Australian Business Volunteer GARY EVANS recently came to Dumaguete to impart knowledge to ONCAN members on the strategies for conducting effective campaigns utilizing the tri-media (TV/radio, internet, print).
As part of this project, Mr. Evans enlisted the help of senior communications students from Silliman University to do advocacy writing for the NGOs.
We at Casa had two guests from Silliman University. Please find their articles below.
By: Marie Janelle A. Vintola (July 20, 2010)
Sometimes we find ourselves wishing to have a better life and asking a lot more from God but forgetting to thank Him for the countless blessings He gave us. And one of those blessings is the gift of having a family.
In the scenic hilltop of Valencia where the smell of cool fresh breeze awaits you, is a place where little children find refuge and have their hopes of having a family come true.
I will never forget the day when I first set foot at Casa Cittadini, a place in that small town that will forever leave a mark in my memory.
It was late in the afternoon when we headed to the beautiful town of Valencia. After almost an hour of travel, we finally reached our destination and I started to feel the chilly breeze I get and slowly I approached the grey colored gate. After a few seconds, I and my friend were invited into the place. The children were having their dinner when we arrived and Sister Celina, the directress of the foundation, allowed us to introduce ourselves to the children.
Sr. Celina, she told us that Casa Cittadini is a congregation founded by Mother Giudita Cittadini and Blessed Caterina Cittadini.
“Casa” means home, so it is a home for the children, mainly “for the orphaned, abandoned, and neglected girls.”
After the creation of a home for the boys, called Casa Miani, the Bishop entrusted to the Ursuline Sisters the creation of a home for the girls as well.
“We have thought to open an orphanage,” Sr. Celina recalled.
“It was a calling; it became reality, so it was opened 2003.”
Their main mission is to cultivate strong faith in Jesus Christ, promote Christian values, provide a place for learning, foster a family spirit, establish a healthy relationship with each other, and prepare the children to become responsible.
I was fondly chatting with a little girl in their study room when one young lady came in and stood beside the little girl I was talking to, as if wanting to join in our little conversation.
I smiled at her and she smiled back, telling me “Naa bya akong story diha te,” (My story is written there) at the same time pointing at the leaflet I was holding. I anxiously looked at the picture and then quickly read through the short story written.
Fourteen-year-old “Lia” (not her real name), formerly lived in a small, “shanty” house near the Smokey Mountain at San Pedro, Laguna. She was still six years old when her mother left her and her brothers and sisters. Due to great poverty, her father sent her to the care of the Ursuline Sisters.
“Lia” was still eight years old when she first arrived at Casa Cittadini. “Pasalamat gud kaayo ko naabot ko diri,” (I am very thankful that I am here) she said.
After years of being under the care of the sisters at Casa Cittadini, “Lia” still longs to see her father and her other siblings soon. She dreams of becoming a Social Worker someday since she wanted to help other children who are also experiencing poverty, like her.
I can just see the happiness she feels because of this great blessing in her life and in return, she wanted to do the same to others.
It just feels so great seeing other people happy and one thing I’m sure of, I will definitely be going back to that place, soon.
By: Dianine Cayle P. Cinco
The place was quiet, with children sitting quietly, seriously flipping through the pages of their textbooks. The wind is heavy with stillness. As I walked inside the study room, I saw faces of willingness, willingness to learn, willingness to grow, and willingness to live despite the twist of misfortune in their lives.
I was inside the room and was seating next to Leslie ( not her real name), a girl who turned fourteen that day. She is from the orphanage Casa Cittadini, which is under the supervision of the Ursuline Sisters of Somasca.
Casa Cittadini is a home exclusively for “orphaned, abandoned, and neglected girls” with the absence of the “physical, moral, spiritual, and educational cares of a family.”
I spoke to her as though I was her age to break the wall of discomfort between us. I felt her feelings of awkwardness in answering questions and later felt a sense of security between us.
The conversation went smooth for the two of us, Leslie was able to reveal her thoughts to me.
I began asking her all the possible questions that would help me know her a little more. At first the conversation was not that bad, but then I started to feel her distress little by little.
I felt the pain when she recalled blaming the Lord of what has happened to her mother, “Nganong mang imong gipa sakripisyo ang akong mama, Ginoo?” ( Why does my mother’s life seem to be ending in suffering, Lord?) she said in unuttered loneliness.
Her parents got separated before her mother died when she was eleven, she is the eldest in the family with a brother under the care of her aunt and another who is housed at Casa Miani, an orphanage for boys.
Leslie’ faith with the Lord changed when she entered the orphanage. “Nangayo ko ug pasaylo sa Ginoo kay ako siyang gi basol sa tanang kasakit nga akong naagian sa akong kinabuhi” ( I asked forgiveness from God for blaming Him of all the trials in my life).
Although her eyes appeared to be depressed, they sparkled with the enthusiasm of life when she recaptured the years when she and her brothers were still together.
She long for those times.
But also she yearned to be like one of the nuns of the orphanage helping out to kids like her without asking something in return.
Inside the orphanage, she felt at ease, loved, and accepted. Sharing a smile and breathing a sigh, Leslie said that all she ever wanted in life was to have a perfect family.
She could not change what came about, all she could ever do is to thank the Lord for giving her a home where she felt the love from other people.
I admit, I was not as brave as Leslie nor did I know what to do when I first heard thunder. I used to cry out to God asking “God don’t You see me crying, God don’t You see me get hurt, and God why are You not helping me?”
While I have not understood pain to the extent others have endured; I have not suffered a death of a mother, the abandonment of a father, and separation with a brother but my dealing with hurting people like Leslie gave me the thought that there are those people in deep sorrow ever eager to fight back to life.
All through out the interview, the story of Leslie gave me the belief that God’s plan could sometimes lead us to question His plan for us.
His ways seem so difficult to grasp. The suffering we are coping with has no definite answer but does in one way or another drive us to seek for Him more, and to believe in Him more.
It is realized in suffering that God gives hope to the hopeless, meaning to the meaningless, strength to the weak, and reason to the absurd.
