While they were still on World War ||, it was still a challenge for Magdalena to get a good quality cotton thread for her works. The places near her do not have thread factories to spin bales of cotton into spools of thread. As an alternative, Magdalena has to rely on local merchants with their limited supplies. To make the thread she’s using stronger, she used to spin her own cotton and brushed it with beeswax. But after World War ||, she now uses cotton from the market.

 

Back in 2012, Magdalena had 2 students who were learning from her skills: her cousin’s daughter-in-law, who moved to Magdalena’s community after marrying someone from Magdalena’s family; and her sister-in-law, who learned how to weave relatively late, at the age of 38. She also had a student that isn’t blood-related to her. She will only teach them new designs if she is satisfied with their work.

 

Magdalena Gamayo who’s currently 98 now, makes a lot of people inspired and proud because of her works and her GAMABA Award. However, no matter how many weavers she teaches and inspires to carry on with pag-aabel, the tradition will remain endangered unless sufficient support is provided for its persistence.

Fearing that the tradition of abel-weaving will be lost once she is gone, Magdalena prays for more years to live. But above all, aware of the hardships that entail in being a mag-aabel, Magdalena prays that her apprentices never run out of thread - threads that will provide a livelihood for the people in her community and carry the history of her town, country, and beyond.