Everybody is a Genius
By Gigilyn Endaya, Operation Blessing's Corporate Communication and Resource Devt. Manager
Everybody is a genius.
I remember this famous quote by Albert Einstein when I visited a feeding program site. The site is a two-hour drive from Manila to mountainous Montalban. Â
Thirty undernourished children are being fed here by Operation Blessing. These are children of the Dumagat indigenous people, mostly from mixed marriages. Â
The semi-nomadic Dumagats live in villages in remote mountain provinces, like Licao Licao in Montalban. They gather rattan and collect coconuts, earning a subsistence living that might leave them open to economic exploitation.Â
Then I noticed these beautiful children—brown-skinned, round deep-set eyes, light curly hair, medium height. One of them is a five-year-old boy: mestizo/remontado (offspring of a Dumagat father and a lowlander mother), hyperactive, keeps on talking and showing off his handsome face and adult-like attractiveness (or that’s what I’d like to think). His name is Reinier. Then, when prompted, he started to present this poem:Â
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PASASALAMAT
Kaming mga tribu ang tiraha’y gubat
Pilipinong ligaw sa amin ay tawag
Sa dunong at yaman tunay kaming salat
At sa kahirapan kami’y nasadlak
Subali’t salamat sa Diyos nating Ama
Aming kahirapan ay nilingap Niya
Operation Blessing dito ay dinala
Si Doktora Kim kami ay nakita
Si Pastor Cris at Ate Eloisa
Katutubong bata ay may pangarap
Na tumaas ang antas ng pamumuhay nila
Kanilang talento ay nagagamit na
Gaya ng tumula, sumayaw, kumanta
Kaakibat nito ang aming kultura
Ang pagmamahal at pangangalaga sa ating kalikasan
Na bigay sa atin ng Diyos na lumalang
Ang pagtutulungan ang tawag dito ay bayanihan
Sa Operation Blessing dito natutunan
Maging pag-iimpok sa kinabukasan
Nang ‘di masayang ang pinaghirapan
It was amazing, this five-year-old boy speaking so fluently! He was confident and natural. His memory is so good! It was like each word flows from his memory to a linguistic power of speech. This Dumagat boy is a genius.
Then I thought… if everyone (as in everyone: all tribes, all races, all religion) like Reinier is given all the good opportunities in life: good and nutritious food, education, good values, shelter and sustainable economic alternatives for the family; if only YOU and I would care and share our kindness and generosity, support the needs of disadvantaged people like the indigenous peoples, and help them in any way we can, then and only then Albert Einstein could be true to his words: Everybody is a genius.
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