Jonas Hallare, 30, is originally from Pili,Camarines Sur. The community refers to him as “Bob Marley”, because of his dreadlocks. Jonas Barber Shop is adorned with posters and his painting of Jamaican reggae singer, Bob Marley. His favorite Marley song “No Woman, No Cry” often blares through the shop. Jonas has been cutting hair for seven years. His aunt, who owns a hair salom, taught him tonsorial skills. Jonas rents his shop for 4,500 pesos and attends to 15 customers a day, attending to 45-50 heads on weekends. His record figure is 60 customers in one day. He also offers his dreadlocking services at a 100 pesos per dreadlock. He said a person usually needs about 40 dreadlocks, so that is a cool 4,000 pesos, if he is lucky. Jonas still smiles recalling the customers he has accidentally wounded with a razor blade, when he was just starting. He is married to Vanessa and has a two-year-old son named Amhir Floyd.
Barbers’ Tales (Mga Kuwentong Barbero): Denie & Along
Denie Bulantahan, 32, Denie for short, is from Lantapan, Bukidnon. He has been a barber for 14 years. He has two sons age 3-years-old and 2-months-old. He was inspired by his older brother who is also a barber. He pays 6,000 pesos rent which included electricity and water bills. He makes about 400-500 pesos a day and more on Sundays. He gets 15 pesos for each customer cut by his partner Ronald Betonio, nickname Along who is 26 years old. Along has 2-year-old twin boys. He started snipping hair in 2010 in Pilar, Bohol. He practised by cutting locks of willing relatives. He said he asks customers about their preferred style or cut and limits conversation with them. Dennis & Ronald Barber Shop was opened after Denie and Along had a bad experience with their former employer. They claimed that the owner used to add a few headcount to the actual jobs they performed. When their employer tried to cheat them again, they left the shop and started their own.
Barbers’ Tales (Mga Kuwentong Barbero): Bryan
Bryan Ramos Tula, 21, from Tukananes, Cotabato province in Mindanao. Bryan was a first year high school student in 2007 when he started cutting hair for his nephews and cousins. He also cut his friends hair for free. He moved to Taguig last August 2015 where he started getting paid to cut hair, at Lie’s Barber Shop fronted by a stall selling fresh chicken meat, innards and feet. Bryan finished high school but he did not complete his university course in Agriculture. He continued to work as a wedding events stage designer and later sought greener pastures in Manila. He is the youngest of four kids. He shares 20/20 pesos with the owner and can cut at least 15 persons a day. Bryan, who is a Muslim, occasionally discusses religion with his fellow barber and customers. Admittedly, he shared he sometimes gets complaints from customers who are not happy with his haircut. “You cannot please everyone,” he said.
Barbers’ Tales (Mga Kuwentong Barbero): Dex
Dexter Mercado, 44, known as Dex, is from Floridablanca, Pampanga. He has been a barber for 15 years. He started out being self-taught cutting hair of soldiers inside Fort Bonifacio, but eventually got a diploma in hairstyling and coloring. He has five children and has a 19-year-old Information Technology graduate. His youngest is only one-year-and-three-months old. He rents his tiny two by two meter space for 1,500 pesos. It’s called Dexter Cabalen Barber Shop. He attends from 20 to 50 customers a day. He once cut 60 customers’ hair. He said he shares jokes, gossips, and political stories with customers especially during the recent presidential election.
Barbers’ Tales (Mga Kuwentong Barbero): Dondon & J.R.
Roberto Napa, 35, known as Dondon, is from Leyte. He works with Danilo Labo Jr. otherwise known as J.R., 21, from Cauayan, Isabela. Their shop, Jeff Barbers is owned by Dondon’s brother-in-law. Dondon stopped schooling to work and help his siblings go to school. JR and Dondon pay 2,500 peso rent and split the 40 pesos charge 50/50 with the owner. Dondon started cutting hair two years ago and is self taught. He used to be a supermarket sales associate and also worked at Megamall as a sales clerk. He finished a two-year computer programming course. He used to earn 30,000 pesos a month as a machine operator at a Snowbear candy factory but was never made permanent due to contractualization. He now supports his wife and three kids, ages 8, 4 and 5 months. He attends to 10 to 22 customers a day. On the other hand, JR was taught by his mother seven years ago and he later shared his know-how with his two younger brothers to cut hair. J.R. is the second of 9 children. J.R. narrates a time when he asked a friend, who has no cutting experience, to help cut the hair of another walk-in. The customer had no idea what was going on as J.R.’s fake barber friend was doing an acceptable shearing. So in the middle of the job, J.R. took over the haircut and finished it. J.R. laughed out loud when he recalled the incident.
Afghan Elderly
Afghan Children
Afghan Women
“In Afghanistan, only 6 per cent of women over the age of 25 have a formal education, resulting in gaps in the labour market. Due to severe restrictions on mobility, only 8 per cent of women are involved in wage employment outside the agricultural sector and women remain severely under-represented in all sectors of society. Women’s mortality rate is higher than men’s, even when factoring in male combatants as evidenced in the fact that life expectancy is 48 years for men and 44 years for women.Violence against women and girls remains endemic, with severe consequences for women’s health, security, mobility and economic and political empowerment. Although considered to be under-reported, over 4,000 cases of violence against women and girls were reported to the Ministry of Women Affairs (MoWA) from 33 provinces of the country in 2010-2012.” http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/countries/afghanistan#womenempowerment #UNWomen #EndVAW