A Timely Blessing
Union Church in Manila graciously donated individual gifts of 6,000 pesos each to 37 pastors from 5 ICM regions. Story & Photo by Kathleen Hilado, ICM CO, Koronadal
Pastor Laurel Lina Piang of T’boli, South Cotabato is one of the pastors in Koronadal who received a gift of 6,000 pesos. He has been serving as a community pastor for almost 25 years. Pastor Piang felt so blessed because this was the very first time for him to receive such an amount from an unknown patron.
“This is the first time I was given a gift like this. I had no idea why I was called to the ICM office when one of the staff asked if I could drop by. I went there and I was surprised when they handed me a check with my name written on it.”
In 1987, after graduating from a Bible School, he started a pioneer church in his hometown in T’boli. During that time, groups who were radically opposed to Christianity inhabited the area. Amazingly, after facing many challenges, Pastor Piang gained support and commitment from the villagers instead of harm. The church grew in number and is currently serving the whole community. His greatest supporters are his immediate family. Through all the hardships and discouragement of working as a pastor within a slum community, he has never heard his family complain nor fight against his passion to serve Christ. He remembers clearly the times when his family had nothing to eat for dinner. All he could do was pray with them at the dinner table.
Pastor Piang never gave up but continued to obey God and serve him faithfully. Now, he and his family are working with the Manobo Tribe and teaching them basic literacy and numeracy. They are going to build a church there and the amount he received from Union Church will be used to jumpstart this project. To everyone at Union Church, Pastor Piang wanted to say, “Thank you very much for the wonderful surprise! The joy I feel is immeasurable. This amount is truly a blessing and came at just the right time.”
Reproductive Health Conference in Mindanao’s Tribal Area
Story by Deanna Sutherland, ICM Program Support // Footage by Kathleen Hilado, ICM CO, Koronadal
Imagine how frightening being pregnant at 14-years-old would be. This is the reality for the young women in the mountain-dwelling tribal community called T’boli, in Southern Mindanao, Philippines. The families in this tribe traditionally arrange for their daughters to be married at the onset of puberty. The young brides often become pregnant at 14 or 15 years old and have limited medical knowledge about human anatomy, pregnancy, or the birthing process. Juanito Policios, ICM’s Koronadal Base Leader, was excited to report that on March 8, 2011, ICM partnered with other Philippine non-profits and government officials to host the “Lake Sebu Reproductive Health and Buntis (Pregnancy) Congress.”
Lake Sebu is one of the poorest regions in the province and only has one health clinic to serve more than the 6,000 women who live there. This important conference was attended by 260 pregnant women from this region and the soon-to-be mothers, ranging in age from 14 to 46, were excited to attend. It provided essential prenatal information highlighting the importance of consuming a nutritional diet during pregnancy, information about the developing child, breast-feeding, the delivery process, post-baby mother care, and infant care. The mothers-to-be were all strongly encouraged to have a health professional present at birth.
The partnership ICM’s Koronadal Office made with other NGO’s and LGU’s to coordinate this Pregnancy Congress is a great encouragement to ICM’s other bases who are also working with their local partners to offer the same type of opportunity to pregnant women in their areas. ICM was thrilled to provide maternal health care packages for the mothers at the event and saw first hand the importance of this community discussion.
Photos by Juanito Policios, ICM Koronadal Area Head
Your donations have made life changing conferences like this one possible. ICM has been working in the T’boli region for several years, offering its Transform Program and preschool learning centers to communities there. ICM’s first three preschool learning centers were located in this mountainous region, with primary participants being children from the T’boli tribes. The success of these initial three schools encouraged ICM to implement the program throughout all 6 bases. There are now 80 learning centers across the Visayas and Mindanao regions, educating 2,000 students and their parents every year.
The average T’boli household has eight children and the main livelihood is farming. T’boli women proudly maintain the culture’s rich handicraft heritage which features the colorful beading, brass work and woven & embroidered clothing which make up their formal native dress. According to Pastor Policios, about half of the people living there have never left the mountains where they were born. They are very talented musicians and artisans, as you will see in the video below:
ICM’s 1804 Young Graduates
Throughout the month of March, 1804 proud graduates of ICM’s 80 Learning Centers marched across the stage in their cap and gowns to receive their “diplomas”. The students finished their year of learning with formal graduation celebrations held in each region. Songs were sung, dances danced and poems and verses recited. And family members and friends clapped and cheered. Thank you to all the generous sponsors who made this possible.
Transformation is on the Way
Story by ICM CO Team
Mindanao is the second largest island in the Philippines and lies in the southern part of the archipelago. Locals refer to it proudly as The Land of Promise due to the fertile soil and peerless shade of green. Just as unique as the landscape are the eighteen mountain-dwelling tribal communities in Southern Mindanao, known as the Lumad. ICM has reached out to this marginalized group of people and is now serving in those communities. Gonita is a 50-year-old ICM Transform Recipient from one of these indigenous groups, called the B’laan. Here is her story:
Photos by Kathleen Hilado, ICM CO, Koronadal
“I am pure B’laan. I had been living with animistic beliefs for the last fifty years before I discovered who I really was.” Almost all of the B’laan people are illiterate, inheriting a disease-like poverty that is passed from generation to generation. “Before, our ancestors owned this land. Anyone could till it. But one day we woke up having masters, and we became servants.”
Gonita is a mother of four and a grandmother of fourteen. Her work starts at 3:00am. She tills the land and in return, gets paid a very minimal amount; not even enough to pay for toilets or electricity. Like most Filipino mothers, she gives everything she earns to her children, even if they have families of their own. Gonita said that to dream of having her own land where she could build a house was preposterous. This is the type of crippling poverty we are dealing with, one where the people can’t even dream.
Having no formal education, Gonita thought she would never get the chance to learn. But, the ICM Transform Program gave her the unexpected opportunity to do so. She sat through the Health classes and discovered many things about wellness that were foreign to her, which she now teaches to her children and grandchildren. They are now in the process of improving their household. The healthy habits taught in class are further encouraged and monitored lovingly by the ICM staff and church counselors. Although the changes are not always instant, transformation is on the way.
Gonita said that the Values classes opened her eyes as she learned about responsibility, discipline and the purpose of her life. She became free from the burden she was carrying for her family and although she still strives to provide for them, she feels like a weight has been lifted off her back. Her relationship with her family and neighbors has been renewed and she is now active in the community and church. Gonita was baptized a month ago and since then she feels more optimistic and confident in facing life’s problems and uncertainties.
