensive, she adds.

Odiongan, considered to be the central town of Tablas Island, is 36 kilometers from Cabibihan or an hour-long ride by pump boat.

Her parents caught fish for a living, and when they failed to send money, Melmary would peddle dilis [anchovy] and gamos [fish sauce].

?I used my earnings to buy vegetables that I would resell. My earnings from that were for my allowance,? she says.

It was even harder for her that people teased about her disability. ?I was embarrassed when I was already in college and people made fun of me,? Melmary says.

She recalls going to Manila to take the board licensure examination and ?people wouldn?t believe I am a teacher because of the way I look.?

Among 10 siblings, Melmary is the only one who obtained a college degree.

First classroom

In 2002, she started to work as a substitute teacher without a salary. A year later, the Department of Education district supervisor advised her to move back to Cabibihan and open a school.

?They saw that most of the children here could not go to school because it was far or they had nowhere to stay in Talisay village,? she says.

The first few months of classes were only for Grades 1 and 2 pupils and these were held at the chapel, Melmary says.

In 2006, the Cabibihan Elementary School offered classes up to Grade 4. Those for Grade 5 was opened the next year and for Grade 6 this school year.

Meriam Fodra, 23, was assigned to teach at the Cabibihan Elementary School in 2008 to help Melmary.

?Since parents could no longer send their children to schools in other villages, the students dropped out and resorted to working in farms or fishing,? Melmary says.

For years, the school held classes in all grade levels in a single room. When Typhoon ?Frank? hit the island a year ago, its wooden structure was washed out.

?We were given funds for the repair. We used the excess money and scrap iron sheets to put up another one,? Meriam said.

Melmary handles Grades 1 to 3, while Meriam takes charge of Grades 4 to 6. Lessons are held simultaneously in both classrooms.

?As one grade level answers the exercises, I would move to the other side [of the room] to discuss lessons to another grade level,? Melmary says.

Classes in the dark

At a recent teachers? conference that the two attended, Melmary was appalled when they were asked to bring laptop computers. ?I just thought to myself, how could we have a laptop when we did not have electricity in the first place,? she says.

Cabibihan never had electricity until the municipality provided a generator last year. ?It operates only from 7 to 9 every night. Each household pays P5 every night for the oil,? Meriam said.

The residents used to draw potable water from the rain until water hoses were connected from the poblacion to Cabibihan, also last year.

When the hoses were broken and no one could brave the strong waves to reach the poblacion, people would resort to drinking coconut juice.

During her early years of teaching, Melmary prepared her lesson plans at night under an oil lamp. ?It was difficult,? so she saved part of her income and bought a small generator.

Every time a typhoon hits them or when waves are strong, pupils, especially those coming from Sitio Dayungdong, a 15-minute boat ride away, would be absent for a week.

?We just have to excuse them from the class because they will sure come as soon as the sea calms. These children are very eager to learn,? Melmary says.

?Water also comes in so we have to close the windows. It is dark in here [classroom],? Meriam says.

Short of books, supplies

The teachers showed a pile of old, worn-out books, as if these are the school?s treasures, since learning materials are scarce.

?The students worked hard to sew these (books on the sides) so that they would not be easily torn when they get wet in pump boats or during rains,? they say.

?We also wish to be relocated to a higher place here for fear that typhoons and high tide would submerge the school again,? Melmary says.

Despite the rough conditions, Melmary believes teaching is the best stable job in the province.

?It is difficult to find a job these days. And what else can I do given this situation,? she adds, referring to her disability.

She says she never opted to be reassigned elsewhere. ?We are needed here. This place is our priority.?

She worries that if someone else is sent to Cabibihan, ?the teacher might easily give up teaching here because she is not used to this kind of living.?

?But you know what, our conditions may be like this but we are all happy here,? Melmary says.

The two say teaching is their vocation, blissfully recounting the times when students would thank them for a lesson learned.