THE CHILDHOOD I NEVER KNEW I WAS MISSING
My Childhood Memories of Nansiakan and Mapayao, Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya CHAPTER ONE A Village Where Everyone Was Family I grew up in Nansiakan and Mapayao, Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya, at a time when everyone treated one another like family. It was a time when every mother's friend was called Auntie, whether we were related by blood or not. We didn't need to examine family trees to know who belonged to us. In our community, family was not limited to the people who shared our surnames. It extended to the people who lived around us, worked alongside our parents, and helped us when we needed them. That was simply how life was. I was never carried around in a stroller. Instead, I had a much more practical ride: my mother's or grandmother's kayabang, a basket carried on the back with an oyon, the head strap that passed across the forehead to support the weight of the load. Long before I knew anything about modern conveniences, I knew the comfort of being carried on someone's bac...