Early this month, after meeting two friends at Haraya, I saw that woman once again who single-handedly feeds all the stray cats at Batong Malake. I see her all the time whenever I start walking by 5 pm. I was always curious about her but always felt shy to approach her. After telling my friends about her, one of my friends said we should approach her, so we introduced ourselves. We learned that her name was Ate Nadia (if my memory does not fail me). When asked whether she is part of an organization, she said no; she was doing this all by herself, buying cat food using her money, which she earns from an entire day’s work as a housekeeper. Every so often, there are too many cats to feed that her wage isn’t enough. When this happens, she asks for a favor from the nearby pet food vendor and borrows some pet food. When asked whether she has cats at home, she said a lot! She rescues some really young and vulnerable ones and brings them home where she can help them grow or get better.
We were all awestruck after hearing this. Here’s a woman—thin, poor, and old—who makes way less money than all of us and yet tirelessly walks the streets of Batong Malake every single afternoon to do what no one else wants to do—to feed the hungry ones. But I was not entirely surprised. I have seen this before. Not long ago, while walking along Cubao, I saw a boy feeding a family of stray cats: a mother and a few tiny kittens. The child was also living on the streets, and the food he provided perhaps came from the same food a kind passerby may have given him. Why does kindness arise from places that we least expect it to appear? These outliers break Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. They transcend themselves, they forget themselves in the service of others, and they amazingly do so while they are still hungry, unsecured, and unhealthy.