Rising from the Charcoal, by Eduard Cortes Dionio

Ambit’s journey is one riddled with obstacles and some difficulties in between and last summer’s notebook distribution proved to be such an impossible mission, but we didn’t only gather 10,000 notebooks – we reached 13,000 and that is because of you our beloved donors and supporters. Each bend in the road, can be surprising if not discouraging, but as we go along, the children we get to know with are the ones who give us the encouragement that we need. John Mark is one of these children that we  met recently. As a 14-year-old boy, he is way too small for his age. His skin is tanned due to long hours of hard work in their farm under the scorching sun. In the mountains, it’s cool in the evening but mostly the sun is harsh during the day. Parts of his arms and legs are also scarred due to accidents he experiences while working. Most of his fingers and toe nails are horrendously dark and untrimmed; we later found out that his family is into charcoal making.    

Despite being small, one can tell how strong he actually is, as his arms are toned compared to other kids his age. John Mark is the fourth in the brood of nine. One of his older brothers lives faraway to work for a family who sends him to school. Other older brothers are away to try and fend for themselves. For John Mark, school was his least priority, putting aside his own desires of finishing school and getting a degree. He said he is needed in the farm and charcoal making, much more than he is needed in school. Finishing school was some distant imagination.

While on our way to Sitio So-So to distribution notebooks, we passed by John Mark pulling his carabao home, from all in a day's work. Pictured here are his parents who do do all sorts of tilling, logging, and charcoal making to feed all 9 children.

John Mark was a shy boy in front of the volunteers, but maybe he was just not familiar with us; we were strangers to him. We learned piece by piece that he was fun to be with after some series of random conversations. There were times that he would blurt out some jokes out of thin air and the rest of the highland kids would burst into innocent laughers. He had helped us in so many ways while we were staying in one of the local’s houses in Sitio So-So. It was surprising at first to see him carry heavy boxes without batting an eyelash.

John Mark's dedication as our beneficiary and now volunteer is very encouraging.

It is true that legends and metaphors are not only resting behind the highland’s vast forest; they were also laid open in shared meals and conversations with people especially children. John Mark’s story was not an easy one to listen to. Most of us shook our heads while others simply looked away.

John Mark's family is a product of intergenerational cycle of poverty. His grandparents were also living in poverty. The next generation—his mother and father, soon inherited the same problem due to lack of education.

John Mark with his buddy Gabriel. John Mark is 14 and Gabriel is 11.

The boy is dreaming that one day his family would no longer be making charcoals so he needed to study even if studying meant he would wake up at 5 in the morning to walk for three hours going to school every day. It was an option he desperately chose because if not he would be making charcoal and do farming for the rest of his life. His daily effort of waking up at the wee hours and walking more than 30 kilometres to school paid off as last year he got second honors in their class. His achievement was a baby step towards his goal.    

Asked about his favorite hobby, his answer was too different from other children in the lowlands. Spare time for him and his siblings meant they could go out in the forest and hunt for wild pigs. In context, that sounded fun but in real life we knew it was hard. His answer was innocent and fun as he was smiling and we did laugh too. His answer sank into our hearts as if it had sharp teeth; even in their hobbies, highland kids still think of their families—of bringing food to the table in order to survive. That was reality and it really got us. Despite the smiles in our faces, the pang in my stomach was kicking in.       

  

We went to the highlands in hopes of showing the kids the value of education, but as we went home it was us who were educated. When we were about to leave the village,  we promised John Mark one thing—we would help him as much as we could for him to continue his education and maybe one day get a degree. We don’t know how but deep inside we just believe it is possible, just like the notebooks we had collected.  

If we can help one child, we help the entire family. The smiles on their faces are enough encouragement for us to keep moving.

Today, as we celebrate our Second Founding Anniversary, we are presenting to the world our new scholar, John Mark Lozada. He is one among the few children we have been helping to reach their dreams, and we believe that it is through education. The intergeneration poverty cycle is harsh but education is the only shot we got to break the chain.  John Mark will now join Toto Jande, our scholar in Sitio Maatop, Brgy Sangke, the last village in the south of Negros.

Starting from one scholar, and now we have two, is part of our baby steps, but we hope to add more if the provision from above permits. We cannot do this on our own. We need your help to help John Mark. Today, our only kind of celebration is to share our children’s story with you as a thanksgiving to the one who brought us all together for this mission.

As I end this story, I would like to share these lines from my favorite author, Paulo Coelho taken from his book The Fifth Mountain. “A child can always teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.”

What Our Volunteers Experience

DAY ONE

My first thought about volunteering myself to this group, what comes to mind is the opportunity to travel and be able to share like hitting two birds with one stone. However, this activity was way beyond what i imagined it would be. It was challenging but all worth it. I have prayed before i go for i'm giving myself to people i don't know and will only meet for the first time. 

Along the way, the journey felt light though we have to transport boxes of notebooks from Iloilo to Bacolod City. It wasn't easy but the eagerness to help and be that change to other people made it all possible. I have met the head of the group, Miss Anabelle, a woman with a brave heart who brainchild the activity and first answered the call of one mother to help her with notebooks for her children and the enormous supporters who believe in the cause of helping children continue to dream through education and my fellow volunteers who are all busy but made the time to be in the activity. They started this activity four years ago and they have grown as an inspiration to be that change in the community. I am glad to be one of their volunteers.

To those special people who shared their ten (10) pesos and notebooks, here are some of the pictures during the giving activity. I hope this activity will continue to encourage you to give more and be that motivation to these children to persist in school and live their dreams. Thank you. I Hope to see you again next year for another round of wonderful experience about making love-giving the essence.

DAY TWO

The challenge now continues. The long drive up to the mountain for another breathtaking experience. It's ok nga kami mabasa sa ulan, importante madul ong kag mahatag ang notebooks to the Children in the Sitios. 

Thank you sa tanan nga nag donate notebooks. You cannot buy the smiles of the children and the appreciation of the parents for your support. Going to school there is never short distance but a long walk to reach. A 30 minute walk for the children would mean an hour or 2 walk for us. Some children would walk almost 3 hours ro reach school, the next corner would mean turning 10 to 15 times going left and right to reach our destination, Up there would mean climbing walking up and down areas several times to reach the top. I thought this funny at first but when i was put to walk the path, i pause and thought how enormous their courage and strength to take the track and be amazed by their positive outlook amidst difficulties. So let us always count our blessings and share if we can to those who have less and be more in love and gratefulness. Let us continue to help these children achieve something in life and be that channel to reach their dreams of becoming a cashier, teachers, police and more one day.

Madamo nga salamat amon hamili nga donors. :)  

-Cath

Why We Do What We Do

No feeling is final, but each moment is.
Your life happens in a day. The only thing that really exists in a life is a day. If you aren’t present, you’re already half dead. There are no cumulative moments, there are only details, there are only days.
And we waste most of them.

We waste most of them buying clothes for another day, working toward goals that we never fully realize. Everything is a means to an elusive and untouchable end, everything is to make a plan for things that will inevitably be rocked off course anyway. We don’t schedule finding the loves of our lives. We don’t anticipate the day we’re going to die. We don’t know these things won’t happen tomorrow, or today, we just assume.

You won’t remember the days, you’ll remember a few moments within the days. The more you’re focused on a hypothetical someday, the more you’ll miss. The less of them you’ll end up with. The less you’ll realize you end with nothing, you just have what you have.

You decide how much that is by how present you choose to be. And yeah, you have a choice. Every second of every moment of every day of every month of every year of every life you choose. You’re choosing right now.

You don’t know that while you’re choosing to stare at your feet wondering and worrying about another issue that will fix itself in a little bit anyway, you’re missing the person who just crossed your literal (and metaphorical) path. You don’t know that this moment is your last moment. You don’t know that it’s not your mom’s or your dad’s or your best friend’s. You don’t know that this afternoon is the first time you make a tiny change that spirals into a revolution.
The point is that if you don’t do it today, you won’t do it ever. The point is that the things you most want can and should begin right now. Time does not change you, you change you. So long as your mindset is ‘wait for tomorrow,’ tomorrow will never come. Things do not get better or worse, your ability to perceive them a certain way does or doesn’t. Life does not change, you do, and as you do, you don’t just get ready for the inevitable, you bring it to light.
The point is that we are born in one day. We die in one day. We meet the loves of our lives in one day. Anything spectacular that’s going to happen is going to happen out of nowhere, unexpectedly, genuinely, perfectly, usually without your planning or messing it up. We get in our way more than anything else does.

All you really have are a succession of todays. Tomorrow is just an idea. It doesn’t exist.

-Anonymous

Ambit Notebook Disribution, May 5-7, 2017

"Be the change you want to see in the world." I have read this somewhere, in my teenage years and since then it has stayed with me. Jesus showed the same example when he was here on earth living as a missionary. To be one, it takes not just stamina, determination, and strength. Most of all it takes one to love, deeply.

To our dear donors, please take a look at each photo, that speaks so much about how much you have done for them. We also need you to pay attention and read our captions. We are posting these photos not to brag that we've done great, but to let you see what we have seen and what we have experienced, hands-on. Not all of us are able to go there and share in their joys, so we are bringing the experience to you with these photos.

This is also our way of thanking you for joining us in this simple mission. Without you holding hand in hand with us, allowing God to use you, we would not have done it. Glory to God the author of love! 

We have reached 13,584 notebooks!

“What are we doing tiring ourselves packing all these thousands of notebooks?” I jokingly said aloud to the rest of the volunteers last night, while we were all busy and sweating from arranging, collating, packing our notebooks by 8. We launched our campaign for notebooks last March and three weeks to the campaign, we only had around 700 notebook pledges. I was beginning to lose courage, on the brink of calling it off. But most of my fellow volunteers urged me on, saying a project like this must never cease. “Let’s keep going,” we told ourselves. I surrendered. To the heavens where the Mightiest of All resides. I surrendered. To the one greater than me, wiser than me, stronger than me, the King of Kings, the Owner of the Universe. I let go. And let God … And indeed he showed us his might! 13,584 notebooks. I find that hard to fathom, given the very limited campaign time. It's way, way more than we have targeted. It is a miracle.

So yes, we are here tiring ourselves for these notebooks to be sent to our four adopted villages in the south. We are here sacrificing a lot of things to be there for the ones who need us the most. We are here, because over and over God showed us that when he calls his people to go on mission, he equips them and in being equipped by the One as powerful as He is, you are not just able to achieve the impossible, but most of all experience his mercy, love and protection.

We honor our donors, supporters, fellow volunteers for joining us in this endeavor, thank you for the encouragement, the prayers, the love that you give us and that we in turn will give to our adopted villages. In a special way we would like to thank all those who have bought paintings from our youngest volunteer, Gabriel's art exhibit: Aprell Gelaga, Jerald Gozon, Joy Janzen, Siason family, Tan Family, Fr Sean, Ninong Richard, Pam and Resty, Irene, Nanay DitDit, Tito Eduard. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!!! May God be praised at all times.

4th Summer Notebook Campaign has officially started!

Last summer, I had this special experience marking the closing salvo of Ambit Notebook Distribution. It also proved to be the most challenging of all the weekends for us as it was already starting to rain. We were on our way to our resting place when I fell with the motorcycle I was riding on, along a very slippery, muddy part of the road leading up to the mountainous area in So-So. I fell only a few inches away from the side of a dangerous hill road. Covered in mud, extremely tired, hungry and thirsty, I thought to myself, “What am I doing risking my life.” In between moments of such present madness, faces of our children beneficiaries randomly flash in my mind and for this particular mission area, the children were barely smiling. It was in fact so very hard to make them smile. I wonder what could light up their faces. Apparently, not even the notebooks we were handing to them.

Being a graduate of Child Psychology, I somehow have an idea why children are the way that they are. But it’s way different when you actually get to hold them, see them and hear them … hear them. I didn’t have an actual conversation with any of them but I certainly I heard something from what their little eyes were trying to tell me. When I addressed them together with their parents, I said, “We Ambit volunteers, our own lives are not easy. Every day we too struggle to make ends meet, to survive, to fend for our families. But we are here because we want to help you find your dreams, the way that we did. We want to show you it’s possible.” Maybe it’s hope that I “heard” them say from their probing eyes. And I hang on to that. As long as they can learn how to hope, Ambit has the chance to keep going, too, yes even if it means going through the difficult, muddy, slippery road.

Three summers, more than 25, 500 notebooks and from one small village, Ambit has by now already reached out to four villages, giving notebooks to children in far-flung areas in the south. Friends, it is with great joy and excitement that we are now officially starting our notebook campaign for our 4th summer! As always, we look to you for love, support and mutual dedication for our beloved beneficiaries. We just have to keep going. The possibilities that these poor children can bring to our society are endless and we just refuse to give up on them. One piece of notebook is not just a symbol, but an actualization of their dreams.