Una escuela contra la pobreza

An interview by Julio Peñacoba that appears in the July edition of the Spanish Magazine Palabra

Gente que cuenta
Por Julio Peñacoba

Una escuela contra la pobreza

Me encuentro con Peter Millan – un antiguo conocido de Manila a quien hacía bastantes años que no veía– y nos sentamos a hablar de su vida. Peter debe de tener unos 45 años; tiene rasgos chinos pero habla muy buen inglés, sin acento raro; hizo la carrera de Management en una de las mejores universidades de Manila. Al poco de graduarse dejó de lado sus planes de hacer Derecho, y se marchó a la provincia de Cebú para iniciar un proyecto que ofrezca formación a jóvenes sin recursos. Normalmente, el éxodo es de la provincia a la capital, así que le pregunto qué le movió a ir en la dirección opuesta. Me dice que le impresionó la llamada del venerable Álvaro del Portillo para iniciar una escuela técnica que ayudase a gente sin recursos. “Eso fue en 1987 durante su visita a Cebú, en Filipinas. Le conmovió ver cómo había aún mucha gente en condiciones de pobreza. Pero lo que me convenció a mí del todo fue ver que el obispo Álvaro no se limitó a sugerir el proyecto, sino que incluso facilitó la conexión con una ONG italiana. Así que en poco tiempo me uní al equipo iniciador y fuimos a Roma para nuestro aprendizaje”.

Hace 24 años de su inauguración oficial y muchas cosas han pasado desde aquellos comienzos. Ahora, en las afueras de Cebú se encuentra el CITE (Center
Industrial Technology Enterprise), con una capacidad para unos mil doscientos estudiantes que cursan una serie de estudios técnicos de tres años. En el tercero se sigue un sistema dual: cinco días en la fábrica y un día en la escuela. Durante estos años han salido de sus aulas más de 3.000 graduados. Le pido que me cuente algún momento crítico al sacar adelante el proyecto. Me dice que una de las mayores dificultades es la pobreza mordiente que causa problemas como la baja nutrición, incluso hambre real, de un buen porcentaje de estudiantes. Después de aplicar varios remedios precarios “logramos hacer un contrato con una compañía de productos enlatados para que ofreciera almuerzo o desayuno a los más necesitados. Recuerdo ahora a un alumno de los primeros años que desaparecía a la hora de la comida hasta que descubrimos que sólo hacía desayuno y cena de arroz blanco. Naturalmente no se podía concentrar bien en las clases. Cuando encontramos el remedio obtuvo buen rendimiento y acabó consiguiendo un buen contrato en Singapur”.

Para algunos alumnos que viven un poco lejos del CITE, el problema es que no tenían dinero para el trasporte a la escuela. Me cuenta que recurrieron entonces a países desarrollados para conseguir donaciones de bicicletas. “La respuesta fue estupenda. Conseguimos todo tipo de mountain bikes de segunda mano, pero aún muy utilizables”. Cuando hablamos de resultados, me explica que un factor importante fue hacer de la formación en valores el eje de todo el programa educativo. “Eso es lo que más valoran las compañías que ofrecen partnership para el año de aprendizaje. Ahora esa combinación de preparación técnica y valores humanos explica el que el 98 % de cada promoción consiga empleo de forma inmediata. Las compañías que conocieron a los alumnos durante el año de aprendizaje los quieren retener a toda costa”. Otro factor positivo es la formación espiritual. Como es bien conocido, la fe sencilla pero profunda de los filipinos hace que sea muy natural ofrecer formación religiosa. Peter me dice que sabe ya de un buen número de graduados que han encontrado una vocación especial en la Iglesia, incluyendo algunos como sacerdotes o religiosos. 

Peter Millan es director financiero en el CITE, un instituto tecnológico en la ciudad de Cebú (Filipinas) que busca dar formación técnica a jóvenes sin recursos

Liberal privilege

Liberals, because they are liberal, assume they are more compassionate than anyone who disagrees with them. From elementary school on, they are praised for their concerns about the welfare of others — even though this kindness is only manifested in verbal declarations.

Likewise, from the earliest grades, their teachers applaud their superior intelligence. Since they agree with the principles they are being taught and regurgitate them on cue, they are regarded as unusually perceptive. Critical thinking, although orally encouraged, is, in practice, punished.

And so liberals grow up in a bubble of self-deception. Their self-esteem is grounded in conforming to beliefs that do not accord with reality, but which nevertheless earn them gold stars and certificates of achievement.

Then they enter the real world. Yet for them, it is not altogether real. The books they read and the television shows they watch confirm their special status. Liberal newsreaders and authors assure them they are better than their conservative peers. Clearly, they are more generous and insightful than these relics.

If liberals decide to enter politics, the effusive praise is ladled on with a bucket. They quickly learn being liberal means they never have to say they are sorry. Whatever mistakes they make will be blamed on their opponents. That they have good intensions is sufficient to merit adulation, no matter what the outcomes.

Liberals can destroy the economy, but hey, no one could have done better. They can undermine the national security, but at least they were showing the appropriate humility. They can drive their country into bankruptcy, but this only confirms their compassion.

If one is a liberal, any nasty thing one might say about an opponent is passed over in silence. The cruelest invective is regarded as appropriate, given the sins of the target. Even vulgarity is excused because it emphasizes the understandable passion of the speaker.

If one is a liberal, lies are accepted as essential to promoting benevolent causes. The rabble does not appreciate the benefits heaped upon them; hence, it is OK to manipulate them into submission. Whatever the falsehood, the worst criticism will be that one “misspoke.” Or maybe one was quoted “out of context.”

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - Liberal privilege and the lies of the left

More:

#LiberalPrivilege – Is OK with discrimination, as long as it’s against Christians
#LiberalPrivilege – They are for free speech – unless it’s something they disagree with
#LiberalPrivilege – They are against racism – but support affirmative action quotas based on skin color

And that's that

While it is true that a "disaster" can change hearts and minds, I welcome the the decision of the country's staunchest "enemy" of coal, Davao City Mayor Duterte, to scale back his opposition to a coal-fired power plant under construction in his city. 

DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte appeared to have changed his heart -- from being a critic to a supporter of the coal-fired power plant being constructed at the boundary of Binugao in Toril, Davao City and Inawayan in Sta. Cruz, Davao del del Sur. 

The mayor is now looking at the positive side of the Aboitiz-owned power project, saying this may be the answer to the long hours of rotational brownouts being experienced by the city.

The first unit of the P25-billion 300-megawatts (MW) coal-fired power plant will be completed by March 2015, according to the AboitizPower Corp.

"I will tell the public that we need it. Pero ang atong sabot pag naa na na, dapat wala na gyud brownout, free na gyud ang Davao (They should guarantee us that Davao City will be spared from power outages once it will be completed)," Duterte said during a dialogue with the Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) on Friday at the Grand Men Seng Hotel.

Even as the plant does not become operational until another year, the people in the area would have experienced less outages much sooner if not for delays caused by opposition.  Similar scenarios happen in Region 12, with the delays also in the power plant project of the Alcantara Power Group in Maasim, Sarangani.  That too becomes operational in 2015.

Coal-fired power plants have improved greatly because technology advances have made operations much cleaner.  I say again that I believe that when we let businesses run with the optimal amount of power they need for their operations, there is much more profit that can be set aside to fund alternative energy sources.  

Environment activists on the left side of the issue seem to have a lot of funds, maybe they should put some of their money into developing alternative energy and away from funding opposition to traditional yet cleaner energy and from asking governments to fund these new sources; governments simply do not have the funds for these.  As to why not, that is for another post. Perhaps.

The Pope of the Family

St. John Paul II is called the Pope of the Family.  Truly his writings on the family have been a very important source for my own prayer life, but also a resource for talks I have had to give about the family.  Part of his vast writings on the family are also his works centering on women and motherhood, perhaps also brought about by his deep Marian devotion.  I like more especially his apostolic letter Mulieris dignitatem (shout out to all Mothers!):

apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem

“Motherhood involves a special communion with the mystery of life, as it develops in the mother’s womb. The mother is filled with wonder at this mystery of life, and ‘understands’ with unique intuition what is happening inside her. In the light of the ‘beginning’, the mother accepts and loves as a person the child she is carrying in her womb. This unique contact with the new human being developing within her gives rise to an attitude towards human beings – not only towards her own child, but every human being – which profoundly marks the woman’s personality.” - See more at: http://www.briannaheldt.com/#sthash.aksmTSNN.dpuf

“Motherhood involves a special communion with the mystery of life, as it develops in the mother’s womb. The mother is filled with wonder at this mystery of life, and ‘understands’ with unique intuition what is happening inside her. In the light of the ‘beginning’, the mother accepts and loves as a person the child she is carrying in her womb. This unique contact with the new human being developing within her gives rise to an attitude towards human beings – not only towards her own child, but every human being – which profoundly marks the woman’s personality.” - See more at: http://www.briannaheldt.com/#sthash.aksmTSNN.dpu

“Motherhood involves a special communion with the mystery of life, as it develops in the mother’s womb. The mother is filled with wonder at this mystery of life, and ‘understands’ with unique intuition what is happening inside her. In the light of the ‘beginning’, the mother accepts and loves as a person the child she is carrying in her womb. This unique contact with the new human being developing within her gives rise to an attitude towards human beings – not only towards her own child, but every human being – which profoundly marks the woman’s personality.”

On another note, this black-and-white photo of Our Lady and the Child Jesus served as the model for the Mary Mater Ecclesiae mosaic overlooking St. Peter's Square.  Read the inside story, and how it relates to Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, who will be beatified on September 27, 2014 in Madrid.

“Motherhood involves a special communion with the mystery of life, as it develops in the mother’s womb. The mother is filled with wonder at this mystery of life, and ‘understands’ with unique intuition what is happening inside her. In the light of the ‘beginning’, the mother accepts and loves as a person the child she is carrying in her womb. This unique contact with the new human being developing within her gives rise to an attitude towards human beings – not only towards her own child, but every human being – which profoundly marks the woman’s personality.” - See more at: http://www.briannaheldt.com/#sthash.aksmTSNN.dpuf

“Motherhood involves a special communion with the mystery of life, as it develops in the mother’s womb. The mother is filled with wonder at this mystery of life, and ‘understands’ with unique intuition what is happening inside her. In the light of the ‘beginning’, the mother accepts and loves as a person the child she is carrying in her womb. This unique contact with the new human being developing within her gives rise to an attitude towards human beings – not only towards her own child, but every human being – which profoundly marks the woman’s personality.” - See more at: http://www.briannaheldt.com/#sthash.aksmTSNN.dpuf

“Motherhood involves a special communion with the mystery of life, as it develops in the mother’s womb. The mother is filled with wonder at this mystery of life, and ‘understands’ with unique intuition what is happening inside her. In the light of the ‘beginning’, the mother accepts and loves as a person the child she is carrying in her womb. This unique contact with the new human being developing within her gives rise to an attitude towards human beings – not only towards her own child, but every human being – which profoundly marks the woman’s personality.” - See more at: http://www.briannaheldt.com/#sthash.aksmTSNN.dpuf

Brief encounter with John Paul the Great

Pope John Paul II, Sala Nervi, Vatican, 1990

First picture shows me holding on to the Holy Father's hand for a few seconds.

Rhett+ 11th

Today is Rhett's 11th death anniversary.  Pray for us!

Soda ban

Additional moves toward the nanny state.  I know that high-sugar drinks are "dangerous".  Believe me, I know.  But I am for positive reinforcement, more than outright ban, for issues that fall more into freedom of consciences.   Then again, there could be an issue as regards hypocrisy, banning soda but not putting more teeth to laws and rules that matter more.

permesso, grazie, e scusi

Permesso, Grazie, e Scusi.  All you'll ever need, many times.

Sound familiar?

1. General lowering of moral standards
2. A rise in infidelity, and illegitimacy
3. The reduction of women to objects used to satisfy men. 
4. Government coercion in reproductive matters. 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/time-to-admit-it-the-church-has-always-been-right-on-birth-control-2012-2#ixzz2sOvO14Zv

Breaking ... the Pope is Catholic

And again, the Pope proves, by his words, that he is Catholic:

"For example, it is frightful even to think that there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day."

 You cannot be clearer than this.  Read.

And then you have this

Nelson Mandela was a historic figure, no less.  But even in his "greatness", there are some acts in his life that diminish his stature in my eyes, even as I mentioned somewhere else that he was released from prison the day I turned 22 (which of course is trivial and does not add to anything, heh).

I will not link to anything since these are readily available in the web:  he had many women in his life, did not renounce violence (contributory to many deaths and a little too friendly with dictators), and signed South Africa's abortion law that is one of the worst this world has seen (without restrictions that even allowed non-doctors to perform), among others.

Damn, global warming and climate change

Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) was man-made.  No, not due to HAARP.  Man-made global warming and climate change, that is. 

Damn, this global warming / climate change has been with us for so long, and we have not learned.  (Show me some tears now).

Yes, friends, these typhoons caused by man have been with us, by this account, as early as 1897.

Bad for global warming fear mongers

Two recent write-ups in anticipation of the next UN IPCC report speak of the greater cause of skepticism in anthropogenic global warming.  There are many more out there.  The IPCC report comes out September 27.  Save the date.

Where's the beef?

Where's the warming at?

More

We continue to call them out

They may try to hide the truth by spinning it according to their hard-core beliefs, but we are not to be fooled.  Yet again, the warming that they say and that their models say is happening (in catastrophic levels, mind you) is simply way off.

But the report “fails to mention [2012] was one of the coolest of the decade, and thus confirms the cooling trend,” according to an analysis by climate blogger Pierre Gosselin.

“To no one’s surprise, the report gives the reader the impression that warming is galloping ahead out of control,” writes Gosselin. “But their data shows just the opposite.”

Although the NOAA report noted that in 2012, “the Arctic continues to warm” with “sea ice reaching record lows,” it also stated that the Antarctica sea ice “reached a record high of 7.51 million square miles” on Sept. 26, 2012.

And the latest figures for this year show that there’s been a slowdown of melting in the Arctic this summer as well, with temperatures at the North Pole well below normal for this time of year. Meteorologist Joe Bastardi calls it “the coldest ever recorded.”

 What Global Warming?

Control or a waste of money

It is not surprising, of course, that if one has lots of money that isn't really his (taxpayers') but has to spend it, "creativity" takes the better of him.  CIA spending money to try to control climate, in "aid" of finding how climate can affect national security?  That's like spending money on how to delay sunrise because doing so might actually be good for national security.  Then again, we've heard stories about NASA trying to prove the big bang theory.

According to US website 'Mother Jones' the CIA is helping fund a study by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) that will investigate whether humans could use geoengineering - which is defined as deliberate and large-scale intervention in the Earth's climatic system - to stop climate change.

Or from another news outlet ...

A 2008 study by the National Intelligence Council concluded that climate change posted a serious threat to national security.

“Climate change and climate-change policies could affect … domestic stability in a number of key states, the opening of new sea lanes and access to raw materials, and the global economy more broadly -- with significant geopolitical consequences,” it said.

Lumen Fidei

Pope Francis's first encyclical will be out on Friday:  Lumen Fidei.  Some days ago, it was mentioned that this will be a "lavoro da quattro mani", a work done by four hands:  started by Pope Benedict XVI, and finished by Pope Francis.

Vatican City, 1 July 2013 (VIS) - Pope Francis' first encyclical, entitled “Lumen Fidei”, will be published on Friday 5 July. The document, described as “not very extensive” by the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., will be presented at a Press Conference by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization.

When the real world trumps their "plans"

Also read.

Profit's not a bad word for non-profits

Planning for, and gaining profit, to take care of non-profit's overhead is not a bad thing.  Here's Kjerstin Erickson.

Overhead, it turns out, could have made all the difference. With the appropriate investments in efficiency-building infrastructure, administration, and development, FORGE would undoubtedly be alive today. Rather than starving a painful death, we’d be growing and thriving – a force for good in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who have lost everything.

If you’d asked me ten years ago to name the dirtiest word in the nonprofit language, I would have undoubtedly told you: OVERHEAD. If you asked me today, I’d give you the same answer. In the intervening decade, however, the tables have turned. Overhead is not dirty because it represents inefficiency, waste, and greed; it is dirty because of the powerful myth it has promulgated. That myth – the one that equates “low” overhead with high performance and “high” overhead with greed and irresponsibility – leads to a very dangerous and unsustainable outcome. I bought into it, or at least didn’t push back on it hard enough. It pains me every day to think of what I lost, and how I could have done it differently.

Happy Independence Day Philippines!

Happy Independence Day Philippines!