The greatest fear of parents in their twilight years is that their children will leave them when they start to build their own families.

True enough for a balut vendor of Don Bosco, Tondo, Manila, who lives alone and sells the favorite delicacy balut or steamed duck's egg until 3 am daily, he has to fend for himself.

Selling balut allows him to earn money that sustains his daily needs including maintenance medicine. He goes home usually tired and alone.

Aside from roaming the streets of Tondo to sell duck eggs, Tatay Nanding also collects plastic bottles, tin cans, and other plastic wares which are called 'kalakal' — garbage for others but a source of income for poor people like him.

Tatay Nanding does not want to stop his livelihood because he believes he will become weak if he ceases doing the graveyard job he has been doing for more than five decades now.

"This job has been my family's refuge for years. I fed my family through it. I consider this a noble job since it provided for our food but after my children had their own families, I keep what I earn," the 69-year-old balut vendor told this reporter.

His children, all with their own families, seldom visit. "My wife died two years ago. She was my companion when all our children left. I fully understand that they had to leave because they wanted to build their own family. My only wish for Christmas is for a visit from each of them. Although our grandchildren always visit to assist," he said.

Braving pandemic

Tatay Nanding revealed at the onset of the pandemic, he was not worried about roaming the streets of Tondo because selling eggs was his only means of livelihood.

"My children also lost their livelihood in 2020 and ayuda (government aid) back then are so measly to support our needs," he said, adding that he lost his wife to the dreaded Covid-19 disease.

He said then Manila Mayor Isko Moreno helped indigent families like them by providing boxes of goods but not enough to sustain their needs for a month.