Today we traveled to the south, to a city called Guiuan (pronounced ghe-wan). The Oikos Sisters have high school and college scholars that they support here in Borongan, and in the south, in Guiuan and in the barrios we are implementing the Livelihood programs in, in Santa Cruz and in Tacla-on. Really, the sister's reach is far and the number of people I encounter who are helped by Oikos grows each day. Anyways, it was my first time to go to Guiuan and I had a few great experiences there.
For one, I was able to meet the scholars in the south. They were very welcoming to me, after the shock of seeing me!! I also helped Sister Clarissa to teach them the song Lord I Need You by Matt Maher. If you've never heard the song, take a listen on YouTube. It is a really good song, especially good for helping you enter into prayer. And, shock of all shocks, I had to sing into the microphone alone!!! Now, I've spoken before about my voice... it's ok, but I was not blessed with a beautiful voice like my bothers and sisters and many of my nieces and nephews. The only times I have EVER sang by myself into a microphone was at karaoke after consuming quite a bit of alcohol!! (**Please note, underage readers: I was over 21 and had a DD!!) Anyways, suffice to say that I am not comfortable at all singing into a microphone alone ((sober)) and even joked with Sister Clarissa that the kids would need to go to the ER after hearing me for earaches!! But, my lame attempts at escaping the task bore no fruit and I had to succumb! It actually was not horrible, I just focused on the words and on the intention to enter into prayer with God... but I don't really want to do it again anytime soon!!
The building where the formation is held is called St. Mary's College. It is a beautiful campus, but needed a lot of restoration after Typhoon Yolanda. On one area of the campus there is a grotto built up above the buildings. While waiting for everything to begin, I walked over there and up the stairs. At first, I thought it was just the Blessed Mother there, then upon looking around, I saw a little statue of St. Bernadette just beside me. It was cool that her "view" of Mary was the same as mine. The steps continued up to the statue of Mary and around it, so I ventured up higher. Behind the statue, I had a city-wide view of Guiuan. I was up above everything, and could see for miles. What a beautiful sight!! Unfortunately, my camera is acting up so I was unable to take any photos, but it was a sight I will not soon forget!!!
I also met a great priest, Fr. Emmitt. He has a parish in Guiuan. Fr. Emmitt reminded me a lot of my father, telling a few jokes during lunch. I think one of them I even remember my father telling! There is a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and are trying to figure out what to do to commemorate it. The husband wants to take a helicopter ride around the city, but the wife is frugal and doesn't want to waste money on that. Well, as they are arguing about it, the helicopter pilot, who overheard what they were talking about, told them that if they want, he will take them up for a ride for free... with one condition, they cannot make a noise during the trip. So, the couple agrees and up they go. Well, the pilot happens to be a little crazy and takes the couple for a joy ride, flying every dare-devil maneuver he can think of, but the couple actually remained silent the whole time they were in the air. Well, as the pilot was landing, he congratulated the couple on besting him, they were quiet the entire ride and therefore their trip was free. After he landed, the pilot turned around to shake their hands, only to find the husband there alone. Shocked he said, "What happened??? Where is your wife?" "Well," the husband said, "she fell out." "SHE FELL OUT??? Why didn't you say something????" The husband shrugs his shoulders and says, "Well, if I did, you would have charged us!" Heehee.
Going to the campus, we had to travel on this rocky, pothole-ridden road. I was closing my eyes, trying not to get sick when the driver, Ben, told me that in 1945, the American army built this road, that it was a part of an airport they built during WWII. The Americans built their own airport and base to use during the war. All of the sudden, my prospective changed... how cool to be driving on a road built by my country as they helped end a disastrously horrible war. I stepped on the road myself and tried to feel the energy of the place. Unfortunately for all traveling that road, the government has done nothing to keep it up, so since 1945, it has not been repaired at all, hence the bump, bump, bump of the ride. But for me, standing there, on the original asphalt built so long ago, it was powerful!! Is it just me, or is that cool?
Unfortunately, it wasn't all good times in traveling to Guiuan. At a certain point, I noticed a big change in the scenery. It was the coconut trees. In Borongan, the coconut trees are tall with lush fans of leaves creating a halo of green around the coconuts (which do, by the way, just fall unannounced from their high perch... can't stand too close to the coconut trees!!) However, as we traveled south, I noticed trees with stubby, short leaves, like someone took a chainsaw to them. There were trees that looked like someone was playing "He loves me, he loves me not" with the coconut leaves, and many that were just very tall stumps, like a giant was playing the dandelion game I used to play, "Momma had a baby and it's head popped off"... by the way, who ever came up with that?? Why were we allowed to even say such words?? It is so deranged!! Well, there was a giant, so to speak, who came along and ruined the trees and so much more. It was the super typhoon Yolanda. Yolanda landed right on Guiuan, so what happened was the winds attacked the city and the surrounding waters and sent a powerful surge of water to Tacloban, and caused much destruction there. But in Guiuan the winds completely demolished the city. We drove by a church, over 450 years old, and it was rubble. It took my breath away to see it and brought tears to my eyes. I have heard a lot of the stories, and have seen the houses here in Borongan that still need repair after typhoon Ruby, but this was the first time I have seen the actual force of nature that is working within a typhoon. I mean, the rubble left of the church was huge, it was stone and the foundation looked so solid... it lasted quite a long time, 450 years is nothing to sniff at. It was just gone. Praise the Lord that no one was in the church at the time of the storm. The Holy Spirit guided the people to safer places. However, the people still suffer. This region is where most of the world's supply of coconut products comes from. These people have to wait years for the coconut trees to replenish the ones that were destroyed. It has cost the livelihoods of hundreds of people and left them and their families suffering. This November, it will be 3 years since the super typhoon hit the southern part of Samar, and the people are still trying to rebuild their homes, their city, their livelihoods.
We left Borongan at 4 in the morning and returned around 7:30 at night. It was a full day of traveling, formating, and praying. But for me, it was an emotional day as well, sort of a roller coaster ride of emotions. All of that compounded by the intense heat (yes, you will still hear me talk about the heat until the day I leave!! People STILL inform me that I am sweating... pretty funny!) made for an exhausting day, but a good one. One of the best parts of what the Sisters do is that for all of their formations and mission work, they include the scholars in it so that they are not only helping others, are helping to build a second generation of missionaries. Pretty cool too!! xxoo
