ACTS in Pampanga
2-9 Dec 2012
Finally, the day had arrived for the core team to board the Tiger Airway for Clark, Philippines.
Day one
According to the progressive reports from the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, the community hall for the Aetas should be ready. That imagination would soon make the dream come true for the Aetas communities. From the weather reports, a typhoon was hitting southern Philippines. Although Pampanga is north of Manila, it might carry the fallout of rains and that would affect our painting works for the community hall.
Without much anticipation, the core team was well received by the Salesian Sisters at the airport. Our chartered bus was waiting. This was the second time the whole core team touched ground in Clark. This time round, we had a professional photographer/videographer, Linus Koh, who was fully equipped to produce a documentary that would instill the values of our missionaries' works.
It was bright and hot in late afternoon, when we walked from the plane onto the tarmac and into the airport building. There was no sign of any fallout expected from the typhoon Pablo. We headed straight to SM city Mart in Angeles City for a late lunch. We shopped for drinking water, tidbits, snacks and beverages. The sky was already dark when we checked into Hotel Gracelane in San Fernando City. The ride from Angeles City to San Fernando took nearly an hour during the peak hours. Hence, it gave us a good indication for the need to adjust the time to start the journey to the Aetas village the next morning.
All the planning would be played out in the next few days to come. Promises if any, would have to fulfill. This was the first mission from ACTS in the Philippines. Would this play out successfully? And the payout sustainable in the future?
Day two
Hotel Gracelane is a Board & Breakfast hotel. Breakfast was light. But no one bothered about it because the bus was waiting to bring us to Calumpang to see the community Hall. Indeed, the time taken for the journey to the site was longer than planned. We got so excited to see the Sacobia river bridge that led us into the Aetas village. The bridge
spanned over a river of volcano ashes that turned into white sand that sparkled under the bright sunlight. At a turn on the road after crossing the bridge, we spotted the blue new roof of the hall on top of a hill. Prior to our arrival, a week or two before, the Sport Authority had motor-graded a road up the hill for a cycling event. It passes by where the hall is sited. Our bus could now be driven up the road right up to the doorsteps. Looking down from the hall, about 50 meters below the hill, is the public school for the Aetas.
We chose to park the bus at the school below and we walked up the slope by the beaten tracks. It was steep and breathtaking to reach the top trying to claim who was the first to see the new hall.
The latter was likened to the first fruit that bore on the tree that was seeded eight to nine years ago by Salesian. According to specifications, the building has a floor area of 180 sq meters including the build up perimeter that is yet to construct. The building had been completed and the facade is ready for painting. There should be two toilets attached and a store room. Half of the wall area was to be cut out into windows and entrances. They are enclosed by steel window grills and gates. When you walk into the hall through the main entrance, you would see the interior hall that look like a small chapel without the pews. At the back of the backdrop wall in front is a storage area for equipment and chairs. The toilets are next to it.
The construction team was pushed to finish the interior for painting and for auspicious events such as the mass wedding. The rest of the mission team would arrive at 3 pm. After the lunch hosted by the Salesian Sisters in Mabalacat, the bus headed back to the Clark airport to welcome them. Our spiritual director Father Gino also arrived in time from Manila to celebrate Mass for us.
The message for the missionaries from Fr. Gino was "the goodness done cannot be washed away." Whatever good we do to the needy. We do it to Jesus. Blessed is he who comes to the mission.
Day three
The whole Philippines ACTS team for the Aetas project consisted of 37 people, made up of teens, young adults, older folks, Filipinos working in Singapore and a priest. The missionaries were divided into two main groups. The painting party would paint the hall. The rests would form into the social and educational (S&E) groups. There are five elementary classes from the Aetas school. For the next two days, they would rotate among their groups and take turns to go into the classes to play games with the students, tell stories or teach handicrafts.
The painting party made up of the men and boys, mainly fathers and sons. The painting works began with priming the wall with white base coat. Due to poor rendering and the unevenness of the wall surfaces, it took two coatings of base paint to even up the painting. With the enthusiasm of the Aetas boys and girls chipping in, the base coats for the interior walls were soon completed in the morning segment.
We had only two full days to accomplish the painting and the S & E events. Since the evening sky darkened very early, we started the journey from the hotel at 7.30am and leave the site at 4pm. To be exact, we had only about 5 hours each day to work with. The Aetas village was scant for amenities. So lunch was 30 minutes away in the Don Bosco School, Mabalacat. In fact, half of the times, we were being ferried around by bus.
After lunch, we painted a finishing coat of blue over the base coat around the three walls below the base line of the window. It was agreed that we would only paint the interior walls and the metal grills. The external facade would be assigned to the villagers. But the facade would be unsightly raw for videoing the marching in of the marrying couples from the outside into the hall. After much hemming and hawing, we decided to paint the exterior wall on the main entrance with a white base coat only. The finishing facade would be coloured brown to withstand the dust and dirt. The first day of mission works was completed. We returned to our hotel for evening Mass and then adjourned to the SM shopping Mart for dinner.
Day four
The Mass was at 6.30am in the morning. Fr. Gino reinforced the call to bring the lights to the darkness and goodness and assistance to the marginalized. He emphasized that the missionary works to reach out to the needy is as important as to bring Christ to them. He left us after the blessing of the hall, to fly home to continue his spiritual guidance to the ACTS mission in Cambodia.
The children of the school were looking forward for another day of fun and learning from the S & E party. On the first day from the classrooms, the children produced colourfully dressed up angels made from paper plates and Christmas ornaments from the handcraft sessions. The other classes played games in the open under the hot sun. The same open space has been used for the Sunday formation activities conducted by the Salesian Sisters for past eight to nine years. The new community hall would shelter them from the sun and rain. Can the hall be used for sheltering the villagers from any onslaughter of a typhoon? It looked strong enough to be a place of relief for the Aetas if their little bamboo and palm banana leaves huts were blown away.
On the hilltop, painting continued. With a second coat on the blue and some red on the white pillars done, the painter moved in to paint the metal grills blue. The photographer requested that the wall facing the road should also be painted for better photography's sake. Although it might go against a better intention, nevertheless, an uneven coat of white base on it would present a wholesome picture of the new building painted white with a sky blue roof. The better painters patiently straightened up the borders and touched up the unevenness. The painting was completed within an hour. The combination of blue and white with red highlight was well-harmonised into a lively, pure and cool chapel ready to host the mass wedding.
Linus, the professional photographer with his professional digital movie making gears and lenses, was planning to produce a documentary on the Aetas mission. He had captured all the mission activities. He went into the Aetas village to film their living conditions and took numerous family pictures. But the most outstanding moment of all was when he printed out their photo pictures the following day, and distributed them to the villagers and their children, he was mobbed for more of their pictures to be taken. Those moments of joy from the gifts of love from ACTS were well captured. The photo papers reserved for instant production of wedding pictures on Sunday had ran out. It would be a shame if he couldn't replenish them.
Day five
For the next two days, the team would not be returning to the mission site at Calumpang. A para-liturgy was in place of a Mass in the morning at the hotel. The program consisted of three themes. A team game on bridge building to highlight a Christian call to be bridgebuilders for the have and have-not, the privileged and the underprivileged. The second theme was on affirmation.
The segment was designed to give each other positive affirmations in the family, or brothers and Sisters-in-Christ. The third theme through slide presentation, brought forth the awareness of the living conditions of the poor, the needy and the underprivileged to remind ourself to appreciate the privilege and abundance we enjoy and be mindful of the need to share our blessings with them. The para-liturgy included a feedback session to see what else we could do for the Aetas in that village. The program also incorporated a poverty lunch to experience a mild encounter of poverty.
The mission team carried with them old clothing, used handbags, stationeries, and solar energy table lights from Singapore. These were parts of the goodies to be packed together with foodstuff and rations for the Aetas families who were in the registry of the Salesian Sisters. There were Christmas goodies to grace the love giving season of Christmas. The team began packing after the poverty lunch. The packing of goodies is a hallmark of the ACTS missions.
Day six
It was the day before the Sunday wedding.
While the Salesian Sisters in Mabalacat led the people in the village to decorate and prepare the hall for the wedding ceremony, we were invited to attend their annual Christmas party for street children at Sta Mase in Manila. This year, the Salesian Sisters catered for 1,500 kids from the slums. The bus ride lasted about 2 hours from San Fernando to Manila. Our journey began at 8am hoping to arrive punctually by 10.30am, supposedly in time for Mass. But the Mass was changed to the afternoon after lunch. The itinerary included half a day of shopping in Manila was almost squashed off. We were given the honour to distribute the goodies to the kids. It ended after 3pm leaving us merely enough time to dine and to shop. Nonetheless, it was a show of corroboration with the Salesian Sisters in the call to share.
Day seven
The closing day of the ACTS Philippines mission in Pampanga. The highlight of the day was the Christian rite of matrimony for 20 Aetas married couples who were received into the Catholic church through baptism a year ago.
Some members from the team were paired to be the couples' sponsors, in short, as their witnesses. They are couples aged in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. Some are even grandparents! The wedding Mass was conducted in Tagalog. Among those present, were their tribal elders the governing officials and benefactors of the Aetas. It was natural, that the couples were shy to look at each other in the eye. With much encouragement and for the cameras, they kissed each other publicly.
The young adults had organized to print wedding pictures on the spot. They had their instant photos production done in the toilet. The couples hugged each other for the wedding pictures and family photos. The blue sky was their backdrop. The wedding photos were presented with photo frames. It was indeed a joyful ending for all present. The goodies packed in the pails were distributed and in return, we received bananas, papayas and thank you cards.
The ending also marked the beginning to work on the new ideas to enhance their ways of livelihood. The parting words from most of our members to the Aetas were "See you next year!" To quote our spiritual director's reminder, 'the goodness we give to others would not be washed away." What ACTS brought to the Aetas were only two fishes and five loaves but it would feed thousands. Unlike the 'lechon' (the roasted pig), the delicacy for the thanksgiving feast hosted by the Salesian Sisters, that was cut and consumed, the hall would continue to provide a second home for many generations to come.
He who received a bouquet of joy from the Lord.
Written by Laurence Koh, 11 Dec 2012
