Not A Dressmaker, But An Idol
Everything was so silent, in terms of noises. Yet the room has an eerie atmosphere. Instead of noises, there was rhythm and music, always giving me great feelings every time I came here. Chug chug chug, the sound the spinning wheel sang as cloth runs down its spindle. In different patterns and tempo, as her hands rolls the black wheel on its side. A woman sitting at side corner, surrounded with plump fabrics and cloths. Her sewing machine facing her that always fascinates me. Fe Almoete Ragasa, known as Piing who had the chugging of the spinning wheel her song for over 55 years. Underneath the machine, lies her legs she always hides. Her legs mutilated by polio. Legs she always wishes were normal again. She had polio at the age of one.
In her childhood, dealing with polio was not easy, especially she and her siblings became orphans at the age of five. Their mother died because of pulmonia and their father, a soldier, died in a war. Their grandmother took care of them, still she was always left alone in their home. She had to do what she needs to do alone. Sometimes she’d stumble, or she’d crawl just to drink water or go to the bathroom. She’d sit in a corner, or sometimes at their open door waiting for her siblings to come home from school. She badly wants to go to school but couldn't because of her condition, that might get her bullied. Her dream was to be a nurse working abroad, she wants to wear a white uniform and cure children. But she’d accepted her routine every day during her childhood. Waiting alone and caged. Through those years, there were times she'd feel lonely.
Luckily, her friend helped her lighten up. Her friend cloth, thread, sewing machine, and fabrics. She made her first friend because whenever she's bored, she'd play with her mother's "karag karag" an old sewing machine. Then time to time, she learned how to sew, with the words the threads, fabrics and machine flowing effortlessly. She seemed to understand them, knowing them more as years pass by. Their bond gets stronger as many fabrics had a conversation with her. Even after she had her husband and two children, she continues to understand the language of fashion. No matter how painful murmurs and gossips about her is, with the pain that drives her to the edge in stopping, she continues. I asked her why? I thought it was for the money, or job.
However, I was shocked when she said that she can't abandoned her friends that helped her overcome the challenges she faced. The dresses and cloths comforted her, whenever people tease and insult her. It stayed with her everytime she was alone and lonely. Sewing became her feets throught her journey in life. In her 71 years and still counting, living in this world, she had sewing as her very first bestfriend and she is willing to make it her last. Instead of feeling sympathy towards her, I feel admiration. She is so much better and stronger than others with complete and normal bodies. She isn’t only a dressmaker, or a woman with polio. She is a woman to be idolized.
