By: Fr. Ching Espineda SVD

Fr. Ching Espineda comes from the Bicol area: Sorsogon. Sorsogon to be precise. He entered the SVD Seminary after Tagaytay and did some studies in Japan and Australia. Then he was sent off to worked in New Zealand among the Polynesians. We have called this article AOTEAROA because that is the old Polynesian name for New Zealand.

 Three of us volunteered to go the mission: Ghana, Ecuador, and New Zealand. We said then that were the “export” quality of the class. After some years, the missionary in Ecuador went back to the Philippines. The Ghanaian missionary, in the meantime, has become a world famous “Joker”. He is featured regularly in the Columbans Misyon Magazine, I am still here and have gotten used to the cold weather and marmite! (to me, our Bagoong).