By Sister Leticia Bartolome ICM
This is Sister Letty’s reply to a letter from a student who reads Misyon.
Sister Leticia Bartolome
Dear Camille Margaret,
Peace and joy to you!
Thank you for your letter of 11 October 2004 which came in time for the celebration of World Mission Sunday. I hope that you prayed for all missionaries that day, not only for priests, brothers and religious sisters but also for lay missionaries.
Sr Leticia Bartolome ICM
Are you going 'door-to-door?’ A question Filipino migrant worker often asks one another. A positive reply gets a second question: ‘Jumbo, regular, half or bulilit?’ What funny and strange names, I thought. One night, coming home from a meeting with the board and staff of the Asian Migrant Centre here in Hong Kong, I felt exhausted and fell into a deep sleep. It was then that I met Jumbo, Regular, Half and Bulilit in a dream. We talked for a long time.
By Sr Leticia Bartolome ICM
This is a privileged trip! I’ve neither passport nor visa nor do I have to pay travel tax to leave the Philippines. I haven’t seen anyone yet as I’m sitting in a dark and crowded place. In less than two hours we land in Hong Kong. I can’t see anything yet, though I feel movement around me. Finally, air and light enter. Aaahhh! The box is being opened. Will they let us out?
Over 120,000 Filipinos work in Hong Kong. Before the British left in 1997 there were many European officials who needed nannies and household help and were willing to pay good wages and give good conditions. That has changed now that Hong Kong has reverted to China. Life has become harder but that message has not got back to the Philippines. Sr. Leticia Bartolome, ICM who has worked there for years sends a letter to a friend and tries to change her mind about coming to Hong Kong.
We would like to thank Sr. Leticia for accommodating our request to print her name despite her original request to withhold it. We salute her for this brave article.
Dear Eva,
Peace to you and all your loved ones! Thank you for writing and for the trust that you gave me in sharing your hopes and aspirations for the future. But I am really very sorry to disappoint you, in the same way that I have disappointed so many others who have written me for help to find jobs for them here in Hong Kong.
By Sr. Leticia Bartolome icm
They have been hailed as “new economic heroes” of the Philippines. The estimated 6.5 million Filipino workers in 180 countries endure enormous sacrifices to be able to send home their earnings. Other than working with the special people, Sr. Leticia Bartolome is also involved with these modern day missionaries in Hong Kong.
By: Leticia Bartolome, ICM
Looking for Flowers
“When you live amid rocks the heart is bound to cry out for flowers.” The source of the quotation is a Benedictine nun who wrote in poetry about the “rocks” of everyday life. I met the passage almost twenty years ago when I newly-arrived missionary in Hong Kong, and have always liked it. I was determined not to remain “crying out flowers” but to look for flowers in Hong Kong, literally and figuratively.
