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46 long, tedious years, that was what Mrs. Ching Aclan told me. Their business had been growing for 46 years and they were tremendously grateful for it. “We started in our own home, with my kids, my family. At that time, we only have a shack as our place.” She said with a low-toned voice, as if trying to hold back the tears but with my questioning she was able to look at me in the face and was not victorious of hiding what she really felt.
Ching’s Calamay, that’s the golden ticket her family is holding for a long time. Through the shuffled can of worms and can of chocolates, she had remained unyielding for the future of her family. The delicacy from the province of Jagna, Bohol Philippines had remained to be famous in and out of the country and Ching’s Calamay was the sought-after calamay.
“As time pass by, we received bulk orders. This kind of opportunity will be held properly because through the hard work that we do to be able to produce this labor of love, we are already been helped,” she said.
“As a deed of giving back to others, we have kept the original recipe and continuously will make the same as long as we can,” she added.
Calamay is a sticky, yummy, sweet-surprise in a coconut shell. It consists of sticky rice and coconut milk which will be mixed up continuously and religiously for 8 hours before putting it inside a coconut shell and seals it after being cooled down.
Seeing the people who heartily held their huge ladles as if they hold it with their life at stake amazes me as I try to capture the moment we shared in my bird’s eye view through the lens of my camera while sweating like a rock star.
The people I have seen through the small lens I have is not enough to see how dedicated they are with their work, and with the goal to produce a delicacy that had been proudly breathing for 46 years and counting.
Mang Roland, the subject of my lens, started talking as big chunks of sweat starting to pour because of the hotness of the kiln-like room intended for making calamay said that this had been a great help for his family.
"I had supported my family through the work I am doing right now. No matter how hot in here, hot like you are facing the sun but only miles away, had been a good opportunity that made them go to school everyday," he said while reaching for a dry cloth which turned into damp after a sound of "click" flashed from my camera.
I say, calamay is as sweet as a successful life amidst being twist and turned, burned and dried.