True friends are precious gifts,

Given by God from the heaven above.

They are like the angels at your side,

With their great care, long and lasting love.

They are the light of your humble soul,

Always present at your moment of darkness.

A search for the Mutya Pistahan sa Nayon (Pearl of the Village Cultural Festival) organised by the Simbayan-KAMMPI was held at Notre Dame parish, Ma Tau Wei, on June 9, under the theme Ang Bayan Ko (My Country).

I did well at my interview with my present employer. Before that interview the agency required the applicants to create video to introduce themselves, their work skills and abilities for future employer. I’m sure that video helped me a lot for they know me and trusted in my capacity. My experience in working abroad helped me a lot too. Before the interview I prepared myself on how to answer. I kept my composure during the interview and I also mentioned to them my past working experience.

The Christ our Hope and Life Community was the runner up in an interpretative dance competition to the melody of the patriotic song, Ang Bayan Ko (My Nation), on June 12, at a function organised by the Holy Family Filipino Catholic Group to celebrate its 22th anniversary and Philippine Independence Day.

Miracles tend to happen to those whose eyes are open to see them.

The gospel describes how the disciples react to the miracles of Jesus with joy. “When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37).

The day I got arrested, I thought, “This is the end of my life.”

Being in prison is indeed a kind of suffering, bearing all the burden of being misunderstood and rejected by other people. Most of all, I missed my family and being far away from them is another kind of hurt and pain.

My life here in prison on foreign soil is hard. I have no relatives, no family, no friends, no visitors and emptiness is the best word to describe everyday life.

Our life’s a span

A day a moment in eternity

We have within our grasp

The key that open the treasure-trove life

The things we do each day

Can go on and thus form our eternity

And so I quote these ancient proverbs:

Yvonne told me that she loves fish. So I ordered fish for her.

But then she clarified that she never eats fish for she loves fish.

When we celebrate, we kill animals, fish and birds. Why do we make soup out of snakes and shark fins? Why do we eat chicken, ducks, geese, baby pigs and pigeons? Why do we eat lobster, oyster, prawns, crabs, garoupa and abalone?

But we never eat dogs or cats. For they are our pets.

We work now work every day and often cannot go home even for dinner.

I remember our school principal, Sister Magdelene Siu, often said, “A house is built by hands, but a family is built by the heart. You must go home for dinner. A happy family can support you to be a good teacher.”

The suffering around the world is stressful. Sometimes we even reach the point where we just want to close our eyes and ears from all the devastating realities happening around us, just to avoid being stressed and getting affected.

But no matter how we try to avoid the painful realities of life, the problems are still there as there is no escape. We all need to face and deal with the challenges of life and its imperfections as long as we keep breathing.