Grab your phones or computers. Go to any search engine sites, and encode there – ‘The Strongest Human Alive”. I bet you can see there the name of Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson. As a general rule, he is the strongest being alive. How can he not be the strongest? He can lift a 330-pound sandbag while running. How can he not be the strongest? He can deadlift at 1041 pounds. And again, how can he not be the strongest? He is buffed as rocks and stiff and tall as tree. Predominantly, those are the standards of becoming a strongest human for most, but for me, it is not. Björnsson is their choice for the strongest human, maybe because they still have not met the infamous – ‘Empananay’ in our school campus.

It was nine o’clock in the morning, my stomach was growling; a must of needing a food to fill in. I went to class without a breakfast. Any kinds of food will do: may it be fruits, rice, or based from dough. A hungry stomach does not choose, rather, it will absorb edibles whatever it cost. That was what I felt that time. It was then, also, that a sudden ring in my head happened, letting me remember their so-called, the walking store in the campus, Empananay, a life-savior name.

That was the first time I met her. Thank god that the veins connected to my eyes were strongly locked that time. I was shocked of what I saw. It was unbelievable. I was betrayed by my imagination. People elucidated her as a woman carrying a big tote bag as well as plastics filled with foods to sell. With that description, you can really think of someone that is not that old to carry those bags. In my own, now-doubtful mind, I thought of someone that is tall and fleshy. But it was not, she is a short and old lady, more or less 4-foot and 7-inch-tall with a skinny figure. Being old to her is very visible – with white hair, wrinkles, and other physical characteristics in congruence with an old person, she has all of it.

A true oasis you can say, not just an illusion. She is always there sitting on the vacant seats near the Machine Shop in which I was supervising a laboratory class, sometimes you can see her on the spaced place beside the our office, or in the canteen. She is just there, sitting sometimes standing, waiting for customers to come, of course with her own trick of attracting buyers. She is a paradise for a desert-like atmosphere in the morning.

Marcela Llenes also known as “Empananay” was born on October 31, 1949. Pandanon, Jetafe, Bohol. There, she was raised by Vicente Repullido, her father, and Dorothea Repullido, her mother. She lived in a poverty life. Her father was just a fisherman and a canoe worker and her mother was just a housewife. The income that her family has that time was disappointedly not enough to support a family even though she was just an only child. Money, really, is a hard thing for them to get. In fact, they are in a feeling of blessed when they can experience a “two-meal day”.

“Kapoya lage, grabe jud kayo ang kalisod, di ko kahuna-huna. Kinalisuran” [It was hard. I cannot explain how hard it is], she said.

In her late teen days, she was forced to work in Cebu, distant from her parents because of the fact that she wanted to be in succor help with her family’s essential needs. She pierced herself with almost every job, even a man’s job, she learned that. She experienced and entered every work possible. Here in Cebu, also, he met her long-time partner, Evanascar. They were blessed with an unico hijo, who is now having two sons, namely, John Rismar and John Arvin . They currently live in near the campus.

Nanay Marcela described her life as a roller coaster ride, just like all of us, but most of the times got stuck and still below. Even after her marriage, life got more complicated because her responsibility got doubled. Her husband does not have a stable job, making it hard for them to ascend from poverty. But hey, I tell you, they made it this far with just that. Exploring more jobs, more sidelines, and legal racketeering, she was into that. That was until she was invited by a friend to join a Non-Government Organization or NGO. Her work there was to give hand or assist the officers in any activities that the government will do: coastal-clean up in every specified day in a year, feeding program for street children, donations for those who experience tragedies like, typhoon, fire, and earthquake, and tree-planting programs.

Truthfully speaking, my time was well-splurged when I was with her. A salient pride was into me that time. Conjoined with bunch of paparazzi-looking customers trying to reach me, I mean her. She is an artist of one’s imagination. Bunch of buyers are trying to catch up on her because she is a habitué for them, cravers.

One of the apparent reasons why she has a lot of customers is because of the foods that she vends. People proclaimed her as ‘Empananay’ because of the ala- main dish, empanada, in her very own physical store. And for your information, it is not just the empanada that she sells, but also toron, torta, shakoy, macarons, cupcakes, and other types of food that can fill all of her customers’ stomach. And yes, she can carry all of those with her own carabao-like strength. Others proclaimed her as ‘Empananay’, but for my friends and I, we proclaimed her as the “Queen of the North”. By north, we meant the Maritime Building. And we always shout it every time we will see Nanay Marcela, and maybe, she is okay with that.

“I has [have] it in my bag”, when I asked her about the empanada.

“Mura kog si katong blue nga kengkoy sa GMA ba. Katong basig unsa la’y masud sa bulsa sa atubangan” [I am like that blue cartoon character you saw on TV. His bag and my bag have an unlimited space], she added.

And what she meant with that cartoon character is Doraemon.

It is kind of a win-win situation towards Nanay Marcela and her customers. For the former: the more foods to sell, the more profit she will get. For the latter: the more foods available, the more the people can decide on what to eat for the satisfaction of hungriness or cravings. On account of this, she is now aware of the predilection of her customers and in fact, she directly lends the foods to her customers with a zip from the customers’ mouth.

“May nalang ba makatabang ko sa ilang kagutom. Diri sa akoa ba makapahimati pod sila’g kaimportante sa pamaagi nga paghibaw sa kung unsa ila ganahan”

Howsoever my foods are not that grandeur, I can help them, still. I cannot only fill their stomach with foods, but also their hearts with love, she stated.

Her strength is unbelievable; she is strong, but she smiles. Whenever there are customers or even possible customers within her radar, she always greets them with a smile and gently halloos them with a tempting voice,

“Palit mo pagkaon, dong? day?” [Want to buy some food?].

With that kind of approach, I tell you, it can really persuade people, I mean who cannot be convinced with that?

It is kind of a win-win situation towards Nanay Marcela and her customers. For the former: the more foods to sell, the more profit she will get. For the latter: the more foods available, the more the people can decide on what to eat for the satisfaction of hungriness or cravings. On account of this, she is now aware of the predilection of her customers and in fact, she directly lends the foods to her customers with a zip from the customers’ mouth.

“May nalang ba makatabang ko sa ilang kagutom. Diri sa akoa ba makapahimati pod sila’g kaimportante sa pamaagi nga paghibaw sa kung unsa ila ganahan”

Howsoever my foods are not that grandeur, I can help them, still. I cannot only fill their stomach with foods, but also their hearts with love, she stated. Her strength is unbelievable; she is strong, but she smiles. Whenever there are customers or even possible customers within her radar, she always greets them with a smile and gently halloos them with a tempting voice,

“Palit mo pagkaon, dong? day?” [Want to buy some food?].

With that kind of approach, I tell you, it can really persuade people, I mean who cannot be convinced with that?

“Akong anak may nag tudlo intawn ana oi. Driver siya ba niya mag sige daw siyag ngisi para daghan pasahero. Ambot lang. Pampa swerte daw ay”

That is a technique I learned from my son. He is a tricycle driver. He always greets his customers or possible customers every time he goes for a money ride. By that, customers are likely to enjoy his service, when asked where did she get that trick.

I know, we, people have the same needs. Think about ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’. But we have different dreams, personal desires, the means of being satisfied. I consider Nanay Marcela as a selfless human being. She is working not for her own side but for her child and grandchildren, yes, her family. To see them smile is what she dreamt of. To give them what they want is what she desired the most. And to see them successfully achieve their dreams is the only way to satisfy her.

“Para makatabang kos akong anak intawn, tricycle rajud iya pohonan. Bisan pag tiguwang ko oy, unsa pamay ganahan nako, wala naman siguro. Para ila nalang jud ni akong gipangbuhat”

My child is just a tricycle driver. I am now old. I do not need anything. I am working not for me, but for them, she said. Her grandchildren are currently in enrolled in our school. They are both in Science Classes.

“Gipanganak jud ko nga pobre dong, pero nagapasalamat gihapon kos akong mga ginikanan, kay kung di tungod nila, ambot nalang jud nako ani. Hantod karon man sad wa gihapon mi kaya, mao nang ako giingnan akong apo nga pagtarong jud sila’g skwela para makasugakod name ba”

I was born poor but I am proud of my parents because they are really trying their best to mold me of who I am today. Unfortunately, up to now, we are still poor but I am trying my best to break that chain of poverty that flows in our family even if it is too late and that is through my grandchildren, she said.

To see her work, roam, and energetically interact people inside the university, it is troublesome for me to assume that she is already one with a long in the tooth. Imagine that, a sixty-nine-year-old woman, still working her old spirit off. I mean, in that age, your bones were supposedly fragile, but look at her, she is breaking and stretching bones. Despite of being an aged woman, she still has this kind of immovable tenacity to verb the positive viewpoints she has in mind. And these viewpoints are the thoughts that can move forward of what they currently have.

Traditionally, we view strength with looks. By that, I mean we view strength only on the outside merit. Through muscles, ripped bodies, gigantic height, or enormous physical appearance. Like, duh, why are we always basing everything on the outside? How about in the inside? Actually, what is in the inside matters the most. What will you drink, the bottle or the water? What will you eat, the wrapper or the burger? What are the possible questions that could come out in an exam, the cover or the content of the book? I am not debating of what is the better way to judge people here, what I am just trying to say is one must look at the other side of the coin.

Nanay Marcela does not have this ripped body, tall height, and capable physical appearance, not to mention, she is a woman, an old woman. She cannot lift a hundred-pound sandbag while running, she cannot deadlift a thousand pounds of something, she is not tall and stiffed as the tree, but hey, she can lift a tote bag and plastics full of food. And other than that, she faced poverty like a legend. She entered all jobs possible like she was a ‘Jack of All Trades’, master of none. Even in poverty, she was able to put her grandchildren in good situations in their school. Even in poverty, she was able to smile. Even in poverty, she was able to feed the cravers. Even in poverty, she can dream selflessly. And that is why we need, not to judge the strength of someone through physical appearance only, but also to their inside natural essentiality. And I am certain to say now that mother was right about the true definition of strength, one of the reasons is because of the experiences that Nanay Marcela, a daughter, wife, mother, and a grandmother, had.

“Samtang buhi pako, akong mga gipangandoy, naa pasad. Dili man hinoon na sila mawagtang, pero pwede ma hunong kadiyot. Ambot lang basig tungod naa pay mas importante nga butang kaysa ana or uban pa. Mao nang bisag ulahi na, ganahan gihapon ko makab-ot to”

While I am still here, my dreams and wills are too. You cannot remove or erase your dreams. Maybe it can be paused for the things that you think that are more important than that but I swear it cannot be removed. That is why even if it is too late; I will still achieve it while I am still alive, she said.