Hazel Ceej

Dole Food Company, the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world, is headquartered in Westlake Village, California. The company has operations in 90 countries, my home country, the Philippines included. A drive from General Santos City to Tupi, a town known as the fruit basket of Mindanao, (international word association: Osama bin Ladin's al Qaeda) would give you pineapples as your major sight during the travel. Dole Philippines, with offices in Polomolok, is the 3rd largest producer of pineapples globally. These are private fruit growers putting up shop along the highway. They are also selling some Dole pineapples. Right behind these shops is Dole's vast pineapple plantation. This was one of those yearly trips home when we made a stop (from the GSC airport) at these shops to buy supersweet MG3 pineapples, bananas, jackfruit, guyabano, lanzones, mangoes, avocados, and other tropical fruits. Find more stories on Sepia Saturday This post is also linked with Time ...

Coconut trees chime with the mountain breeze cooling this country school in a cozy town known as the 'fruit and flower basket of South Cotabato ,' a province an hour and a half plane ride from the Philippine capital of Manila. Children were queuing up to get to their classrooms when I got in for a friendly business chat with the principal.   Cashew Fia, girl in white shirt and sneakers, far left, runs to greet CJ (little boy blue with his back to the camera) who was late for flag ceremony. They are classmates in first grade. Srifle, the Red Riding Hood holding CJ's hand, is a girl I hired to help (the Grandma who is official guardian) look after CJ. Cheeky, my niece's dog escorted the duo. That must be his way of saying thank you for the free breakfast I gave him that morning. There's a class entrance protocol that is new to me. Each child takes the teacher's right hand to have it touch lightly on his forehead, and then give the teacher a peck on the cheek befo...