Batang-Sulat Abīng
Batang-Sulat Abīng
(The Backwards Letter)
Bay sinulat maka bay ginudlis he’ si Robin Ladyawan
Central Sinama
Batang-Sulat Abīng
(The Backwards Letter)
Bay sinulat maka bay ginudlis he’ si Robin Ladyawan
Central Sinama
English Translation
Pg. 3 When I was young, I was really fond of drawing.
Pg. 5 In our community, there wasn’t anyone else that people got to paint pictures or words on their boats; only me.
Pg. 7 I had a boat that my father had made. I had recently painted it with a cloth brush.
Pg. 9 I didn’t realize that one of the letters was backwards.
Pg. 11 My father rode the boat out to sea. Then a Visayan saw the backwards letter and mocked my father.
Pg. 13 Because of that, I wanted to go to school. I started attending the school near our community.
Pg. 15 When I entered, I was older than all of my classmates, but I wasn’t ashamed. I would have been more ashamed not to know how to write.
Pg. 17 And so, I finished and graduated from that school.
Pg. 19 Now even the Bisayans get me to paint their boats.
