Christmas 2018.

Christmas to me is always a random thought. Ever since i was a child, Christmas is Christ's birthday, thanksgiving with families and relatives, gift giving and exchanging gifts, food galore and going to church with ny grandma.
The digital age enhances the celebrations with wine, getting giddy, skypes and videocams with siblings and friends abroad. It is still random in my thoughts!
Through the years, (roughly 33 years now) my Christmasses were not happy celebrations... they reminded me with being alone. I used to spend Christmas with friends' and or siblings' families but my own.
I was given a wonderful chance to have two families of my own with two marriages and Christmasses in those years (1974-1989 & 1996-2013). They were happy, fun and always full of thanksgiving and gratitude for a year that was!
Today, I celebrate Christmas at random. Any time of the year is Christmas and #givingissharing is giving of your #time, #talents, #skills, #money, #fun, #happiness, #peace, life's #abundance, #gratitude.
Make every day a Christmas Day to celebrate that #LifeIsGreat #LoveIsMagical #PeaceIsALifestyle #KindnessMakesYouABeautifulPerson #HappinessIsAPersonalChoice #AbundanceIsMine #GratitudeAttitude #Serendipity.

My love story in a letter

December 8, 2018

Dear John,

Today five years ago you died in my arms despite my whispers of love and begged you to hang on tight as we waited for the ambulance to take you to the hospital.

You refused to breathe more as you gave me that last look of kindness, love, peace, gratitude.

I couldn’t understand then how could you surrender to death so quickly!

We talked about defying death. We agreed to hold hands and face death together.

How come you went ahead?

Then i also recalled one special conversation that continues to tug at my heart even until now:

John: “I pray to God that I go first, because if you go ahead of me, I wouldn’t know what to do with my life. I’d be a wreck, I’d die everyday without you. But you, you are stronger emotionally, I know you’ll be okay without me.”

You also had aversions about hospitals.
Again, I remember our conversation when you were in the hospital for nearly three months because of multiple fracture on your left knee from a fall from our verandah...

John: “Mine, please no more hospitals for me even if i’m near death. I don’t want to die anywhere else, but home. If you insist, I will will myself to die.”

When you had that massive cardiac arrest on December 8, 2013 I whispered to you to hang on because I was gonna take you to the hospital.

You vehemently moved your head to a big “NO” and I cuddled you until your last breath... but I still took you to the hospital!

On the road inside the ambulance amid heavy traffic i felt your cold soul all over me. You hugged me for a good one minute or so... i couldn’t cry! I just closed my eyes and whispered “I know you love me, but please... live!”

I watched the caretakers at the crematorium washed your beautiful body. I covered you with your favourite clothes and swatch shoes and tucked your dentures into your mouth (even if you didn’t like it)... and for the very last time I whispered, “Thank you for a blissful, loving and wonderful life with you. I love you but my heart bleeds right now.”

Viewing your remains for 10 minutes before you were cremated was probably the most loving yet painful experience in my lifetime!

I stood rigid, frigid, cold, lifeless. My gaze fixed on you. It was eternity. Acceptance was hard and difficult.

Holding and bringing home that white square box with your ashes in it made me think about death, about love, about pain, about life some more...up close and personal.

What I felt through all these years was of profound awakening and expanded consciousness;

- You are ENOUGH and perfect. Nothing and no one exist in your life but yourself. The people you love, the family you have, the experiences and milestones in your life are reasons, seasons, lessons and ephemeral tools to guide your journey to self-evolution into the next dimension of your being.

- Life is the grandest meditation with LOVE as the constant, unconditional guide, the highest, most powerful energy frequency to connect us to the highest source of our being.

- We need to evolve every single day because life is not measured in time nor numbers... anything, everything and even nothing are “for our highest good!”

- NOW and HERE is the best time and place to live, to love, to forgive, to be kind, to be happy, to be at peace with yourself, to be grateful...because Eternity is within the blink of an eye, even less than a sec...

So, today I write an seal this letter for you to continue your evolutionary journey in parallel with my own evolution here and now.

I wish though that somewhere along those parallel lines today, you would pause... i need that tight bear hug as we always whisper, “I love you like I love my life!”

Goodbye, John! I know what happiness is now because i knew what pain and sadness were!

With all my love,

Mine

ALS gives hope to out-of-school youth

ALS gives hope to out-of-school youth, adults
MINERVA BC NEWMAN

 
CEBU CITY – Shaihana Bonso from Concepcion, Iloilo City married and became a mother at 17 and had to forego further studies to take care of her child.  At that early age, Shaihana and her husband, a motorcycle driver knew the challenges they would face to raise a child. 

Now at 19, she believed though that completing her studies would be her ticket to get employed to augment the family income and to provide their child a brighter future.

“Going back to school today is close to impossible. With the advancement in technology, almost all our output is done using a computer and I can’t afford to pay for school fees,” she shared.

In December 2017, with the help of a friend, she enlisted for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Alternative Learning System (ALS).

Shaihana was pleasantly surprised to know that there is such an alternative schooling for people like her and those young adults who are out-of-school and just looking for chances to go back to study at their own specific qualifications and pace.

According to DepEd-7 regional information officer Amaryllis Villarmia ALS has helped 59,009 out-of-school youths and adults’ enrollees in Central Visayas.  ALS has opened numerous opportunities to people like Shaihana who have limited or no access to formal basic education.

Villarmia said ALS teachers are called learning facilitators or mobile teachers including volunteers.  They bring literacy, basic education and useful knowledge to the deprived and underprivileged Filipinos at the grassroots level who were not given the opportunity to join formal education.

“We are always grateful to individuals and institutions that donate equipment, materials and services specifically for the use of the ALS because these are more “personalized” kind of teaching and learning,” Villarmia added.

City Savings Bank (CSB) is one institution whose advocacy had seen the gaps in ALS implementation among its mobile teachers and some volunteers and for the ALS students too.  The bank has donated IT equipment to the various DepEd divisions nationwide. 

CSB Reputation Management Head, Paula Ruelan told Manila Bulletin that the bank’s advocacy started in 2016 when ALS teachers were included in the rooster of “Outstanding Educators” recognized by CSB during its 50th year anniversary.

Ruelan said their stories were heartwarming.  “They often brave rough roads, hike mountains or cross rivers to reach far-flung communities where they teach. They dedicate their time to fulfill their mission and help their students achieve their dreams in life,” Ruelan shared.

Ruelan said that since 2016, City Savings Bank had donated P10.6 million worth of IT equipment composed of 259 laptops and 243 LCD projectors to 128 DepEd division from regions 1 to 13 excluding NCR.

 In 2017, Ruelan bared that CSB donated laptops and projectors for the use of 900 ALS mobile teachers in the Mindanao area and in 2018, it gave 5 laptops and 5 LCD projectors each for Cebu and Dumaguete areas.

The tools hope to provide assistance to over 4,500 mobile teachers and their students across the Philippines.  The donations are given to DepEd at the division level because ALS mobile teachers don’t have schools, they only have classes wherever there are out-of-school youth and adults in communities, Ruelan noted.

“On its third year of advocating for literacy, the bank has moved past inspiration into actively helping build communities where every child, parent, out of school youth has access to opportunities to elevate their lives and fulfill their dreams through education,” Ruelan added.

Shajhana is now thrilled more than ever to visit their local ALS center to learn more. She has set her mind towards getting her diploma soon and most importantly become a good role model for her child and her family.

Her story is just one of the several stories of hope and City Savings Bank continues to focus on driving change for a better world through education as its corporate social responsibility (CSR) advocacy to benefit the less privileged lot in the communities nationwide, Ruelan said. (Minerva BC Newman)