Keeping My Sanity June 26, 2009
Posted by Diadem in : Lessons in life , 7comments 
My research requires me to go to the field almost every day. I am under the heat of the scorching sun when it is sunny with my favorite blue jeans and white shirt. I walk in muddy fields when it is raining with borrowed farm boots from one of the farmers’ sons in the community where I am working. In my interviews with farmers, I capture their aches and pains. In an instant, I become part of their humanity.
On my way to the field from my boarding house, I see different faces of poverty. I hear and feel the roaring thunder of bombs in nearby conflict areas from my research site from time to time. I hear crime issues (kidnapping, theft, murder, grudge, and family feuds) as I open the radio, watch TV, and hear them from jeepney passengers every time I go to the market to buy food. It’s quite stressful. I even questioned myself one time why I am still here and what I am doing here. Is it worth my sanity?