ERNESTO MAIPID, JR
Approaching my 7th decade this year, I look back and happily realize that God had put me in active touch with the young all these years.
Right from college, beginning in my 20s, I was drawn to deep parish involvement at Sacred Heart Parish in Kamuning. Fr. Resty Lumanlan, SVD, championed the youth and actively engaged them in parish life. We organized sports fests and cultural presentations, and even tried our hand at writing liturgy to make parish feasts like Christmas and Lent more meaning-filled. This seemed to be my baptism to the cause.
My work stint with our national tourism office brought me in touch with youth and student travel. I had a taste of putting together a national youth travel congress and attending international youth travel conferences abroad. This paved the way for a broader grasp of the young’s propensity to chart their paths and their craving for involvement. In this, I was awakened to the young’s love for discovery, exploration, and adventure.
Later on, being led to full-time pastoral work in Couples for Christ, I was made to take on important responsibilities over the family ministries, starting with the youth. These young were held as the future of the organization and so were taught Christian family values early on. The approach to the young was particularly spiced with fun, friendship, faith, and freedom. This stint of my youth involvement brought me to experience organizing yearly conferences that grew to as large an attendance as 10,000 at one point, underscoring the youth’s search for deeper meaning in life. Preceding these annual gatherings was a two-day journey by ship (dubbed Praise Cruise), an exciting adventure experience for most conference participants from Manila.
Now counting almost 50 years of significant youth interactions, I am still very much into youth service, heartfully giving my all. Deep into serving the poor with Gawad Kalinga, I count meaningful times with our young leaders on the ground hob-knobbing with the poor communities GK does nationwide.
This week’s encounters with JP, Kim, and Pau were energizing and refreshing, as they were assuring!
JP Jose is the 27-year-old session keeper of our Kalinga Team. Our youngest member was selected to lead a pack of 10, four among whom were in their 50s to mid-70s. But JP gladly accepted the challenge. His sessions have been most impressive, even as his caring was palpable. Talk about the young’s daring.
I am privileged to meet the leaders on whom we pin our hopes for a secure tomorrow. Kim Reyes handles the money lead of GK’s Kusina ng Kalinga, an initiative to address hunger and malnutrition in our children, so prevalent around the country. Kim was earlier advised of her being among the top 38 passers of UP’s graduate school applicants. This is even as we dream of raising these young to become tomorrow’s country guards. Even now, Kim spins that ardent dream to reality with inspiring, excellent service.
Pau Batalla, 31, the new area team leader of GK for the Bicol region, is positively challenged by the call to take risks in exploring and innovating methods for caring for our country’s poor. Pau tells me she prays hard as she works hard to make sure her work serves to make God shine brighter. A comforting thought that our young have their hearts in the right place as we set to claim a future of hope for our country.
I breathe a sigh of gladness in a posture of gratitude as I recall how the Lord made me a purposeful life!