Struggling to make ends meet, a student is trying her luck online to barter a pair of rubber shoes for a laptop for her siblings' online class.
Angel Pinto, 15, a Grade 11 student of Mary Chiles College in Sampaloc, Manila went to Facebook groups in the hope that there would be takers.
Before the pandemic, Pinto's mother sold street food in an elementary school, but lost her only means of livelihood to the lockdown.
Pinto said she is trying to barter things to help her mother and siblings.
"Ginawa ko po iyon para po sana magkaroon po ng gadget po ang mga kapatid ko para sa darating na online class (I'm doing this so I could give my siblings gadgets for their online classes)," Pinto told Manila Bulletin.
She has been unsuccessful, so far.
"Sa kasamaang palad po ay wala po ang nais makipag-barter po sa akin kapalit ng isang gadget (Unfortunately, no one is interested to barter a gadget for my shoes)," Pinto said.
Pinto and her four younger siblings are only sharing a single cell phone for their online class.
"Isang cellphone lang po ang ginagamit ko po sa klase kahit po noong Aug. 3 pa nagsimula ang aming klase ay nahihirapan pa rin akong makisabay sa kanila (We only use one mobile phone for our classes. I am still having a hard time keeping up in class since classes started on August 3)," she added.
A laptop would lessen her burden and help her multi-task in her online classes.
"Maaari makapag-multi-task at hindi po matambakan ng mga gawain. Yung cellphone ko po kasi lagi pong nafu-full storage kaya po nahihirapan po akong mag-save ng files. Kapag nagkaroon po ako ng laptop mas mapapadali po ang mga gawain ko (It would help me multi-task in class and help me not to be too overwhelmed by tasks. My mobile phone is always on full storage so I always have a hard time saving files. A laptop would make my work a lot easier)," Pinto said.
She shared that she also joined the "Piso Para sa Laptop" fundraising campaign online, but the money she got from the campaign was still not enough to buy herself a laptop.