A Lost Garden

A Lost Garden
 Dr Abe V Rotor

John Milton was already blind when he wrote Paradise Regained. He once said that Paradise can be regained, even while we are still on Earth. In a world of darkness, it seems as if the world of beauty becomes more beautiful, the taken for granted becomes suddenly precious, the abstract becomes virtual reality.

Similarity Helen Keller, who grew up in a world of darkness, “saw” the entirety of a beautiful world in just three days in her masterpiece, If I were Given Three Days to See. It is similarly the inner self that stirs man’s longing for God through Nature. “Brother Sun, brothers flying in the sky, crawling on earth, swimming in the sea - Glory to God in all his creation!” exulted St. Francis of Assisi, a man of God who lit the world through natural and divine friendship. Indeed, we made an unerring choice in proclaiming him the Father of Ecology.

We can make on a small patch of earth, an empty lot hemmed by buildings, and amid roaring cars and noisy peddlers, into a thin slice of once Paradise, in the words of an artist, “splashed by tired sun and breeze.” It may be far from any mountain or sea; but it can stand proud, this little green belt of lianna and shrubs short of a jungle, carpets here and there of herbs and annuals, clusters of canopy layers and emergent, and a series of man-made ponds. It may be bare and simple to be called an ecosystem. However, what it conveys to be more important is the reminder that man lost Paradise because he was disobedient to the orderliness of nature. His attempt to recreate a garden even of its humblest kind is both a conscious and unconscious act of repentance. And we move a step away from guilt in sighs of relief as we commune with the beauty that manifests a wholesome treaty between nature and man.

I had the experience of working in a school where there was once garden where white lotus grew from a pond. The whiteness of the flowers speaks of the immaculateness of our Lady’s personhood. Here grew the reddest of all Passiflora, a plant whose flower resembles the three nails that pinned our savior to a wooden cross, which became the symbol of Christianity. One would encounter a row of thorny Euphorbia, and, cruel as it may look from any angle and at any stage of its growth, good-natured man baptized the plant splendens, for the historical value resembling the crown that mocked Christ. The crown of thorns reminds us of the humility of Christ.

Imaging walking to the botanical garden as I did before ten years ago. The lilies on the pathway led to where a beautiful tree, Erythrina, which once stood serene and beautiful. Its demise was consoling. I remember its deep red inflorescence swaying in the wind; its gnarled and deep furrowed trunk and branches exuding a seasoned look, but its whole crown lent freshness to its surroundings and gave life to an old adobe wall covered with mosses and clinging ferns.

Touch the lily flower - it’s fluer-de-lies, white Hippeastrum, a distinctive mark of the royal family of France, adopted by the St Paul of Chartres as emblem of the congregation. It was found growing in a garden in a small village of Levesville, not far from the city of Chartres in France, where the congregation was founded three hundred years ago. The universality of the lily flower speaks of the essence of its worldwide mission.

At the end of a covered walk I found myself standing before a strange looking pine. It is not a pine, though it looked like one. It was Pandanus my good friend, Dr. Sel Cabigan, was studying. It bore two fruits, which resembled those of edible species growing on some Pacific islands.

“Pandan is a staple food of many islanders,” he said. "To Filipinos, pandang mabango imparts aroma to lechong manok and cooked rice.” He explained. The popular coastal Pandan, a tree, (Pandanus tintorius), ripraps the shorelines and prevents their erosion. I listened to a fellow naturalist holding the evidences of creation, picturesque in virtual reality.

There were two giant palms on the school campus: fishtail palm (Caryota rhumphiana philippinensis), source of a starch similar to sago, and royal palm (Roystonia elata), the tallest and the most regal of all members of the palm family. Here they soared like towers in the summer’s blue sky, and pierced the fog during the Siberian High during the Amihan, and braved the smog on busy days.

The grotto most of the time was serene. Viny Passiflora covered the entire dome that sheltered a cave where the apparition of Our Lady to the young Bernadette took place centuries ago. The dramatic scene reflected on the calm waters of the adjoining pond where students spent quiet moments.

That was ten years ago. A school building has been constructed on its former site, much taller than the Royal Palm.

x x x

Spontaneous bloom signals death

Dr Abe V Rotor

Mushrooms colonize an entire remnant of a tree trunk

exuding a magical feature.   

A colony of mushrooms emerge from a pile of wood

 shavings and old leaves creating a fairy tale scene. 

Locusts swarm for food and mate - that we know why,
when there's not enough, and room's too tight;
Honeybees in horde leave their hive, heave a sigh;
and mushrooms suddenly appear, what a sight!
Jellyfish cover the shore for miles and miles to die,
and roses in summer bloom in colors bright;
Sudden bloom is reason for joy, it too, a frightful cry, 
as death comes stealthily in the night.  

Eyes: Window of Feelings and Intentions

Are you an eye reader? Look closely at each photo and label the perceived feeling of the animal.

Photos by Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

1. my dog at home.2. Juvenile crocodile3. Calf

4. Barn owl

5. Male turkey
6. Rhea

7. Philippine Eagle
8. Newly hatched soft-bodied turtles

9. Sheep

10. Llama

11. Doberman

12. Lynx

13. Wild boar

14. Orangutan

15. Tyrannosaurus rex

NOTE: Don't trust your instinct. Animals, although domesticated or subdued, carry their wild genes. Always take precaution in approaching them. Exception: Tyranosaurus rex, the most ferocious of all the dinosaurs.

Indigenous sports and games

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

      1. Rhinoceros Beetle Gladiators – Oryctes rhinoceros is coconut beetle known as u-uang (Tag) or  barra-irong (Ilk).  The larva (grub) bores and feeds on the growing bud of the coconut.  The males have horns which naturally makes fierce looking. The females on the other hand, have no horns and are relatively docile. During the mating season the males ferociously fight over their mates, a ritual that may last for hours, and this is what makes them favorite gladiators especially among the Thais who bet heavily on them like fighting cocks. The game is celebrated on a national scale during the emergence of the beetle usually from April to June.  It is a traditional game for all ages and classes, lately the rearing of fighting beetles known as kwang has evolved into business in as much as the game has transformed into big time gambling.   

Shielded by a tough armor made of chitin, the male is reminiscent of a medieval knight - clean, shiny, compact, and armed with horns. Normally the horn comes in a pair, vertically positioned, but in some species the horns form a trident with the lateral pair as long and as pointed as the central horn.  Horns may reach a third of the body length of the insect,  but these are more decorative than functional, except that in the insect world the horns are a deterrent to potential predators, and are used by the insect to bluff its own rival.

4  2.  Spider Gladiators – Spiders are by nature ferocious and they attack even their own kind. Why, we do not find spiders living in group.  It is because they will always try to defend their niche and will resort to kill any intruder. Even in mating the male which is smaller may end up instead as a meal. It is for this trait that this sport takes advantage of. Curious kid as we were, we would conceal our spider gladiator in empty individual match boxes.   


The matchmaker arranges the duel between two similar species of the same size. The contest starts. Actually it is a game of death. Some people even bet to the point of gambling, especially for large spiders like the gagambang hari which measures up to 6 inches from tip of front leg to tip of the hind leg.  Tarantulas, other than being rare, are docile and would rather try to scare off their enemies before considering any bloody confrontation. Our folks used to warn us, “Beware of the black widow spider!”  We kids would hesitate to capture any unusual kind of a spider.  The skull and crossbones insignia embosomed on the back of the black widow is still fresh in my mind.  By the way, whatever kind of spider you find, take precaution; there are cases of allergy from spider bite and from inhaling hair dust specially during molting.

3.  June Beetle Gladiators – Raise the tough outer pair of wings of this seasonal insect (Leucopholis irrorata) in a perpendicular position and clip it together with the split end of a barbecue stick five inches long.  Do the same thing on another beetle of the same size so that each one faces the opposite direction.  Draw a line between the two gladiators equidistant to each other. The contest begins.  The struggle goes on until the stronger beetle pulls its opponent across the line and wins.  A second or third round may be necessary to resolve any doubt.

4.      Beetle “kite” – It’s a game we children on the farm played when the salagubang (L. irrorata) finally emerges at the onset of the rainy season, usually in May or as early as April, although the insect normally comes out of the ground in June, hence its name – June beetle.  We would tie the end of a thread like a kite on the pair of hind legs, then make the insect fly into the air.  The beetle that flew the highest and the longest won.  But we had to repeat the game over and over until the insect is exhausted, and then we replace it with fresh  ones – or until we ourselves got tired.   

5. Jack-n-poi – It is an old game, possibly originated from China, which is used to resolve conflicts like head or tail.  It is quite an intellectual and witty way.  Here two or more persons play the game.  Stone (clenched fist) defeats scissor (forefinger and middle finger open) but it loses to paper (palm open).  Paper on the other hand submits to scissor.  By law of elimination, the one who survives wins  – or faces the consequence he may not like. We, kids on the farm, resolved work like taking the goat to graze, or cleaning the pig sty – and such chores we would prefer someone doing it for us.

6.      Kara Krus – Also called buntayug (Ilk) this is more of a gamble than game. We kids surreptitiously played kara krus without our parents knowledge. And we would bet our meager allowance. The rule is simple.  A pair of coins of the same denomination, say 10 cents or 50 cents in our time (recently larger denominations up to 10-peso coin are used), are tossed into the air. On falling to the ground, a pair of heads (tao) makes a winner, while a pair of tails or bird - meaning the eagle symbol - makes a loser.  A head and a tail means you have to repeat tossing the coins. It is purely a game of chance but foul play (daya) is not unusual.  Be sure the coins face opposite each other before tossing them into the air, and they must be tossed high enough so that they bounce and settle freely on the ground. The game could turn into a bad habit and could breed future gamblers.

7.      Spin top (trumpo) – Our town is famous for furniture making, so that the lathe machine (pagturnuan Ilk) makes the best tops in town. Everyone could easily recognize a top made in San Vicente, three kilometers west of Vigan, the capital.  There were top tournaments held on certain occasions and we would send our best players to the capital. To be a good player, first you must be accurate at a target.  Then there is the real tournament.  You should be able to demolish your opponent’s top, by puncturing or chopping it into pieces. This is why the wood used in making tops is molave, better still kamagong, the hardest wood. Exhibitions are part of the game. For example whose top makes the loudest humming sound?  How balanced and stable is the spinning of your top?  How long will it keep on spinning before it finally dies out?  Then there is the skill to “capture” a spinning top and continue it spinning in your palm. 

But how do you make a top by hand, that is without a lathe machine?  I’ll tell you how.  Cut a fresh branch of guava or isis or Ficus, the one that produces sandpaper like leaves, around three inches in diameter. With the use of a bolo shape one end into a round peg, and drive a 3-inch nail through it, leaving half of it to become the shank. Smoothen the surface, and make it even and balanced as you rotate it by hand. Shape and severe the upper part of the top with a saw or sharp knife. An immature wood when it dries up has a tendency to crack. That’s why you have to look for a seasoned branch; the harder it is the better, and the more durable is your top. For the spinning rope, get a pure cotton thread, numero cuartro, that is ¼ of an inch, and a meter long. Sometimes we would twist two thinner threads to make the standard spinning rope.    

  

8.      Sack race.  Open the sack, a 50-kilo jute or plastic sack we used to contain one cavan of rice or corn, put both feet inside it, pull it up and hold the brim tightly with both hands without allowing it to fall as you frog-jump to a designated post, go around it and return.  Now it’s your partner’s turn, and then the next’s, similar to a rally race.  The group that completes the course first gets the prize.  The game is easier to describe than to play it.  Try broad jumping in quick succession with both feet ensconced in the sack. I would rather run for a kilometer instead.  But surprisingly many people are adept to the game; it really needs practice and honing the skill.    

  

9.      Carabao race –  I would tell joke in a puzzle, “What is the first car race?”  The children of my age then would think of Ford or Chevrolet.  Sirit?  “It’s car-abao race.”  It’s a corny joke, moreso today.  But if you haven’t seen one.  Go to Paombong, Bulacan during the fiesta of San Isidro Labrador, patron saint of farmers.  It is like horse race, with the “jockey” riding without harness.  So there’s a lot of skill needed to stir the animal to the finish line, galloping the carabao way.   

Carabaos are known to be very docile. They say, you won’t be able to reach your destination on time with a carabao even if you use a horse whip.  And don’t ever force the animal cruelly. In Thailand a carabao in the middle of a race broke away and attacked the spectators hurting dozens of them. An animal is still an animal however tame it is.  The biological instinct is unpredictable.

  

10.  Catching piglets (bi-ik) in mud.  It takes a day or two to prepare the arena or pen, some 5 by 5 meters square, or bigger in area, and secured with interlink wire or wooden fence.  To make the game exciting the ground is puddled like a rice field ready for planting. A smaller pen is made next to the big pen.  The piglets – some ten are released per batch of contestants. It is a game of two or more contending groups.  It could be a one on one contest in the final stage. The rule may be that he who catches the piglet either gets a prize or takes the animal home – like in the movie, Babe, a story of a piglet won from a fair by an elderly farmer who reared it to become a “sheepdog” and earned its place on the farm.

It’s a messy game; it is full of wit and skill.  It is in catching the piglets and putting them into the adjoining pen within the prescribed timeframe that determine the winner. Imagine the winner standing on stage receiving his prize – or piglet.  Can you recognize him?  

11.  Palo de sebo (bamboo pole climbing).  It is tricky – how can you climb a bamboo pole twenty feet tall covered with animal fat or vegetable oil?  Because there was no rule to prevent a participant to devise his own technique, we would coach our contestant to pocket wood ash and applies it as he inched upward until he reaches the top and gets his  prize. 

12.  Pabitin  It is a portable trellis around two square meters tied at the corners to a common string, and is laden with many goodies.  The setup is usually attached to the ceiling or a tree branch with a pulley of sort, enabling the game master to pull it up and down. The game is actually for children of the same age and ideally of the same height. The rule of the game is that the one who reaches and grabs the item is his. And he is supposed to leave and give chance to the other participants. It not unusual for a parent to carry a young contestant to reach for the pabitin. Followed by elder children. And if the moderator is not strict, expect something unruly to happen.  The game ends up into a free-for-all, and what remains of the pabitin is but a skeleton of bamboo sticks and crepe paper.  For fiestas and local parties the pabitin is popular even to this day. It is characteristically Filipino.  And why not?  Imagine how attractive it is up there hanging even before the tart of the party.  Every one would be eyeing which item to get.  It’s apple to the eye – and remains so until the game leader declare the start of the game. The string moves and the pabitin slowly goes down, down and meet a pack of contestant shrieking, jumping,  their arms instantly doubling in length.

13.  Kite dog fight – Gliadator kites fight it out in the sky, but  it’s the string that is the target more than the kite itself.  This is how we did it in our plaza in San Vicente where we used to play kite come harvest time, in the months of October and November.  At that time there was no nylon or monofilament, so it was the good old cotton thread, “numero viente” we used, which is the standard for kite string then.  We would pound glass finely and mix it with egg yolk, then coat it on the kite string.  When it gets dry the string is like sandpaper (papel de liha).  Here we go.  The opponent’s kite and our kite are flown simultaneously. And when both kites are sufficiently stable in the air, we bring the two kites at striking distance, until the strings get entangled.  Now the fight is whose kite falls – or which string breaks. Most often it is the string that spells victory.  You can imagine the loser running after his kite across the fields,  over fences and making sure no one gets first and retrieve it.  A loose kite is everybody’s. 

14.  Tug-of-war.  It may be a parlor game, but wait until the big boys get hold of the rope. Better an outdoor game then, and be sure the rope is strong. It is a game of strength, but one in unison, so that it needs cooperation and skill.  Here are some hints to win the game. 

Choose the members of the team for strength and stamina.  Distribute the members of the team evenly; the right handed and left handed in their proper positions on either side of the rope they feel most efficient. Keep distance to maximize individual strength with the strongest ones up front and at the rear as anchor. Distribute resistance with both feet solidly anchored on the ground. Do not allow the rope to sway; keep it steady. Anticipate surge and counteract spontaneously.  Be sure you hands are protected, say with gloves or hand towel. Be wary of sudden release by your opponents, you’ll end up into a pile.

15.  Puto seko eating - Have you tried eating the powdery stuff without water, then whistle to signal you have won? It is a unique game and if you are not careful enough you will surely choke, so that is discouraged among the very young and the sickly.  Puto seko is made of rice flour, molded and dried.  The contestants line the stage and on signal start eat a prescribed number of pieces.  The first to finish all and produce a clear whistle wins.

Here is a list of other native games

    

1.  Hand cannon (palsuot)

2. Slingshot (Tirador)

3. Foot race (different categories)

4.  Bao (coconut shell) race 

5.  Blowgun 

6.  Stilt race 

7. Sipa

8. Patintero 

9.Hide-and-seek 

10.  Agawang buko (local rugby with green coconut)

Watershed

Watershed

Dr Abe V Rotor

Watershed. This painting has the normal "V" perspective, which explains the title - a funnel shaped valley to catch and store rainfall and in the process make a natural garden with the colors of spring, summer and autumn, thus exuding a fairyland effect. The landscape speaks clearly of a pristine environment far and free from humans. (Wall mural SPU-QC)

Ask Ceres or the mightiest God of all -

if Nature keeps herself better if we depart;

With her housekeeping and her art -

was Paradise redeemed after the Fall? ~

Memories of a "Secret Garden"

Memories of a  "Secret Garden"
By Dr Abe V Rotor

"Look at the beautiful Nymphaea flowers!”

I gathered my students in humanities to see the rare sight, red, white, yellow, purple flowers rising out of the clear pond meeting the early sun, and peeping through the blades of cattails. The scene was perfect for photography.

We made several shots - close-up, panoramic, aerial, foreshortened, silhouette, and a lot more. Hovering bees came, fluttered the butterflies of different kinds, resting still were dragonflies and damselflies. The photographs my students made were indeed beautiful, showing the youthfulness that these young artists possess.

However, when Sister Sarah Manapol, head of the Instructional Media Center showed me her own version of theNymphaea flowers, I realized there was something my students and I did not see. Like poetry, her Nymphaea was telling us a message behind words. The flowers were peeping through the cattails (Typha). As we examined her photographs, we seemed to be seeing "flowers behind bars." It brought a sense of nostalgia definitely romantic, classic. I was reminded of a secret garden.

To many people the secret garden is the least trodden place. High walls surround it; the door is locked, and the key has long been forgotten.

It is The Secret Garden of novelist Frances Hodgson Burnett, who tells her readers that many of us know of a place which was once beautiful, but which we have turned our back against, fearing to visit it, much less to tear down the vines and weeds that have now covered it. We hesitate to make that garden beautiful again.

Some of us live unhappy lives because we fear to go into this secret garden again. Even the chirping of a bird that comes from across its walls brings sad memories instead of joy, and we do not even know that spring had come and gone.

But there are those, Burnett tells us, who take courage to unlock the gate to the forgotten garden and find in there something more, much more, than the beauty they had lost. Here they find new hope, peace, and quiet. They even discover a new person in themselves. They find time to reflect on the growth of buds on the leafless narra (Pterocarpus indicus L), which make for the tree a new canopy, even when the weeds and grasses around it have turned brown in summer. There are those who rejoice with the sudden bloom of chrysanthemum and cosmos as soon as the rains come, filling the ground with colors the same way cherry blossoms color the sky come spring. These people are not afraid of the thorns under the bright petals of the rose.

Mary, the principal character of The Secret Garden, woke up one morning to find the streaming light coming through the window. “Look at the garden!” She cried.

The rain and the warmth had made the new shoots push up through the earth. There were fresh clump of trees and purple, red, white, and blue flowers all around. She was breathless with happiness. A robin was building a nest. She called her friends, among them a lame boy who soon began to walk. The secret garden became very beautiful again. Since then its gate  was always kept open for anyone who wished to enter.

A garden in a park or school, or a home garden, for that matter, can be this kind of garden - open to the inquisitive mind, the seeking heart, the longing spirit. It is a place of peace and quiet. It could be the other aspect. The garden is a place for biological and social research. Here the seasons of the year are best observed in plants. They form ecosystems, which are basic to the relationships of living things, including those among people. One finds humility in plants; but there are plants that appear to be proud, as there are those that exude benevolence; there are plants that are parasitic. There are dominant species, there those that are frail and often dependent on bigger and stronger ones. Here we see a single tree the abode of countless organisms. We discover a mother bird in her nest. A colony of bees hang on a branch, cicada chirping, crickets fiddling. Beneath our feet are burrows of earthworms, tunnels of termites, a carpet of mosses, a bed of liverworts. Never is a garden truly idle, nothing is waste, and time is never prodding yet never dull.

Nature keeps a dynamic order; it is in diversity that there is unity. We may not fully understand this mysterious order of our world, and perhaps it is better not to probe it at all - for it is our deep faith in the maker of that garden that we earn our place there to live in harmony with all creatures.

Nymphaea lily

Nymphaea, Nymphaea, 

I'd rather call you Nostalgia.

Color of kings and the Holy Land,

Aster petals of the rising sun;

But what really saddens you

When the hour is brightest?

You rise from beneath the pool,

Calm, tall and naïve,

What contrast, what outburst!

Is this the life of a short-lived?

Broad are your leaves floating free,

While snails glide, and frogs bask,

Eying at flies and bees buzzing -

       What's my role, may I ask?

       Nymphaea, Nymphaea,
       I'd rather call you Nostalgia. ~

10 Home Remedies

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

1. Use elbow to test a tepid bath for the baby. When testing the proper bath temperature, immerse your elbow for a couple of seconds to feel if a bath is just right – not too warm nor too cold. The finger is not as sensitive to do this test. Next time you bathe your baby, try this useful tip.

2. Corn silk tea is good for the kidney. When boiling green corn, include the inner husk and the silk as old folks do. Add water than normally needed. Drink the decoction like tea.  It is an effective diuretic. But how can we make it available when we need it?

Sister Corazon C. Loquellano, RVM, in a masteral thesis at UST came up with corn tea in sachet.  Just powder dried corn silk and pack it in sachet like ordinary tea. The indication of good quality is that, a six-percent infusion should have a clear amber color with the characteristic aroma of sweet corn.  It has an  acidity of about 6 pH. You may add sugar to suit your taste.

3.  Warm water soothes itchy and sore throat, arrest coughing. 

Don’t take medicated drops or syrup for your itchy or sore throat. All you need is warm water which you sip now and then to relieve your throat and stop your coughing.  Have a thermos at hand.  Just add to tap water the same amount of hot water to come up with an approximate temperature of 50 to 60 degrees Celsius. Drink warm water liberally to replace water loss and restore metabolite balance while helping the body eliminate waste and toxin.   

4. When you cut your hand, raise it above the level of your heart to minimize bleeding. Following the law of gravity that “water seeks its own level,” elevate your wounded hand higher than your heart to reduce flow of blood, keep calm and focus on how to get first aid. You may lower your arm as blood clots and seal your wound. 

5. Gulat ang gamut sa sinok. To stop hiccup, jolt the person. Now and then anyone may fall into a pit of hiccup for reasons not well understood even in the medical field.  But as sudden and unpredictable it came, just by jolting the person is enough to terminate hiccup. 

This is what you can do to help your friend in a pit. The first remedy is to give him water. If this does not work, gently massage the back of his head.  If still this does not work, secretly time the interval of his hiccup.  Jolt him up real good coinciding with the next hiccup.  Pronto! The hiccup is gone.

6. Garlic is remedy for heart burn and gas pain. This is an old remedy I learned from my auntie when I was a kid. Anyone is predisposed to suffer of colic pain and heart burn which are usually associated with tension, indigestion, and sudden change of weather. And sufferers are of all ages.  Try this folk remedy.

Roast four cloves of garlic under low heat. While still warm place them in a pair of bandage made of gauze or strip of cloth, and wrap each around the large toes with the garlic placed well below the toe nail. Allow the garlic for a couple of hours or overnight to draw out the trapped gas in the chest cavity that causes heart burn, and colic gas in the stomach and intestine. It is effective.  Try it.

                                                                                           . 

7. Makahiya is remedy for colds, cough, fever and flu. Who would believe this extremely shy plant to be a potent cure? Gather some ten fresh mature leaves of makahiya (Mimosa pudica), boil for five minute in two cups of water in clay or stainless pot. Allow the decoction to cool before drinking it. Take it twice or thrice a day.

8.  Kakawate or madre de cacao poultice relieves inflammation and hematoma. 

Old folks simply make a poultice from the leaves of this leguminous tree, Gliricida sepium.   It is applied on the swollen area caused by hematoma, sprain, and infection until the inflammation subsides. This remedy is not popular because of the nauseating odor of kakawate. It is this characteristic odor that makes the plant an effective remedy for skin disorder (galis) in pets caused by licks, lice and flea. 

9. Sterilize handkerchief with hot iron and use it as  bandage.

In an emergency case, or for home use, this is what you can do. Get a clean handkerchief and iron it repeatedly at high temperature for a duration of three to five minutes. This will kill any pathogen like Staphyloccocus which is a major cause of infection. 

To save on energy, prepare two or three handkerchiefs simultaneously. Allow the sterilized handkerchief to cool and use it like any bandage. ~

10. Press the base of the nail of the large toe to wake an unconscious person.

First, place the patient in a comfortable position, loosen his clothes for better blood circulation, and be sure he gets fresh air. It is a common practice to fan an unconscious person or to keep him warm if he is cold. Using your thumb slowly press the base of the large toe and watch for signs that the patient is coming back to consciousness. First he stirs, pulls his leg away from your hold (if he senses pain), then takes a deep breath which is usually accompanied by moan. Release your hold.  Repeat until he becomes fully conscious. If he does not respond, press harder but be gentle.  Try the other large toe. If there is no response immediately sought for medical attention. Remember that prolonged unconsciousness endangers the patient to harm complications.~