Our quote of the day comes from Fr. Rex Reyes, the new head of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines:
“I will definitely strengthen the program on indigenous peoples, not because I am an indigenous person myself, but because the churches can also learn a lot from indigenous peoples’ sense of justice, community and stewardship of creation.”
“As Christians, we have to affirm all that is good in the culture of our indigenous communities. We can affirm, for example, the strong sense of community and culture of sharing of indigenous peoples as our safeguard against the individualist and consumerist values being pushed by capitalist globalization.”
Read the Inquirer story here. And our first post on Padi Rex is here.
Here’s more information on Jaylord Langbayan, the 16 year old kid who is going to participate in a United Nations special session on children. Read more about him in our first post. Now, here’s some info on where he comes from.
Jaylord Langbayan, boy, 16 years old
Jaylord is a senior student at Dipaculao National High School. He was born in Cainta, Rizal, where he spent the first seven years of his life. His parents worked at the nearby ceramics factory, but when the factory closed down, the family relocated to Mucdol, Dipaculao, in the province of Aurora, where his father’s uncle lent them a piece of land to till. His mother now works as a housekeeper and his father as a farmer.
Jaylord and his family had to adapt to a different environment after their relocation. But two years into the move, they became acquainted with the work of World Vision and their lives changed. His mother turned from a plain housewife to an active leader and Jaylord became a child leader in his community. He was elected as the Chairperson of the Luzon Coalition of Children’s Association of the Philippines (LuCCAP) and represents Luzon children in National Coalition of Children’s Association of the Philippines. His group advocates for four priority issues: Child Participation, Child Protection, Environment, Peace and Order. They are also trying to build a child friendly community.
Jaylord wants to be a Social Worker and a responsible writer and journalist.
Source: unicef.org
