Visit to the Episcopal Diocese of the North Central Phillippines

By Claire Louise Gelder
From Oct. 2005 Issue of Tomoshibi (The Diocesan Newsletter)

The Author and the party at a villege in La Union deanery

I was a member of the group which traveled, in connection with our diocesan partnership relationship, to the Episcopal Diocese of the North Central Philippines from August 23rd to 30th. With Mrs Kay Ikezumi as group leader, a total of nine clergy and lay members took part.

On the 24th we went sightseeing in Manila, and also toured the Diocese of the Central Philippines’ cathedral, St. Andrew’s Theological College, and the Provincial Office.

We went by bus, on the 25th, to Baguio City, the center of the island of North Luzon, where the Cathedral and the Diocesan Center of the Diocese of the North Central Philippines is situated.

The next day, the 26th, we split into 2 groups, one group going to the lowland deanery of La Union, the other to the Mountain Trail deanery in the highlands.

Have you ever carried water? I have at Girl Scout camp; I remember that, even over a short distance, it was very heavy.

In the Mountain Province of North Luzon there are still many homes not connected to mains water. For these people having their homes linked to the water supply has been their dream for many years.

In the Mountain Trail deanery in the town of Synipsip, the Transfiguration Church has been the main mover behind the current waterworks construction being done there. There are going to pump drinking water up the mountain from the river valley below.

When the work is completed, around 150 homes, the school and the hospital, and other facilities will be linked to the water supply. This project has been made possible by economic aid from the Australian Episcopal(Anglican?) Church.

In this highland area, there are many farmers growing cabbages and lettuces, but according to the members of Rogation Church in Madaymen, those who don’t have there own smallholdings, receive 3 meals and around 100 peso per day for working from 6 o’clock in the morning to 6 o’clock at night. As San Miguel beer costs around 30 pesos, you can say that they are compelled to live a very hard life.

Even those who own their own land live in some poverty. Recently, because of imports of Chinese vegetables, the price of one kilo of cabbage has fallen to 1 peso, which is less than the price to produce it, meaning the more cabbages they sell the more they lose.

The party and the church members

The group who went to La Union Deanery saw some similar water projects, completed with the help of the church; they also received a very warm welcome from the members of the each of the churches they visited, especially from the children.

All of the churches were very active, and on Sunday there was standing room only, and even dogs and chickens took part.

Many of the churches are remain economically poor, however, despite this, from 2007, economic aid from the American Episcopal Church will cease. We caught a glimpse of some of efforts the churches are making to prepare for this independence. There are Income Generating Projects, such as having sarisari stores selling food and sundries as paying tenants on the first floor of the church, using the church’s assets in a positive way.

Overall you can say that the church and the lives of people in the community are very closely intertwined, and I think it will greatly inspire us in our thinking about our own mission work.

I hope that we can have more visits of this nature, and so become closer to the people of the North Central Diocese of the Philippines, and continue to learn from each other about mission and church work.

I encourage all of you to take part in the next visit.

(Additions by Rev’d Timothy Kiyoshi Nomura)