Remembrance

Famous leaders would always inspire people by starting with: "Remember..." and follow this up with a litany of glorious events that might have brought them from an impending disaster to a victorious event.

We like to remember. It makes us review the successes of the past... what we left behind, the joys we foresee ahead, the reasons for changing.

Just remembering my childhood and my teenage years boost up my morale and sets me back into track with my goals and ideals.

You bring me into remembrance. You never fail to give me reminders along the way.
They say that "our birth" is a sleep and forgetting. That is why You come to "re-mind" me of my glorious heritage and of my responsibilities too - "Do this in remembrance of me."
See, every morning You do remind me!

The Magi

They say that: In Asia, many non-Christians see theologians, priests and religious as "knowing everything" about God (imagine we even try to define the Trinity).
But it seems what people want to see and hear from us is how we experience God.

Why were the Magi wise men? They used experiential learning.
"To learn by experience, one has to experience first. Then reflect on that experience to extract the learning." (quite basic, isn't it?)
By following the star, they experienced both the Herod and the Jesus... after which
they were never the same again.

Traffic At Monivong

As I pass through Monivong Blvd (Phnom Penh) I see a paved road yet potholed and congested. the notion of traffic lanes is more or less meaningful in this city. Although the traffic generally does travel on the right side of the road, going against it does not seem to be lawbreaking. In fact for others it's perfectly normal.

I think it's because people here grew up driving bicycles, then shifted to motorcycles, then to cars and then to trucks but still retaining their bicycle habits.

Ah! how we have to change our ways as we grow older and carry heavier responsibilities. If not our lives become another Monivong.

My first Microsoft Exams

I heard Microsoft is giving a 50% discount for their exams only for the month of August. I took one on the 13th (it was a Friday, too!) and I failed. Luckily my score showed I missed the passing mark by just one question.

I immediately jumped on my books, looked for the answers to those questions I remembered which were strange for me... studied some more.

After a week, on that last day of the discount deadline, I took a re-test.
This time I passed but only by one question too.
Well, At least I attained my dream- to be a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP).

But that's what God told Joseph too, isn't it?
Attaining a dream through hard work and God's grace... that's what life is all about.
Experiencing the failure and the triumph makes us braver in telling others about its truth - first hand!

Air Vietnam's Tech Glitch

I'm headed back to the Philippines for my vacation - my first time via Vietnam. The plane was a 50 seater turbo propelled one.

On to the runway when... POP! Plane slows down instead of taking off... and reaches right just at the end of the runway and stops.
A voice announces: "We are experiencing some technical difficulties. Passengers will please go down the plane and the bus will take you back to the airport."
Must be just a little glitch, I thought. But not for long when I saw two fire trucks hurrying towards us. Out of the plane I saw its two burst tires flaming!
It must have been a "simple technical difficulty" for them because it blocked the airport from incoming flights for the next four hours.
Anyway I managed to reach Vietnam just before midnight.

Life does have some glitches or technical difficulties. It's how you see them that makes you calm or panicky!

A need for Teacher-to-the-Village Program

Today I joined the Salabalath literacy center school teachers to their weekly village visit. There we visited the children who have not been attending school lately in order to find out "why?"
Most of the reasons they give pertain to distance... like the school is far (it really is!), it's difficult to walk alone, need to be in a group, bicyles not in working condition, no money for repairs, etc.

I thought to myself about that old saying: "If the mountain cannot come to Mohammed, then Mohammed comes to the mountain." In this country, why couldn't we bring the education to the village then instead of them coming to us? For villagers the essential of education would not be the building or the book, but rather the teacher. Why not a group of roaming village teachers that could live in the village rotating for periods of time. And the ministry could just approve the program or the curriculum to be taught. Funding institutions, I suppose, could finance the development program rather than the building/structure. Might be cheaper too!

This style worked for the Christian missions out there in Papua New Guinea... priests go to the villages for their pastoral needs since the church was far. Couldn't this work too for education?

Let me reflect - even in the Salesian context - do I necessarily have to wait for them to come or could I start going out to them?

A Bachelor's Life

Here in Battambang, Bruno and Catalina (volunteers) offered me half of their house. Well ok, so it's a small bedroom and bath, but I get to live in the part of the house near the TV and the kitchen ref - boy, that's paradise for me!

So I get to be a bachelor - wake up (before work time), make my own breakfast (if any), take the motorcyle, go to work (or is it study with the kids?), come back at half past four in the afternoon, look for a cheap place for early dinner, motorbike back home, wash my clothes, pray my breviary, watch the world cup, read a book, and hit the sack... yep, a real bachelor's life.
Well, it's not forever though...
Just got a phone call. They're asking me to pitch in back at DB Phnom Penh for a week, then I can continue with this life.

You've seen the good side. Now for the other. It's raining almost everyday. And the road to Salabalath literacy center is rough (think moon craters), muddy, slippery, and dangerous. That means coming back home soaking wet and hungry. Part of the adventure - no complaints here!

My Battambang Immersion

Would you believe it? This month and next, I am sitting down and learning with these grade 2 kids. That means listening to their teacher, reading their lessons, doing their tests (they like to look at my answers, I also like to look at theirs though!). I'll have to speak the way they speak and play their games (looks like my second childhood).

At first I thought, I couldn't imagine how one like me with degrees and honors, one who has taught at the university, given seminars to teachers and executives... how could I sit down at this grade 2 desk? Well I must admit, in Khmer (Cambodian language) THIS is my level and I can't use all my past laurels to cheat on this one! This is where I am and where I start to go through the process. Hopefully this will give me a better understanding of the language as well as the people... or rather the children (but anyway, it's really fun... but shhh... don't tell them that, they might call me back to Phnom Penh if they find out).

Spaghetti

Today in English class we encountered the word - "spaghetti" with a matching picture in our book. I got blank stares so i asked how many have tasted this Italian dish. Surprisingly only 2 out of 20 raised their hands (I think the two who did even misunderstood the question).

All the time I thought everyone knew what I was talking about. After all, I thought, in my country even the poorest has one time or another tasted it in MacDonalds or Jollibee. Well that ended their lesson for the day...
But not mine. I learned some things else. I think I have the tendency to pre-suppose what others know. Maybe in this setting I should go slower.

I shouldn't even presuppose they know You. Of course that would make things more difficult for me. So "how should I introduce You to them?" - when all the time I thought everybody knew You. In my past experiences I've seen people who attest that they do not believe nor know You, but they actually call on You especially in desperate moments.
But then again, maybe I should just start with the spaghetti first.

Empty Coke Cans - part 2

So why were these children in the streets collecting Coke cans when they were supposed to be in school? I thought I had an answer.

I've just come back from Bangkok (Provincial House) asking to volunteer for the Battambang project where we run a small literacy center for children of brick workers.
I reasoned out that if these kids would not be taught to read and write, they would not be able to join in the educational mainstream.
Consequently, they would become our future street kids.
I thought that this small work in Battambang (around 200 kms from Phnom Penh) could be a potential solution to the street children problem because it tries to solve the problem at its very roots - PREVENTION!

To cut the story short, my request was not granted. In computer language - Access denied!
It seems to me that our politics (religious policies like: not staying apart from the community, no independent lifestyle, etc) would rather have them turn into street children first so that we can come up with works (institutions) for the street children later.
I'm not complaining, just asking?