Br John Moodie - Easter Letter 2009
Dear All,
Well it has been a long long time since I have put my fingers to the computer to write to you. You have heard all the excuses before so I will not attempt to repeat them but simply apologize for the delay.
I do hope all are in good health. I have heard of some bouts of sickness and some terms in hospital to come, so I pray they will all go well.
I am fine. (That is the response the children learn at school when asked how they are). Memory lapses remind me that I am getting old. My sister Georgina would say, “No, John, you are old”.
Another health matter. My blood test showed that my potassium level was 9. The doctor here was surprised. I asked her the cause. She rattled off three or four possibilities and then added, “of course, bananas!”
“I love them,” I said. “Well, you should have only two a day.” My potassium is down to 4.
The fires in Victoria have been sad news. A couple of my nephews had very close encounters with them. Fortunately no loss of life or home, but property totally burnt out. All we could do was pray for those so terribly affected. I’m struggling to find words for this which you have experienced or seen first hand. We’ll just continue to pray for those struggling to put their lives together again.
A very sad occasion here was the death of a past pupil of ours. Ricky was 14 and had taken a carabao down to bathe in the river. When he hadn’t returned after a reasonable time, his father went and found the carabao still in the river but Ricky , no where. They found him two days later, having drowned in a very deep hole. I cross a bridge over the river each day on my way to class and cannot help but be reminded of him.
Now some happy news. The results of the exam our learners sat for on Oct 12 2008 have been published at last. You might remember we had 48 sitting. The national average passing was 25%. We had 5%. Yes, three passed. Rather humbling, eh ! Did I say this was happy news? Still we’ll persevere with the system and hope that our evaluation of the effort might bring some positive result. However we’ll be able to help those three to go on to some course of their choosing and we have just enrolled ten of those who didn’t pass in a vocational course that does not require a High School Certificate. That must be the happy news!
And the container carrying 300 used computers and monitors and accessories plus, plus, arrived safely. So that was more happy news. Brian Roberts, Principal of St. Patrick’s, Strathfield kindly organized that this year’s Lenten Contributions from his students would cover the cost from Sydney to Cebu-$3200 Aust. The cost from Cebu to Kabankalan, $1700, plus Customs, $900, plus Technician’s fees $25, for each one checked and made to work, bring the total to $10 000 or an average of $35 each. Our target will have been reached with each of the schools having 30 computers for the year beginning June. The man responsible for gathering them was Andrew Dunnin, teacher, at present working at an Aboriginal school in western N.S.W. Thank you, Andrew! Schools providing some included, Cathedral, Lewisham, Strathfield. Thank you! Don’t ask where the rest came from.
We had ‘fun’ unloading the 40 ft. container. It took 12 men (and 10 children) six hours. Lunch and drinks were served by Anne Steyns and our cook, Mary Grace.
Our next project will be to gather Library books, for students from Kinder to Form 4. If you have any stowed away in the attic from your ‘childhood’ days, keep us in mind and let me know when you next see me.
One happy thing about this was that it arrived on the day set aside to celebrate my Diamond Jubilee. What a great present! The celebration consisted of Mass at the seminary followed by dinner at a local open air restaurant. I was pleased to have Tony Hempenstall present.
He was paying us a visit in his capacity of ‘cluster leader’-one responsible for the pastoral care of a group of communities. To my embarrassment, in my speech, I mentioned all EXCEPT Tony. Joe Steyns, ex- principal of Trinity College in Goulburn, was very generous with his speech on my behalf. It was hard to recognize at times the person he was speaking about.
What was Joe here for? Some would know that he and his wife ,Anne, are living with us as lay volunteers. They were invited by the bishop to spend time (ten months) here to set up a programme for improving the standard of English throughout the diocese. We are enjoying their company. They are telling us that they are enjoying ours and are having an extraordinary experience. They have visited all the schools and are now preparing to have some teacher ‘seminars’ during the long holidays of April/May. These will be followed by longer stays in the schools.
The arrival of the results has allowed me to plan my visit home. There is a retreat for Brothers in Brisbane beginning May 30. I hope to be part of it. Then I’ll head to Sydney and then to Melbourne and then back to Sydney for return to Kabankalan. See you sometime.
Next week we will be touring the squatter areas again to try to get some young children back to school, with a little help for uniform,pads ,pens, etc. Lewisham school sent us some ‘world youth day bags’in the container. So all the young ones we are helping will be using one of them as a school bag for some time. Thanks Lewisham.
Well that seems to be about it for news. Hope I have not forgotten anything important for you. HAPPY EASTER. By the way, there are no Easter bunnies or Easter eggs to be seen here. The shops have no sign that it is Easter time.
Best wishes, God bless you all, John, Br John, Moods, Br Moodie.