Portraits of Love: Kadayawan sa Davao

Early in the morning today (August 23), at around 8:30am I was wide awake with my Statistics book at hand. My mid-term exam was scheduled later that afternon (2pm) and I haven't started studying yet. It's the Kadayawan festival here in Davao but I wasn't in a festive mood at all. I planned to go and watch the Indak Indak sa Kadalanan Street Dancing Competition but I had to settle for watching it on television because I still had to study. So no Kadayawan street dancing pictures from me again this year. I know it's all my fault. I was too complacent not to study because I was too confident that I'd pass it somehow because it was an open book exam. I sent an SMS message to our professor asking for confirmation if he will be holding classes in the afternoon. No reply came, so I opened my stat book and began studying. (Needed to read 7 chapters!)

At around 10am though, reply from our professor came! He was postponing the exam to next week! Yey! I was so elated because I only had 2 hours of sleep that night. What did I do, you ask? Well, what else, I was finishing an "important" blog hehehe (^O^)v. So I prepared to go back to sleep. The street dancing competition has started already and from the looks of it on TV, I didn't feel like going anymore. Maybe I'll write about what I thought about it on a future post. But before I slept, of course, I checked the blogs again. tsk tsk tsk.

And that's when I heard about "Portraits of Love." A photo exhibit depicting the beauty of the bond between mother and child in the hopes of encouraging more mothers to breastfeed. So like the true bloggista that I am, I grabbed my cam and headed for the city to cover the event (after I slept for a couple of hours, of course (^O^)v).

Part of the reason why I wanted to cover the event was because I knew most of the mothers being featured in the exhibit. Here are some of the photos and their commentaries.

"I never had second thoughts about breastfeeding. From the moment the idea was presented to me, I knew it was the best way to go. It came quite easy to me. My son seemed to know exactly what to do the very first time we tried. Nothing can compare to the joy of knowing that I am giving my baby the best of myself.
...
Breastfeeding is the best gift any mom can give to a child. Aside from being economical, healthy and ecological, nothing can beat the level of bonding mom and baby achieve from the experience."

- Sophia Yao -
A Mother's Euphoria (Photo by: Kat Mercado)


"Breastfeeding did not come easy to us. Plugged ducts, sore nipples, wrong latch, nipple confusion, spilled milk and buckets of tears were the staple during our first 3 months. Everyday, I thought about quitting but just continued to tell myself-'just one more day'. It became easier and we are still breastfeeding at 8 months.

Breastfeeding is not easy BUT is the best sacrifice you can make for your child."

- Jennifer Joy C. Ong -
Breastfeeding and a Wedding
(Photo by Stanley Ong)


See the rest of the pictures from the photo gallery here.
Read the sunstar article about the event here.

Catch "Portraits of Love, Celebrating the Mother-Child Bonds of Breastfeeding" Photo Exhibit at Gaisano Mall of Davao (August 22-28, 2008) and SM City Davao (September 1-4, 2008).

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