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Touched by
the magic of a Filipino soul
A letter of a Venezuelan friends in UP
Dear
Friends:
Only
one week has passed since I left the Philippines… But images of
the warm sea, and the deep aquamarine blue surrounding those beautiful
islands keep haunting my mind. I close my eyes and see the shiny
white sands in Boracay, in Palawan…
The Philippines means a lot of things to me. At the beginning I
was invaded by strange feelings. I was scared of what my life would
be in such a far away land. I wanted to leave. I wanted to go back
to where I came from. But the wisdom of my best friend, the sweet
smiles of the people surrounding me, and the promise of a land yet
to be discovered, made me decide, once and for all, that I would
make the best of the experience. I just had to open my mind and
my soul, and recognize that there is always a lesson to be learned,
a step to take for realization.
At the beginning, I was overwhelmed by the smell of the food in
the streets, by the polluted air filled with toxic gases coming
from jeepneys and tricycles, by the widespread poverty evident in
the many squatter communities around the city.
I felt millions of eyes gazing at me, all the time. Wherever I went
was filled with people. Black hair, brown eyes, and flat noses.
I could count with the fingers of one hand those wearing pants,
or shoes.
It took me sometime before I could get used to the physical reality
surrounding me. And a depressing feeling of being in a world where
poverty is a constant made me realize that I had to take a step
further, where the physical reality becomes unimportant, and the
spiritual one takes over. So I looked at the beauty hidden behind
that I dislike. I listened carefully to my heart. I looked beyond
those millions eyes, and realized how great your country is. Not
because of the streets, or buildings, or the poverty around, but
because of the people, the Filipino people, whose humanness I could
experience at all levels—with my close friends and their families,
with the teachers at the University, with the taxi driver, the guards
at every entrance, the owner of the sari-sari store, the public
employees, the food vendor roaming around, selling banana queue,
or taho. With the people at the market, the one sitting next to
me in the jeepney, the tricycle driver, the one in charge of collecting
the money in the bus, the artisans of Baguio. With the barber and
the massage lady. I could keep on and on, remembering those millions
eyes that were not only looking at me, but were also giving me something,
so precious.
Then, I toured the islands. The colors and the shapes of an amazing
nature overwhelmed me. It was a geographic feast, a dance where
every possible landscape performed its best in front of me: the
phosphorescent greenery of the rice fields; the sleeping and the
smoking volcanoes; the rocks rising out of the sea like giant turtles
or medieval dragons; the trees so tall they speak of hundreds of
years of being untouched. And water, lots of water: a lake with
a scenery that touches your soul as the sun touches the horizon;
a beach where the cool breeze carries the laughter of children as
they play cheerfully with white balls; and where long boats queue
to take you for a ride down a river. Images I will never forget,
because they are stamped in my heart, in my soul. Every time I feel
restless, I just have to remember them, and peace comes to my mind,
and a smile is painted on my face.
Before I took my trip, the Philippines had seemed so far away. Now,
memories of it bring it near. Because I experienced it, I lived
it, I made it part of my life, and I used it as a way to fulfill
myself.
In that amazing land I discovered my potential as a researcher.
I was able to go deep inside my most vulnerable self, and my deepest
fears vanished when I found myself, sharing and living the life
of those I once considered different from me. There I discovered
hope, because there are more good people willing to succeed and
be better than I thought. I saw this in the lives of my friends,
and I saw this in the lives of the community where I did my research.
I met so many wonderful human beings that whatever beauty I discovered
in nature became complementary to the beauty I discovered in people.
These words, although not enough, are dedicated to all of you whom
I knew, with whom I shared. I cannot be but endlessly grateful to
you. You let me into your lives, and made me realize that human
beings like you are the reason why my life is worth living. You
gave me inspiration, you gave me hope; and as long as I continue
in this world, I will return this inspiration, and this hope, to
those who, like me, need to be touched by the magic of a unique
soul, like the Filipino soul, source of light, power and the warmth
of an honest smile.
God bless you,
with all my love…
Alonso
Editor’s
Note:
The author’s full name is Alonso A. Ayala, a native of Venezuela.
He finished his Master of Science in Regional Development Planning
at the UP Diliman School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP) in
November 2002.
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REBYU
DISKUSYON
TAMPOK