This 11-year-old boy is making use of the last days of the summer vacation to earn more from selling soft brooms, to help his mother.
While children of his age are mostly at home, watching television, Jhaybee (not his real name) is still in the middle of his trade.
Jhaybee, the second in a brood of five, has been selling the produce of his mother all summer.
When Cebu Daily News chanced upon him around 9 p.m. last Sunday evening outside a fastfood restaurant in barangay Tabok, he still had 13 brooms left. His brooms are priced at P220, P85 and P55.
When asked why he was still up late at night, he replied shyly, “Kinahanglan manko maninda kay para makatabang ko ni mama.”
(I need to do this to help my mother.)
Asked if business was good that night, Jhaybee said that he still has to sell a broom and he would not mind staying for 10 hours in the area.
“Naay juy osahay nga inani wala koy matinda pa,” he said.
(There are times when sales are really bad.)
But he was quick to add that he is hopeful a person who needs to sweep their house and without a broom passes by and buys his mother’s produce.
The incoming 4th grader is not even thinking of the first day of school on June 3. He says that even if he goes back to school in the Paknaan Elementary School, he will still sell brooms at night to help his mother earn money for the family expenses.
His mother, Maricel, he said is single handedly raising them after their father left them.
Maricel earns a living by making brooms – a well-known product of barangay Paknaan.
Jhaybee who started selling brooms at the age of nine is not without ambition.
When he grows up, Jhaybee said: “Gusto raman ko makahuman ug skwela unya mahimong police.
(I want to finish my studies and become a policeman.)
Asked why, he said, “Para dakpon nako mga drug addict.”
(So I will arrest drug addicts.)
Jhaybee shared that his family has been broken because of his father’s drug use.
“Nalipay raman pud ko nga nagbuwag sila sa akong mama kay wala nay mukulata namo,” Jhaybee said as tears fell down from his cheeks.
(I feel consoled by the break up of my mother and father, at least now, no one mauls us.)
Despite Jahybee’s experience at an early age, he said that he will still continue to study for his mother and siblings.
He said that sometimes he gets discouraged and gets tired but still he perseveres because he does not have much choice.
Jhaybee said that he and his four siblings are all studying and his mother buys them school supplies to be used in school.