Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the Philippine Dragon Boat team for a job well done. Five gold medals and two silvers--they clearly dominated the opposition during the World Dragon Boat Championships.
Their feat proved that we are better without government. Don't wait for the government to resolve the minor and major problems of this country. Let us start uniting ourselves and let's do the work ourselves.
Jay Jaboneta is doing just that, together with Marketing expert Josiah Go. The two are going around the country, visiting depressed rural communities and helping send children to school. This is a small feat, but worthy of our emulation. Imagine, if Jay and Josiah do this for a year, think of how many children they would be able to send to school.
Jay and Josiah are on the quest for helping depressed children reach the school grounds by helping or giving them boats. Yep, boats. Many of our kababayans in far flung areas are being prevented from going to school because they have to cross rivers and seas just to study. Most of them tread those treacherous river or sea crossings and put themselves in harm's way. Others, well, live in mountain tops and don't have jeepneys or tricycles to transport them to the nearest school.
Jay and Josiah want nothing more than give these children the chance of transforming their lives. They believe that education is our country's great equalizer and I am a living testimony of that. I belonged to a poor family and now, enjoying the fruits of my hard won struggle.
I know of some groups who are helping other fellow Filipinos cope with poverty. Instead of spending their time in gyms, they spend it with the rural or urban folks, helping them and trying to share with them their knowledge. This may be small things, but when an entire community of like minded people do these things, it becomes a bold, and major enterprise.
I am thinking of setting up a weekend school to give impoverished high school graduates the chance to get a diploma. The most daunting challenge of this project is the cost of paying for teachers. I am encouraging civic-minded professionals to spend their time teaching these students.
Let us be like Saint Ignatius de Loyola who spent his whole time teaching the poor and helping them achieve their self-worth and accomplishments.
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