How to become myself

Last night I watched this Japanese movie: “How to become myself” (ok I don't understand Japanese but they're subtitled in English).Based on a novel by Kaori Mado, this movie ‘Ashita no Watashi no Tsukurikata’ tells the story of Juri (Riko Narumi) a typical schoolgirl who acts the part expected of her – perky and cool, but lives in fear of the mask slipping and her true, unperky, uncool self being revealed. She admires a classmate, Kanako (Atsuko Maeda), who seems able to play the popularity game effortlessly. Then, in the blink of an eye, Kanako falls from grace and becomes the class sacrificial lamb. Juri sympathizes, but can say nothing until the primary school graduation ceremony, when she and Kanako have a rare moment alone to share what they keep in their hearts. A bond is sealed between the two outcasts, one actual, the other potential.

In high school, Kanako finally makes her escape as their family moves to a distant town. Juri then anonymously e-mails Kanako a continuing story about a girl named "Hina (Little chick)" who becomes popular with the help of some advice Juri takes from the Internet. Inspired, Kanako adopts the Hina persona and achieves a Hina-like success but comes to realize her act is a fake. Juri’s motivation was the novelist Dasai Osamu’s line: “If you’re a good liar (hiding the truth), at least do the right thing.” This is the rationale of us wearing masks in order to go about with the varied roles we have to keep in life. But at the end of the day we ask: How can I be true to myself? Which one is the "fake me" and the "real me"? And for Hina, what happens when her benefactor Juri, known only to her as "Kotori (Little Bird)," stops feeding her lines?

A lesson for me to cherish : "To be true to myself and to love myself as I am" is the only thing that matters. Because Someone up there (and maybe some others down here) loves me for who I am and not just for the masks I put on every time I perform a role in life.

Making Brooms 1.0

Here's a basic simple way of making brooms here in our place in Poipet.
The boarders of our vocational school demonstrate this in three easy steps:
Step 1- gather these "special twigs" from the farm or wilderness
Step 2 - Defoliage them and allow them to dry for some time
Step 3 - Bunch them together and tie them
Voila! new brooms for street sweeping.

Christmas is coming. I've got to start sweeping my room... the inner one, that is.

Angkor Wat - Veni, Vidi, Victus sum

Finally after staying and working in Cambodia for the last seven years, I finally managed to come to Siem Riep and see for myself the famed Angkor Wat (and the nearby temples of course) on the 4th of November.

Whenever friends or guests would come to Phnom Penh and get an occasional tour of the national museum from me. I would usually brief them with a short but tantalizing account of the religious history of Cambodia as we breeze through the different sections (periods) of the museum. I would narrate the exploits of various Khmer kings and their achievements, their temple palaces and their capital cities. At the end I would tell them of how the various museum pieces found their way there from Siem Riep. After they ask me, "have you seen those temples?" - I would usually just change the topic.


But now to Siem riep and the Angkor Wat Complex... I came, I saw, yet I admit I was conquered. The grandeur of it all for one who sees the stories in those stones is overwhelming.

A lesson I got for myself was when I saw how Temples and Trees (esp. at Ta Phrom) joined in an unexplicable intertwining. The the non-living mixing with the living.... or in cyberlanguage... technology blending with humanity.... but at the end we all know that "Life will always find a way."

CRD seminar

Recuperating from fever, I reluctantly rode the bus on an eight hour journey to Phnom Penh on the 26th of October. Whether I like it or not I shall be staying there in that vicinity for around a week or more.

27-28 October. I gave a seminar to the staff of CRD (Cambodian Researchers for Development) and some invited NGO researchers. The two day seminar on the English language dealt with an introduction to metaphorical speech - IDIOMS.

Literacy Center Graduation and Gratitude Day

Last week the School kids celebrated Gratitude day and the grade six certificates were handed out. This day being the last day of the school year for the kids was also a day to thank everyone.


The children did this through a display of talents where they showed what they learned in dancing, speech reading, and play acting.

Prospective Students for Don Bosco

August is the month when we at the various Don Bosco schools receive the applications for new students. A whole week is alloted for interview and it is capped by the entrance exam at the week's end. DB Poipet held its interviews from 13-17 August. Their minimum entry level is grade six. Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh had theirs the following week (19-25 August). Here the minimum entry level is at least grade nine. For the secretarial course they must finish grade 12.

It dampens my spirit that for more than a thousand plus applicants for Phnom Penh, only around 200 will be accepted for the first year of technical training. Well, where else will you find a two-year quality voc-tech training for free here in Cambodia? If only we had more money and donors to expand the program!

Interestingly, I wanted to recruit one from Phnom Penh to help out here in Poipet, but I was too late since all the 2nd years of the Electrical and Machine Shop sections have been recruited by various companies... even before they graduate in September.

Cambodia will never want for blue-collar jobs. Let's hope we can train these young men and women into ethically committed professional young workers. Ahh... that's the legacy of St. John Bosco.
From the pictures you will see that we had to use our covered courts for the exams since the classrooms alone will not suffice for the number of applicants.

Such are the difficulties that poor but deserving students may have to face. Tough times never last, but tough people do. Personally that's how I wish to help in training these young ones for the future.

A Window that looks inward

Many love songs and poems have romanticized the window as a tool that encourages one to look outwards - standing by my window…I watched from my window…the world through my window…

I think the window is a kind of structure which separates two worlds. Take for example your house window. A person who sits in front of it belongs to the world of the house which may perhaps be so peaceful and safe. And yet the window also allows the same person to stare at another world outside where perhaps it may be more noisy and risky.

But here in Poipet, if you peep through this church (actually a small room) window you’ll just see a big wall staring back at you. Interestingly, this window looks inwards. For two Sundays now I noticed this little girl curiously looking at us inside the room (I got to take her picture too). Surprisingly, she stood there by the window until the end of the service actively participating in the singing and in the prayers.

Another kind of window that looks inward are one's eyes. The eyes are two windows – you can let good in or evil in. And whichever you let in takes possession of your heart. You have a window, too, and You have promised that, if we obey You, and open the windows of our lives upon others, You "will open the windows of Heaven, and pour out such a blessing, there will not be room enough to hold it." (Mal.3:10)

11th UPOU Commencement Exercises

Got a chance to go home and attend my graduation at the University of the Philippines. I wasn't planning to attend but they asked me to give the speech on behalf of the graduating class of 2007. How could I refuse such an honor.

The Master of Development Communication class of '07 with the Dean, Program Chair , & professors (with sash on left shoulder).


UP does not use anymore the traditional "toga" as academic attire. Instead we have a sash called the "sablay" which is turned from the right shoulder to the left as you graduate.


More news at the www.upou.org website: (click my picture below for the text of my speech)

A Pinky Promise

Today is the World Communication Day and its theme is “Children, and the challenge of education in a media world.”

I was watching this 2004 Korean film “Windstruck.” The girl (Jeon Ji-hyeon of “My Sassy Girl”) asks the boy why children promise something to each other while entwining their pinkies and say: “Pinky promise.”

She then tells him the story: “Long time ago there was this beautiful princess who had to choose a prince to marry. She folds her four fingers and lets out only her little finger (pinky). She then goes to each of her prince suitors and asks him what finger she was holding out. Finally one prince got it right when he too holds out and raises his pinky. The two then unite their pinkys for their matrimony.

But after the Princess had gotten married with this prince, they later had to part for he had to go for the crusades (war). And so he makes a pinky promise to his beloved that he shall return. On the 49th day after his disappearance, a man in tattered clothes appears at the palace. And in front of the princess, he holds out his pinky. It was the prince. He came back, but only to realize he came back as a ghost and only for that day. Still the heavens made sure that the prince had kept his promise to his beloved, even after death.”

Today during Mass of the Ascension we remembered Your going up to heaven to Your heavenly Father. You too made a “pinky promise” – that you will not leave us orphans and that you will send the Holy Spirit to stay with us and remind us of You.

The Road Not Taken

When I was in High School, I fell in love with a poem that gave me a paradigm shift in my life:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Here's the full text of the Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken":

(please click on the picture)

You said it Yourself that life is like a road (Mt. 7:13-14).
There are wide, flat and easy highways... where traveling is a breeze.
And then there are the least trodden, long and winding, narrow ones too... where traveling is difficult.
But the latter leads to life.

East Asian Pastoral Review

My article got published in the East Asian Pastoral Review (volume 44, no 1, 2007). It's about the " .... Religious Blending in Cambodia."

(to view its back issues and online version, click on the book cover)

The EAPR is a quarterly theological journal of the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI).
For more than thirty years, EAPI has provided training courses and community experiences, which integrate faith and life, within the cultural heritage of many countries, especially of Asia and the Pacific. The EAPI is an integral part of the theological consortium of Manila. Students here can avail themselves of the academic resources of the Faculties of Theology of Santo Tomás University, Loyola School of Theology, Mary Hill School of Theology, Don Bosco Center of Studies, and several other theological schools.

Cambodian Elections

Cambodia held its elections on the beginning of this month. It seems CPP won most seats from Sam Rainsy and Funcipec this year.
Around the world, there seems to be an election fever. Qatar had at the first week. Timor voted for its President on the second week. Ecuador had a referendum. Nigeria elected its President and parliamentarians. Then there was also France and Mali for a presidential run-off.
Ideally speaking, a free and fair elections is tantamount to hearing the voice of the people. But nowadays with so many distractions and "noise", many voices aren't heard clearly or others are ignored, some are stiffled, and a few totally silenced. It's really a complicated issue. But no matter what an election is still a start, a hope that all voices of the citizenry, rich or poor alike, will be heard.

Gotta Believe in Magic

Andrea, an Italian magician, performed a few days ago for the kids. It was funny since most of the kids have never seen a magic act before. There was this one boy who kept asking me what he was going to do. So I jokingly said: “He’ll turn you into a goat.” And he answered: “Oh I see, but will he turn me back?” And I replied: “Uh, I don’t know. You just better watch and see.” And watch they did. Andrea made things appear, disappear, and re-appear. He pierced a balloon without popping it, did a rope Houdini, and other such illusion stuff. It’s fantastic to see the wonder in the children’s eyes. It seems they did finally begin to believe in magic…

David Pomeranz once popularized a song “Gotta believe in Magic.” This statement is one way of helping children explore their creative juices and their hope for their dreams. Back then this was what I said to myself in front of seemingly impossible tasks and situations. Sometimes when I am able to achieve something I never thought I could, I simply said to myself: “It must have been magic.” But now as I grow older, I begin to question how I’ve gone through those seemingly insurmountable times. Was it the “magic” or the “gotta believe?” Now I’m more inclined to think it was the latter – “faith.”

A visit to the orphanage

The kids didn't have classes on the 8th of March (Women's Day), and so a dozen of them decided to visit their friends who are now in the Mercy Ministry Orphanage. Just a note: a few months back we "gave" (outsourced) our 6 youngest orphans to them. They accept below 10 years of age- while we as a rule accept those above 10 for our literacy center. In short, we're starting to niche our competitive advantage (literacy school for the overaged children and skills training for out-of-school youth).

So I got to hike along with the children. I didn't give permission to use the vehicle, how cruel of me! Along the way, as our leading group waited for the trailing group, I saw some of the kids buying some sweets and other stuff with the little money they have. I got curious. I saw Chan (the boy in the front)buying more than he could actually eat. When we arrived at the orphanage, our six former kids (orphans below 10 yrs) excitedly ran to meet us. Boy! it was as if we hadn't seen each other for a year. They immediately exchanged stories with us, introduced us to their new friends and even to their dogs. I couldn't help laughing. Then I saw Chan pluck out from his pocket his goodies and started sharing it with the orphans, not only to his 6 friends but also the new kids he met. The others then did the same. I was deeply touched. Even the poor can share what they have. Imagine what a better world we would have if the rich can share in the same way?

As I was reflecting on this, I remembered how You multiplied the loaves of bread. Your great work happened only when a little boy shared the little he had (loaves of bread and fish). This little event I experienced gives me hope that greater things can happen because of such generosity from the little ones. It makes me believe more in the saying: "Little means much if you place it in the Master's hand."

ODL Conference

(click on the picture for more news details)

Just arrived from Manila. I attended the 3rd National Conference on Open and Distance Learning (23-24 February) where I was given the chance to be one of the student speakers to share my experience as a distance learner.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to address some 300 academicians from various universities in a plenary session. Previously I've presented papers at the Royal University of Phnom Penh but I was always at the parallel sessions. The other two student sharers with me were Alvin who happens to be a physically challenged student and Sharon who is a well-known TV-movie personality. We had diverse lifestyles, diverse systems of learning, diverse study modes and times, yet we had a common endeavor for academic excellence and the same dream of academic success for the next generation.

Empowering children

A saying oft used in Vocational Training Education is: "Give a man a fish, and you give him food for another day, teach a man to fish and you give him food for a lifetime." (ok, this goes for women too!) Fr. Renato Torresan thought of giving them a net, and off they went to our backyard pond. With Chomroen heading the pack, their afternoon was rewarded with a haul of fish. Their prize catch -two huge catfish. Of course they got to eat some and share some with the other children too.

In the dog-eat-dog of today, there is another variation to this saying I once read somewhere. It goes: "Teach a man to fish, and you introduce another competitor into the overcrowded fishing industry. Give a man a fish, and you stimulate demand for your product." Interestingly this is what is happening in the technical industry when there is an oversupply of skills training in one field and that's why advertising chooses to give out freebies of products both to sell new technologies and to make them diversify into newer sets of technical skills. Truly those of us in Voc-tech training have to be aware of this. But then there is too the TCO (total cost of ownership) to be considered since running vocational schools for poor people and upgrading of equipment demand large financial grants. After all, remove the skilled workers from the country and you'll be left with a lot of "talkers"(those who sell things) and no "doers"(those who fix things).

Today when I went to Mass, I heard You talk about Your Mission as you read from the scroll of Prophet Isaiah. Now I remember you asked me to be part of it - something like: "fisher of men." Oh, ok, ok! let me get busy fishing too.

New Hi-tech Year, Old- Lo-tech Games

It's amazing how we have an inner urging to update, renew, and to get what's the latest. Many kids nowadays aren't just satisfied with last years toys. They need those new computer games, AI-equipped soft toys, and other such gizmos in order to have fun.

Nevertheless I found our kids here in Poipet, Cambodia happilly opening the new year with a series of old-tech games.

On second thought, what really makes a child happy? Is it the "toys they play with" or the "friends they enjoy with?"