CHRONICLE OF A MISSIONARY (19)
 | Philippines, December 2010 & January 2011 |
At the beginning of the year, I was able to contact relatives, friends and benefactors by phone. Many asked me « How did you spend the holidays? You had a nice Christmas? »
I can now answer those questions.
PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS…
At the beginning of Advent, a request was made to me, « Father, would you accept to welcome a young single lady from Davao, aged 17, pregnant for many months, who is going through a difficult period with her father who is mad at her? » That request reminded me about various events of the past; in my missionary life, even though I cannot explain why, there was always a special event that would take place during the Advent period, a kind of invitation to welcome and help a life in distress, in danger or something like that. And the memory of it helps me to answer, « Of course, if the parents do not seriously object. » She was able to travel and spent those weeks with us, welcomed with understanding, compassion and the necessary care. She is still with us and I have the impression that I will become a bit a «grandfather» to that newly born whose birth is fast approaching.
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A simple manger reflecting our reality to welcome a God who makes himself so simple and so near us. |
ON A JOURNEY LIKE THE MAGI
A short time before Christmas, I decided to undertake a tour in an area of our territory where I had not gone for more than one year. It had been a long time since I had not walked many long hours, and this was due to the fact that I am taking care of the formation of future lay missionary candidates, and so I have become more sedentary. Unfortunately, I had to walk more than 6 hours under the rain on a very muddy trail to reach a place called Datal Anggas. I had to take a one day rest so as to verify that I still had the stamina to fulfill my various activities that were foreseen during that trip
Here is a picture of the house built in 1996 and which serves as a residence and office for our personnel in charge of that territory. Those is where I took refuge during the period of Christmas and also from where I was able to reach a few Christian communities to celebrate Christmas, baptize adults and children, and spend some good time with people living the spirit of Christmas and of the New Year. |  |
SAD NEWS
While I was in Datal Anggas, our radio informed me about a sad happening, « Father, 4 young children of one family were poisoned after eating tadpoles of Kanfrogs. One is already dead, and the 3 others have received first care and were sent to see a doctor. We hope that they will survive ». Such news came to me as a shock, since I knew that family very well.
 | What the people here call Kanfrogs is a kind of frog imported from elsewhere and known as containing a deadly toxin for other animals and for human beings. It is not edible, contrary to other species known in the region. « Kan » comes from the word Kano, a shortcut for Amerikano (all that is foreign often carry the name of Kano), and « Frog » is a beautiful English word for frog. By combining the 2, you have Kanfrog to locally identify that species. |
On the way going back to Little Baguio, I was informed that the 3 had survived. Details of what had happened were given to me. In short, those youngsters aged between 4 and 11 had been left alone in their house, the father working in the forest and the mother having left them behind to make the queue at 2 hours walk from the house to get rice rations being distributed by the government some time before Christmas.
Feeling pangs of hunger and having nothing to eat, the eldest of the children had the idea of going to catch those tadpoles, thinking that they were edible like the other species. He cooked them so as to feed his brothers and sisters…and you now know the consequences of his gesture…
CHRISTMAS GIFT
For a missionary, what can be more marvelous than to welcome newcomers in our Christian faith. Once again, I have lived that experience during my stay in Datal Anggas. The new Christians were full of joy and dynamism!
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My passage in a village was also the occasion to bless a new building that the local cooperative, founded few years ago with our help, had built, sign of its good financial DEVELOPMENT and SUPPORT from the local population. Those participating were people in majority responsible for that cooperative which is named DASIG, a local dialect word which means «ENCOURAGED». |  |
PEOPLE AT WORK TO FEED THEMSELVES AND SURVIVE!
 | Wherever I would go, I would see people at work. It is harvest time for coffee, and very often it is the work of the women to dry it under the sun after it was shelled. After many hour of drying, it will be cleansed, placed in sacks and sold directly to the merchants, or still to the local cooperative who will try to negotiate a better price with the big merchants so as to satisfy everybody. There is also some corn being dried, and this is the daily staple. The white «hair» are hemp that will also be sold when it is dried. |
Another of my great joys was to realize during my visits of how our agricultural program, initiated a few years ago, has kept on changing the life of the people.
Where with a few individuals we had built together some kind of primitive irrigation canal, the inventiveness and the hard labor of the farmers have kept on progressing with the construction of new rice terraces. It is more beautiful to look at all that directly than through pictures… Believe me! |  |
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These 7 are the 7 persons in charge of 7 small cooperatives who have decided to create some kind of federation to unite and make more efficient the service offered to our underprivileged population. A beautiful testimony of unity and solidarity. |
| To sustain our efforts and contribute to a pacific solution to the conflicts among our population, and also as such to encourage everybody to live in solidarity and mutual help, those in charge of the International Red Cross donated this hand driven small tractor to that federation, a tool that will be used to facilitate the hard labor in the rice fields and elsewhere. A beautiful Christmas gift that we accept with great joy and satisfaction! |  |
| One of the objectives of the team for 2011 is the increase of the local food production; we are trying through all means to answer to that very important objective…Already we have plans for the coming months. Let’s see what will happen. | The truck in the background carries large inner tubes that will be used in our mountains to carry the water towards the flat lands where new rice fields will come to life. |
on which the residence of Datal Anggas is built. We were lucky to meet with one another | A native who looks at us from the outside… What shall she discover about us? That is the question that I am asking myself! |
