A typical Sunday in Hilongos – musing no 3
Dawn on Sunday in Hilongos:
Sunday in Hilongos starts at 4.30am (actually every day) with the usual 20 clangs of the large church bell followed every few minutes with a group of three rings until half an hour later you get a wonderful collection of 30 rings again to tell you the 5am Mass is about to start. On some Sundays, if you are a light sleeper, you can be wakened by the holy women who say the rosary while processing the Mamma Mary around the streets any time after 2.30am (this holy group do this every day by the way). Fortunately I have only heard them a couple of times. Well since I go to the Children’s Mass at 10 am which is always in English, I try desperately to go back to sleep at 5am which is all a bit of a waste of time really as you become conscious of the countless different noises about you. A bit like counting sheep in the sense that your brain starts indentifying each sound. Take a peep at this little list: The mosquitoes bussing, the birds singing (kind off), the Geckos high pitch barking in our roof space, the cockerels crowing their little hearts out, the dogs barking their heads off at some imaginary passing pedestrian, five or six different pieces of transport passing our house at any one time and the motor bike is always the main culprit here as they seem to roar past at a great speed. No, not finished yet, now I hear the load speaker attached to our local bell tower literally blasting you from any possible return to slumber, though I have to say it is usually from the church and it is either the women singing their favourite hymn or the Priest giving forth in his homely. Unfortunately it’s in Cebuano otherwise I just might get interested in the contents. Then the drums start about 6am and I remember our students are practicing the drum routines for some distant concert that may or may not be put on. Well that does it for me so up I get and a quick wash and breakfast followed by a little time in our Kapilya with the Lord. The sounds are just background psalms of praise to the Lord by this time. The day has started with great gusto and usually we find time during the morning to get together and share what the week was like.
The children’s Mass:
The highlight for me each Sunday is that Children’s Mass t 10 am where Doctora, yes the same lady who seems to be involved in every part of Hilongos life as well as in her own health ministry, has gathered some 1000 children for what I would call a performance never to be forgotten, keeping in mind it happens every Sunday. Apparently she went around all the schools, including ours, and invited the kids to start a mass of their own. She started teaching them special hymns*, the type kids can easily get stuck into and also she trained very young ones to stand up near the altar rails and act out every word of the hymns. A mime if you like. It is quite amazing to see a sea of kids copy the hands and body motions of those well trained littlies up front. The singing is vigorous and catchy and the children seem to love taking part. The organist is magnificent and willing to add his shrills and other fancy stuff to electrify the whole church space. He even has a little 10 year old lad accompanying him on his own mini organ. Assuring the future of this great praise to God will continue for years to come I dare say. I have never seen anything quite like it. Their participation leaves the churches at home in Australia far behind I’m afraid. Of course the children do all the readings and prayers of the faithful and their English is perfect. The energy of the kids and the way they respond to the Priest’s homily is terrific too, though as usual the sermons do tend to go on and on. Then you have that customary offertory procession where hundreds of kids line up to present their love offering (usually a few pesos, fruit, vegetables or flowers depending on their circumstances) to the Priest personally. This needless to say can take quite a deal of time but no one seems to mind and the music continues all through the procession any way. You have the trained altar girls, the trained readers, the trained collectors; all children decked out in beautiful uniforms looking more like angels than children, an amazing piece of theatre altogether. The Our Father is said with everyone joining hands across the Church; the link person in the middle isle being one of the many groups of girls dressed in white surpluses. Can you imagine how long the communion takes? It seems men only are allowed to be special ministers so they process to every corner of the church to minister Jesus, accompanied by their little guardian angel holding a lighted lamp and an altar boy with the communion tray. The Priest is usually moved by the event too as of late before the final farewell he starts a round of clapping for each group that helps this real Eucharist experience to explode into our consciousness. I always come out of this experience feeling great and I guess I have the children and Doctora to thank for that. Maybe heaven will be something like this, we will have to wait and see. Carl usually joins me though Frank has found it all a bit too much and tends to go to the 8am Cebuano mass. One last thing, I have added a photo to prove it, Doctora plays the African drums during the whole Eucharistic celebration, and believe me it is a celebration. What a lady. I call her Mother Teresa of Hilongos and she could also revel in the title of Pied-piper too. She learnt to use the drums while a volunteer in Nigeria where she spent 20 years caring for the sick and needy over there. (She is older than me in years but very much younger than me at heart; a walking saint and she would disapprove of me saying this so this has to be our little secret please.)
Quiet Sunday afternoons:
Well Doctora being a gift sent from the Lord to take care of us (her own words) sends around our lunch every Sunday without fail as she found out we only hire our cook Monday to Friday. She really does spoil us and has warned us we must learn to accept gifts gracefully when we tried to suggest it might all be too much for her. Now the title of this paragraph is a little tongue in cheek really as I forgot to tell you there are seven Masses here in Hilongos every Sunday with the obligatory half hour bell sequence to match and the traffic does not ease up either so the noise level is pretty bad. It has not helped that the house we live in is built on a very busy road, Oh well you can’t have everything. We do love the simplicity of our rented house and we have found a way of being quiet within. The bell ringer (Tingbagting) is an elderly gentleman who has been ringing that bell every day for the last 22 years. He is a polio victim from his youth but that does not stop him from climbing those 32 steps 6 times each weekday and 14 times on Sunday. That’s what I call commitment. Carl thought he must live up there but no I followed him home and his humble little shack caused me to respect the man even more. He looks after his nephews and nieces as he has no children of his own. Well after lunch is a quiet time though Carl tends to go for his daily walk and I try to spend a half hour in a local resort pool, though that depends on how many kids are around as it can get quite busy. Frank tends to catch up on NZ news or maybe watch Mr Been which is one of his favourite ways of winding down. Its great therapy for me personally to hear his happy laughter. With the three of us heavily involved in School part of the afternoon is invariable prep time or correction time. I thought I was finished with that sort of stuff, fool me. We do try to custom ourselves to the siesta idea but with all that is going on around us it is not always attainable. The Monks in Kabankalan seem to have successfully included it in their daily program but we struggle to do it here.
Sunday a time to reflect and look at Mission:
Sunday ends for us with a meal together, usually of left over’s, and a shared prayer to thank God for another week that has flashed past. I tend to Skype friends Sunday night so those on skype will see me alive and kicking if they want to say hi. (Handle – thruppy) Skype is a piece of free software that allows people to talk as long as they like to people overseas with no cost involved. Try it! (Just put the word Skype into your browser and click on the link for a free download) We do use Sunday to talk to together about things that have happened and what we can do to improve the situation here in Hilongos. Of course it’s mainly School matters but not always. My latest contribution was producing a professional looking document which reports on the general condition of the School facilities and lays out a procedure for them to be rectified should it be necessary and unfortunately much needs attention. This has already precipitated quite a deal of action. We as a community have spent about $3000 on different projects around the school already and we are starting to make a difference. New white boards in each classroom, the WCs upgrade, the building of three Payags, (Yard shelters for the students to protect them from the elements) the entire School being checked for electrical faults and having them fixed by a qualified electrician and finally upgrading of the computer room. The last task has proved very costly but I think it has been all worthwhile, so thanks to the many friends in the West who filled my pocket with extra cash to spend as I thought best. Now you know where most of it went. The big one project looming is the completion of the unfinished classroom which by the way I teach in. This will need a special appeal I fear so that’s a future project I will follow up down the track.
As the sun goes down I thank God for another day in paradise as imperfect as it may seem. May God continue to bless our work and hopefully may you continue to pray for us and where possible support us with your spare pennies. God bless.
Until next time Peter T – Hilongos Leyte.
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*Hymns: (These were composed by Doctora and the tune is fast and catchy. These are just two of many)
HYMN ONE
Let the children come
let the children come,
let the children come to me.
And do not stop them
Do not stop them
For such is the kingdom of heaven.
And do not stop them
Do not stop them
For such is the Kingdom of heaven
HYMN TWO
1/Praise Him Praise Him
R/All you little children
God is love God is love
Praise him Praise Him
God is love God is love.
Praise Him Praise Him
All ye little Children
God is love God is Love
2/Love Him Love Him R/
3/Thank Him Thank Him R/
4/Serve Him Serve Him R/