AUSTRIA
Halamanan sa Barangay Center Text by Anton Miguel De Vera Images by Anton Miguel & Bernie De Vera
O
n a cool summer day, before closing the period of my summer vacation, I was asked to buy Dahon ng Amplaya (bitter gourd leaves) to go with the Suam na Mais, a Filipino soup dish filled with corn, the ampalaya leaves, and some pork. Not too far from home is a Filipino-owned community farm in Otto-Webergasse, at the corner of Naufahrtgasse, 22nd District of Vienna. Whenever I go to school and back on board the 93A Bus going to Aspernstraße, I'd pass by the Barangay Center farm but I have never really checked out the place myself. With this opportunity, I decided to water two plants with one hose. Why not interview the people behind the Barangay Center and get some vegetables on the way out? So I met up with Cristina Unlayao, Chairperson of the Barangay Center in Austria. We spoke about the events before founding the Barangay Center, in a mix of Tagalog, German, and English (TaGeLish?). Together with her husband and children, Cristina Unlayao migrated Roots&Wings
to Austria in 1989.Ever since, she has been helping compatriots here in Vienna in whatever way she can with all the knowledge and resources available to her. As a result, Cristina wanted to make a social place for all-Filipinos and locals alike. With like-minded and like-hearted Filipinos, the vision of a social community center for Filipinos crystallized - a social place for all-Filipinos to gather and enjoy each others' company: inter-regional, inter-faith and charity-based. Founded in 2011, the Barangay Center Philippinisches Gemeinde Zentrum was established with the purpose of creating a social community center for Filipinos and assisting Filipinos-in-need in Austria and in the Philippines. So how and why did the Barangay Center turn out to be a farm, you may ask? In 2016, after seeing the vast potential of a community garden for the organization (based on Cristina's experience
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