| Tuesday, April 01, 2008 |
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haha my poetry really is nutty. What was i thinking?
anyways here's another one and it goes a little something like this:
find me a job
i would like a job
if u have a job
give me ur job
cause i need a job
to stay busy need a job
so can u help me please
please find me a job
my best work in years |
posted by DarrenGene @ 6:22 PM  |
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| Tuesday, March 25, 2008 |
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It's sticky hot. Melt ice cubes on your forehead hot. Two swipes with the antiP ain't going to do it hot
but when it' hot minutes moments come to a crawl and stand suspended
like time picked up its hat went out the door and ended
a blink becomes good night and good morrow
happiness eternal and likewise with sorrow
you see it all for what it is and what it ever will be become
a snapshot of present circumstance and all that can be seen is one
one moment to the next the chain reaction of mind
and mind to consciousness perceiving the elements to shape thought and then rewind...
who is that? a face I do not recognize
a smirk on his face like da kine left after effects of a joke that didn't take
eyes filled with wonder and expectation
he's got life in his soul and the world set firmly in his sights
wait i know that face
it's a face that i do recognize
it's the face of a young boy who saw a chance and took it
without a second thought decided to plunge in and take it in for all its worth
given a ticket for a free ride and pounced
i know that face yes i do plain and clear |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 8:30 PM |
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| Sunday, March 16, 2008 |
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So this week, almost 7 months after the fact, I've gotta give a presentation to the consuelo board regarding my trip to the Philippines. How has my experiences over on that side of the world really changed my thinking, my method of doing over here? Better question, how has it not? In what manner have I not been challenged both as a professional and as a living breathing person?
For starters, the words community and interdependence took on new meaning for me while I was over there. I mean when you grow up in a culture that preaches about the joys and freedoms of independence, it's weird to live in a world that lives and breathes community. And there's real beauty in that two way process. Yep I said two way process because to all those world shakers out there who will give their left nut to help their neighbour, you gotta be willing to receive help yourself. Maybe it's an asian thing but i think thinking like this was almost counter intuitive for me: Always was easy for me to give help/lend a hand/do a favour but was so reluctant to receive these same services for myself. Martyr syndrome? Whatever the case, it don't play like that and that's not community as you're in essence robbing people you served of an opportunity to reciprocate.
And living over there and listening to some of the horror stories that some of these poor souls have gone through, yet you'd never ever see it from their bright affects... that's true resilience right there.
And that's really only the tip of the iceberg. I'm not much of an ego pusher but for me to say that I have in no way grown and realized new things about myself and my surroundings would be a big fatty lie. I sense, feel, think differently now. |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 3:31 AM |
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| Thursday, August 02, 2007 |
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| Previous Posts removed to protect best interests of children |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 10:24 PM |
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| Monday, June 25, 2007 |
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so right now im on one of the desktops at work and everytime i use google past searches come up. And on two of the computers i've tried so far what i usually get is; "Nobody wanna see us together" Most kids here can't speak much english beyond a few words but u hear em singing akon everywhere. Love it.
and since u've come this far already, an entry from my journal:
~ Culture Shock ~
I figured coming into the PI that although people here are living in substandard conditions, you really wouldn’t know from the people’s sense of contentment. And although there are always exceptions, from my interactions with the staff and the children, this remains true. You get this feeling after 5 minutes of talking, laughing and joking that people here are genuinely happy and satisfied with what they have. I’m sure that anyone who visits here or other “problem” areas probably leave with the same feeling: that there is much contentment in a simple and humble life. This flows right in line with the biblical perspective, which cautions us not to look for contentment in material goods cause you won’t find it there. The rich but simple lives of the people here (again sorry for the generalizations) is a testament of this. Here at LCP, people do not obsess about what they don’t have but are extremely thankful and grateful for what they do have. How’s that for perspective?
Coming from the rat-race, material wealth obsessed, “me infatuated” western world of living, it’s both invigorating and challenging to be living in this new setting: Separated from the black hole that is the TV, modern appliances like the washer and dryer, shower facilities, and at times running water and electricity and into a world where the bucket takes on a whole new level of importance, where turning on your room Air Conditioner Unit causes a brown-out for the whole block (nothing says “Nice to Meet you” better than knocking out your power), and where the caribou seemingly takes the place of the lawn mower. It’s a vacation like no other; hard to get used to at first but like a fine wine, gets better with age. |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 5:04 AM |
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| Saturday, June 23, 2007 |
| the dumaguete smile |
from my 3 days so far at the shelter I've been overwhelmed with smiles. And smiles here are sometimes deceiving because locals smile when they're happy, when they're stressed, when you commit a social faux pas. People here are so incredibly selfless and accomodating. The 6 year olds are teaching me a thing or two about manners. Everytime an elder enters the room, the kids on cue say "Good afternoon sir/maam" and take their hand placing it on their forehead (asking for a blessing) and then run to find a chair for the visitor to sit on. The hours that volunteers and workers work here are ridoncurous (one day off working sometimes from 8 in the morning to 8 at night).
What I'm specifically here for is to provide assistance and training to the social workers here in the areas of individual and group clinical counselling and present some new methods of intervention that have worked well with kids from my own experience. My actual duties are many and varied on the other hand: Past few days I've done site visits to the children's homes, i've done some advocacy work for my agency by spreading the mission of our agency to the kiwanis club among other rich social clubs, i've lead biblestudies (but biblestudies here are the equivalent of sermons back home since the leader is usually presenting to over 50 ppl).
My living conditions are pretty good according to local standards. I eat with the kids consisting of meals of rice and pancit (noodles) costing 5 pesos a meal (45 pesos make up an american dollar), when i have both electricity and running water at my apartment it is a good day. (I have a dinosaur ac unit in my room but the last time i turned it on, i knocked out the power for about 5 apt units so i think i'll probably not do that again). I've gotten used to the no shower bidness but am trying to but down on the number of buckets of water i require to do the job. Laundry will also be done in my shower bucket.
The ppl here have so little but they are so grateful for everything they've got and they dont take anything for granted. More updates to come =) |
| posted by DarrenGene @ 7:13 AM |
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