people without a face

greetings
and peace

i think there's nothing big on this letter
neither unusual on it :)
i just want to whisper out myself
and continue to take the risks
even errors and mistakes, to express my true
feelings, thinking or reasons.. i hope they're not distorted and lies
then forgive me father.. cause i believe this is my confession :-)
sorry for my sentimental hope it won't be empty. lol.

culion is still deeply divided
its syndrome of 'kawawa-naman-kami'
is still the portrait of culion
or may i say the darker face of the old town..
i know you have already done great things for culion
even in just few months (simply a record:)
and am really amazed
even i am nothing there. but just whispers in the wilderness

i believe in you father
and my faith tells me
that you are truly sent by God in this unique mission..
for the good of our town
an answered prayers
for what we've been praying & dreaming for culion in a long long time
changing the world of our beloved town. empowering them..
cause one day we want to go back there and view it
as much more beautiful than when we left there 10 or 20 years ago...

what i want to share is just
about the scars and stigma of culion,,
they still viewed themselves
as a 'person without a face'
"mga kawawang nilalang"
or "kawawa naman kami" syndrome
as what happened during culion centennial 2006..
'dahil kawawa kami kaya kami lang ang dapat ninyong tulangan wala ng iba..' ;)
a 'self pity' that often times paralyzes all of us
"basura kami" ... a disgrace
this was also the observations of late fr. Katigbak
but still many people there didn't realized
what many courageous people have done for them...
what our fathers and forefathers have done for culion...
yes i believe that what you're doing now is power for/to the people
and we need to balance them in many different ways
its complicated-complex situations
i know you're not spoiling them :-)
what you've really done is a great wake up call for all
justice for all. what is due for each individual.. (unlike the past;)...
this is already a huge change for us!
yes time will come that you'll also know the people there.
then heal these wounds of prejudices and biases
the deformity of culion as still a leper colony
viewed by the people themselves
and still thousands outside culion and millions around the world..
when you mentioned the name..
many immediately think, you're a shame 'basura' 'ugly' 'scary' 'living dead' 'isolated' dishonored
truly what a sad tale
and this is another face of it :-)
the self pity on one side and prejudices on the other side...
so the with the quest until now is what more can be done
to heal this deep wounds?
i hope i had that beautiful mind of yours to find the answers
yet i believe it's already there...


sorry for my own confusions
these are my struggles (inside my own desert & wilderness)
but you become our true hope now
since the time of fr. olazabal -
(i can say the 'saint' of culion)

a great responsibility (: i belive it should be ours:)
but we're all powerless.. you have all the powers

thank you forever for sharing with us your beautiful life, mind and spirit in love
and of course the action or simply the witnessing..
the real image and likeness of God

prayers, hope and love..
joy & peace
--
jong


ps.
jong is my nickname not an alias
as what they always suspected :))

ps 2
again i took this risk of sharing my confused mind
in my own ways of redeeming culion
i have my own angers and hatred and great fears
and this is how i tame them
sorry po for my arrogance my own pride my envies,
my sinfulness

again please pray for me and for all.
and rest assured that i will do my best to help in many different ways.
my hope also is that this true dev't and people empowerment
will stay in our beloved town
even when you leave culion... because we've encountered lots of great people like you who worked there but when they left, everything went back to worst...
i beg you to strengthen us all in the midst of this complicated world around us
yes we will help each other regardless of who we are
professional or unprofessional, learned or unlearned
opposition or pro-admin. lepers or non-lepers culionaires or non-culionaires
this is our only dream our simple treasures
that we want to pass on to the young generation to our children
but of course with the help of God the almighty
praying, (help us Lord...)

ps. 3
again sorry for my own arrogance at cog postings
feel guilty too :( emptying myself...
they were my personal views
to take the risk
because i simply believe in everything that is good...

thanks in a million


congrats again and again for your TED encounters & achievements
and for your trip to the global fellowship
truly a great hope for humanity the ecology of man

you are not alone...




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peace.

thank you for your email. i highly appreciate inputs especially for culion residents/supporters.
yes, i felt/experienced first hand what you are talking about.
i went island hopping and talked to several people.
i heard their plea for help as they didn't have enough money to buy rice.
so instead of giving them money, i gave them a chance to earn by making bags from native materials and that it would purchase them at p80 a piece - pretty expensive given that tabing dagat sells them at p75 only (after buying them all the way from manila).
unfortunately, after several island hoppings and meetings, only 1 bag was delivered. then when the deadline came, only 20+ got finished. so i had to go back to the buyer and apologize.
this is when i learned the painful lesson that people generally would really prefer to just receive the money rather than work for it. too bad. it didn't need capitalization, all they had to invest was few hours of sweat but to no avail.
so i know what you are talking about and that affirms my experience.

but am not giving up.
this is one of the objectives of the cooperative.
make the community work for a living and work as one.
hope we get the needed funding.
posted an email in the e-group but only got one response, from you.
hope the rest get to support us for this endeavor.

blessings,
javier, sj
- Show quoted text -
--
"I don't believe in miracles, I rely on them"
Fr. XAVIER "Javier/Javy/Ver" ALPASA, SJ
TED Global Fellow 2009

Hotel Maya / Loyola College / Immaculate Conception Parish
Culion, 5315 Palawan
Mobile 0920-5556617 / 09275-779955
Alternate Email: javieralpasa@aol.com

www.facebook.com/xavieralpasa
www.twitter.com/xavieralpasa
www.xavieralpasa.posterous.com
www.loyolacollegeculion.com
www.rags2riches.ph




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greetings
and peace

thanks for the response
yes i know you'll continue this and i believe you'll succeed..
sometimes they need to be pushed
but i don't know how gently to push them. ;-)
anyway you've already started a greet endeavor
and that's already a great leap for the people there.
actually i was even campaigning this prog of yours to all my friends there now
and the response are but negative lukewarm. cause they were saying that it'll be the same as the old ones. i told them no this is good and better you only have to work more and beyond the conceived and thinking capacity and efforts..
sis. josie is helping us a lot on this kind of projects
especially financially.. that's for sure she will sponsors many of the poor who can't afford the amount. i can also share on some of the things you mentioned and i will try even the huge one. kung kaya pa nang powers :))
but my vision also is my future return to culion
this is my anticipations too, how will i earn when i come back there
say next year or after next year. this project of yours really give me hope,
hoping too that all my relatives and family will join in all your projects
if possible..

culion is zero even below zero incomes.. we all rely now on political survivals but end up in nothing but corruptions and very poor governance the betrayals of all the leaders. i don't know why people there vote to this kind of mess.. the epidemic of ignorance?
as in my own ignorance too...

with all these things the world really becomes too complicated now
many becomes so indifferent and it's all for survival all for the ends not the means and values to the end :-) even here in cog.
sad really sad situations. but we still have hope maybe they're just taking time to get involve for all this. one day they'll wake up and get involve... so i'm trying to tap ate cynthia and many of the rich members here but majority of them has their own plans for culion or they already have some projects there. like ate cynthia she's always donating goods and school supplies for the kids schooling in her native village at patag every school year and also during christmas..then rachelle also is planning to have some business in culion when she comes back there for good too. some are just silent but i believe they will help too.. and wake the bayanihan spirit. (...in this Lord we pray)

again thank you forever for all the inspirations you have given culion
and this hope for the betterment of our beloved town.
it's so strange a total stranger helping us..
that for me is already a great blessings.. and miracle
our prayers and support for all these dreams
mabuhay ang magiting na pari.. long live fearless man..

prayers more