By Richelle H. Verdeprado

As he recalled his missionary story, Peter Dong or Lee Chon, a 32-year-old Columban seminarian, journeyed back to Jilin province, in the central part of northeastern China. Reminiscing about his hometown and childhood he recalled how his family has always been with him. He told how he would travel 20 kilometers with his parents and brother on bicycles on Sundays to attend Mass. Consequently, talking with him gave me an idea of how it is to live in a village where your family was the only Catholic one and you have to close your windows and doors when you pray. It made me realize then how God can still continue working in our lives despite all the barriers the world can build. It made me realize that faith can still grow beautifully amidst unfavorable circumstances.

The author and Peter after their interview.

After finishing middle school, Peter started thinking about the path he would be taking. He wasn’t physically strong, thus, he could not just take any course. His father opened to him the idea of entering the seminary. Instantly, his mind remembered their place which had a chapel it but had no priest. Though he knew very little about what it is to be a priest, he had just no objection. He didn’t know where such a desire to try was coming from. He just found himself one day with his 21 classmates, preparing themselves to become diocesan priests.

Our Hideaway is a venue for the youth to express themselves and to share with our readers their mind, their heart and their soul.

Passion is the Key

by Stephen Virtudazo Tabal

The author teaches physics in Lanao del Norte National Comprehensive High School (LNNCHS), Baroy, Lanao del Norte.

‘Teaching is not a profession but a passion’, it has been said. I didn’t realize this until I was employed in a public high school. It is totally different from the schools where I used to teach. It seems like I’m in a parallel universe and I feel that I need a lot of adjustment to before I can teach well.

One day I assigned my students to bring candles for our optics activity in physics. Fortunately it went well and the students enjoyed it much. After the activity, a student named John (not his real name) approached me and said, ‘Sir, may I have the candles used in our activity?’ I paused for a while and asked, ‘Why?’ With head bowed down he answered, ‘I will use them to light our house so that I can work on my assignments’. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Up till then almost every person I met on the street had a smartphone and tablet. But there are still areas in our country left in the dark not because of blackouts but because of extreme poverty.

By Richelle H. Verdeprado

The journey from the hinterlands of barangay Sanke, Hinoba-an, Negros Occidental, to the village proper by the sea, was like a Sunday get-together for the Layan family. Tatay Hermenio was with five children, his wife, pregnant with their eight child staying at home. Our Kwaderno team was set to have notebook distribution at 9 am that 25th day of May but Tatay Hermenio was already there before 7am. To get there, the Layans had to pass by several mountains, cross a river and then walk about an hour.

It wasn’t just for the notebooks that his children would be receiving that day. Tatay Hermenio had a deeper purpose, I could sense it in his eyes. I could see that for the education of his children, he would do anything.

The family of Sanke’s barangay captain served breakfast to the Layan Family, knowing that they had had a long and difficult journey. Eleven-year-old Chona, the eldest among them was interviewed by Irene, one of our volunteers. Chona was shy but she responded to the questions politely. There was a certain glow in her eyes when she shared that her happiest moment was when she received a service award in their school this last year. In June this year started in Grade Five. She was excited to start the school year as she has recognized that there are so many things to be learned in school.

By Richelle Verdeprado

We are not immortal beings. In as much as we would want to do amazing things unceasingly and never leave the people that we love, we cannot live forever. Perhaps this is how it really goes in our human lives. We will have years of celebrating our birthdays until one day others will be starting to commemorate our death anniversaries instead. While still breathing we can have moments of learning, enjoyment and discovering until one day we can no longer do them again.

Fr Niall O’Brien.

But I think too, it is that same mortality that can make our lives even more precious. It is that same mortality that will give us enough time to bring joy and hope, to make choices and changes that can go beyond our own lives and have an impact on one individual or even on the entire community and the world. Likewise, it is that same mortality that can cause some people meet each other while others never get that chance. There is a time element in life.

The Kibbutz on Tall Grass Mountain, which shows one of the major initiatives of Fr Niall O'Brien, was produced by the Columbans in the USA in the 1970s, during Martial Law in the Philippines.