What is POVERTY?

According to the United Nations: "Poverty: a human condition characterized by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights."



Furthermore, the No.1 goal of the UN Millineum Development Goals is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

Ati or Aeta Woman: Philippines Aborigines

Fr. Joe:
"We visited the Ati, the aborigines of the Philippines, who were sequestered in a ghetto on Boracay Island. The Daughters of Charity, a religious order founded by St. Vincent de Paul, friend of Francis de Sales, minister to these people. The Ati are called the “black people;” their skin tone is dark and their hair extremely wooly. They are classified as Philippine Negritos, first settled the Philippines, and were at one time a nomadic group of hunter-gatherers roaming freely in the wild without clothes. Modern society forced them in clothes as well as ghettos both of which are socially traumatic for the Ati., who now depend on charitable donations for subsistence. The Daughters of Charity have been their only advocates with the government and in the words of one sister “I will wear out my sandals walking to the local government to petition for these lovely people and to protest the expropriation of their land.” They now live on land belonging to the relatives of the Casa Pilar owners, our hotel on Boracay.

The children are attractive and charming. They learn the basics in a kindergarten that was opened the second day of our visit. We learned that it would be an insult to help them with any physical labor such as picking up trash and beautifying their areas. Francis de Sales and the spirituality of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales reminds us to respect people where they are and to treat them with dignity. Since food was a great need, we decided to purchase rice and other staples for the families. The Daughters supervised us as we respectfully distributed the food to the families. We also gave plantains (small bananas) to the children in the kindergarten and interacted with the teacher and the students".

"A full-grown Ati woman. I actually think she is attractive. She's definitely cute in a child-like way anyway. Note the classical woolly hair of the Philippine Negritos. This is not the same hair as the kinky hair of US Blacks. Other Negritos in the Andaman Islands have peppercorn hair like the Bushmen of Africa".

President-Elect BARACK OBAMA

President-Elect Barack Obama will be the 44th USA President. For more on Obama, check his newest website, WWW.CHANGE.GOV.

DSU Students at the McCain & Palin Political Rally, (Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA)

...me wonders who are the two gentlemen at the back... :-)

..."My friends, ...................."


Mccain & Palin at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA (October 8, 2008). Guess who attended the rally.... :-)

Lunch at the Mama Nina Foccacheria

We recently met Kerri (who now works at Moravian College) for lunch at Mama Nina in Bethlehem, PA. The food was terrific, authentic Italian dishes. The weather was still nice, not too chilly so we decided to eat outside the restaurant. As usual, we reminisce on our Philippine experience. The group wants to have a grand reunion 5 years from now back in the Philippines.

Typhoon Frank (Feng Shen) Hit the Philippines

I went back to the Philippines this summer of 2008, only to experience a major typhoon on June 21, three days after I landed in Manila. I eventually went to the island of Panay, that was possibly the worst hit of the 7,100 islands that comprise the country. The satellite photo below shows the storm over the Philippines, and Panay Island is the triangular island in the center of the storm.


The devastation brought by the typhoon to villages near the rivers were severe and historic. Some villages (e.g, Barangay Bogo and Bagumbayan in the town of San Remigio in Antique) have almost disappeared from the map because they were wiped out by the flash floods. We participated in disaster relief operations that included national and international agencies such as the Red Cross and the UN. The photos below may not capture the extent of the devastation because these were taken a few days after the storm. The land looks bare, because the native homes and farms where people toiled for their livelihood were washed away by the flood.

Fr. Joe at NATIVITY PREPARATORY SCHOOL, Wilmington, DE

Last summer, the Philippines group held a "despedida" or going away party for Fr. Joe who was moving to Delaware to become the Principal of the Nativity Preparatory School. He is a bit far from DeSales University now, and we will miss seeing him on a more regular basis. Best of luck, Fr. Joe!