Father Joeker

By Fr Joseph Panabang SVD

MALARIA CHILLS

At the height of my malaria, I was chilled and shaking violently.  Mr Charles Kudawe, our cook, spread two more blankets over me and held me tightly to stop me from shaking. I mumbled, ‘Charles, what are you doing to me?!’ He must have thought he could stop malaria this way.

TRUST WALK

One of our activities in our Biblical Course in Nemi, Rome, was a ‘Trust Walk’ – but not the usual one. We were in pairs – as usual – but this time it was the blindfolded person leading the other. Almost everybody in the group found the activity easy except me. Do you know why? The one I was directing was our Director!

ARROW RACE

I needed to type something. I asked the rector of our house in Nemi where the typewriter was. ‘You can find it in the museum,’ he teased. So I was forced to use the computer. When Fr Vincent Wun SVD from Indonesia saw me, he asked, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘I’m trying to catch that arrow on the screen. It keeps running around!’ Talk about techno-stress!

A WARNING

Fr Joseph Banamtuan SVD from Indonesia shared in our group, ‘My mother died when I was young. Then my aunt took care of me. She too died. So, my uncle took care of me. But again he died . . .’ Turning to our rector who was seated next to me, I warned him, ‘Ittoop, you are now taking care of him. Beware!’