I HAVE FOUND OUT that charity can be very contagious but without the mortal gravity of a viral endemic that I have known happening then and then again on the different parts of the globe. What it lacked in lethality though it gave up with more empathy and compassion...and much much love...
It all started as a one-man social action center in the hinterlands of Guadalupe two years ago and it won converts from Boy Toledo and Ernie Salomon, from Dr. Abe Manlawe and the Cebu Mountaineering Society, from O.N.E. Cebu Outdoor Group and the EWIT Mountaineers. The list is long and my apologies for those whom I failed to mention for my memory is short, but, just the same, they all shared love and charity in a very unconventional setting.
To mention, EWIT went on to spread goodwill in all the most remote places they visit and their deeds are very well cherished not just from the recipients themselves but from those whom have known and worked with them like the television crew who made a documentary in the hinterlands of Badian about tsinelas1 just recently.
Another individual who took this very infectious bug is Marco Albeza, a professor of a local university here and a recent convert of Camp Red. Unknown to many, he mobilized his college class comprising of Math Education students and taught them how to walk the trails of Napo and Kalunasan on August 1, 6 and 8, 2010 and distribute biscuits, chocolates and, yes, tsinelas.
Boy T, Ernie and I were there, along with his girlfriend, Angel, and bosom buddy, Ian Betonio, to lend support to this endeavour. Marco challenged himself physically by acting as trail guide thereby honing his outdoors leadership skill and identified remote upland homesteads that has elementary-aged children with which to be bestowed with the goodies.
Day One (August 1) of the event were attended by eleven students that start at Napo with a stop at the Roble homestead for lunch, a climb at Mount Babag by way of the Babag East Ridge Pass and going down Kalunasan via the No-Santol-Tree Trail. Day Three (August 8) is a reverse route of the former with twelve students. The August 6 (Day Two) activity was undocumented and there was a hard rain that injured Ernie going down to Kalunasan.
Below are the twelve sets of collage depicting the two of the three days of this virtuous activity that is worth duplicating in other places where there are still barefooted populations of schoolchildren:
Plants seen in the images:
Alogbati – Malabar nightshade, spinach vine
Mangagaw – euphorbia hirfa
Bagras – eucalyptus deglupta, southern mahogany
Mirinda – passiflora edulis, passion fruit
Mayanna – painted nettle
Kulitis – amaranthus spinasis L., amaranth
Document done in OpenOffice 2.1 Writer
JPEG converted images from MS Powerpoint 2007
1Slippers, flip-flops, “Spartan”, ismagol, sandals, etc.
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