The first thing I saw this morning was an article shared to me by my best friend. It was an article about a particular Chinese restaurant at Davis, the one I frequented when I was in college. Ding How.
I would eat here at least once a week, usually on Fridays with my dad, who picked me up to go home to the Bay Area on weekends. My dad loved how a big platter of food with chow mein, fried rice, an egg roll, and your main dish was only $7. You have soup before your meal and fruit afterwards, too. We would each order a lunch special and have food left over to take home to mom. Ding how had the best hot and sour soup and Fisherman's soup. I loved their prawns in lobster sauce and their 'happy family'. I remember during my freshman year while I lived in the dorms, I would ride my bike and order a whole roasted chicken with the sauce on the side and I will eat that whole chicken all week, reheating it in my dorm room microwave.
My best friends also learned to love this place throughout my 4 years at UC Davis. We would have dinner here whenever they dropped me off on Sunday nights. The food was consistently good and inexpensive. Perfect for broke college students like us. Even after college, I would bring my husband and daughter here, a dinner stop after snowboarding in Tahoe.
Like a COVID-19 patient on life support, Ding How is also struggling to survive. This disease has wrecked lives and livelihoods. I pray that they will find a way to stay open and continue to serve the community for many more years. I pray this not only for Ding How, but all the small businesses that do the best they can to serve their communities.
Today I cried to my husband, all the pent up sadness and frustration I have been feeling these past several weeks. The mind and heart is more fragile than the rest of the body. While my body has stayed strong, I am struggling with emotions that have been hard to shake off. I am hardly working, there is not enough work. I have two employees in Manila and one here in California. The employee in California, I have laid off for now. She will be receiving unemployment and has her family to provide for her needs. But my Manila team, they are the only ones in their family currently working. If I lay them off, there will no longer be a source of income for their families. So instead of me doing the work, I have them do it. The unemployment checks I receive, I will use to pay for their wage. I am thankful the Lord has blessed my husband's career and he is able to provide for our family, even if our business is not able to earn at the moment.
The situation in the Philippines has left me heart broken. A third world country, desperately trying to ward off this hideous, microscopic enemy. The poorest of people have no means of earning a living will the whole metropolis on lockdown. Cities and towns in provinces across the country have a similar ordinance in place as well. Local governments have given out food rations: 5 kilograms of rice, 2 cans of sardines, 2 packs of instant ramen, a small bottle of hand sanitizer. How can a family survive on these rations? There are news of families getting between P5,000 and P8,000, but it varies depending on where you live. Because of this variation, I am 100% sure, without a doubt, local politicians will line their pockets with the money that was supposed to go to the public. Why can't the government announce that each family gets X amount of food rations every X number of days, and each family gets X amount in cash. Then say, 'If you get any less than this, your local government is robbing you of the help you are entitled to receive!' But of course they would never announce anything like that. Corruption starts from the lowest government position all the way to the very top. No one is spared. NO ONE. Isn't it sad that while the people are starving, these greedy m*f* still think about stealing from the people?
It is true. You test a person's character with power and money, unfortunately for the Philippines, everyone in government has failed this test.
