kabalaka 2

The Kabalaka Project has been launched. There is no turning back anymore. It would have been easier for us to retain the usual dole-outs that we did in the past, the usual limos. Now we have to go through the difficulties of running livelihood programs where we need to tap and develop the skills and potentials of people; we have to go through the intricacies of micro-finance and the usual problems that goes with it; we have to form in people the values needed to sustain the program and we have to worry about other people’s lives down to their minute details. It would have been easier to just simply dispense one kilo of rice and a few canned goods every now and then when the need arises and when we have the funds to do so. This time it’s going to be harder. Nevertheless we believe that this is the right thing to do and the right thing has to be done despite and in spite its difficulties.


Probably by now some of you may have seen the logo. The logo was made by a seminarian, Paul Patrick Alipao. It is a simple logo consisting of 3 symbols namely the rose, the giving of the rose in a pot, and the silhouette of the Jaro Cathedral. Permit me to explain their significance.
The Rose: The rose has long been used even in the coat of Arms of the Archdiocese and bishops coming from the Archdiocese as the symbol of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Undaunted by the prohibition of her husband to bring the bread of the palace to the hungry, she brought with her some bread for the poor one winter day hiding it beneath her cloak. On her way, however, she was angrily accosted by her husband who opened her cloak. No bread was found however, only a bunch of roses – roses on a very cold winter! This project is an inspiration coming from the heart of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, patroness of the Cathedral, mother of the poor. In giving a rose instead of bread we recognize that our endeavors without God’s benevolent intervention can come to nothing.
The second symbol is the rose given and received not on a stem but in a flower pot: In giving not just a rose on a stem but in a pot signifies that the help extended are opportunities whereby a person may appreciate a rose “not just for a day but everyday.” It makes one recall the saying: “give them fish and they will eat for a day, teach them how to fish and they can eat everyday.”
This signals our departure from dole-outs as the primary means (there will always be dole-outs in some ways) of helping the needy. Here we are reminded that dole-outs in the name of charity is not always charity. It may even help poverty to continue for it creates dependency and takes away individual's initiative to break through the wall of poverty. The project works on the premise that the poor are poor not because of the lack of skills but because their skills are unutilized or under-utilized. Thus, only by unleashing the energy and creativity of each person can we truly answer in a Christian manner the prevalent poverty in our parish.
The third and last symbol, the church of Jaro at the background. This program is our communal and organized response to love. Pope Benedict XVI in his first encyclical letter Deus Caritas said, “Love of neighbour, grounded in the love of God, is first and foremost a responsibility for each individual member of the faithful, but it is also a responsibility for the entire ecclesial community at every level: from the local community to the particular Church and to the Church universal in its entirety. As a community, the Church must practise love. Love thus needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service to the community . . .” We who believe in God, we who are followers of Christ cannot stand idle in the midst of poverty and squalor for as the pope said, “within the community of believers there can never be room for a poverty that denies anyone what is needed for a dignified life.”
As a community we are called “to practise love” that is, to put our love into action in an “organized” way. The Kabalaka Project is our response. Let us support it. Whenever you see the sign may you be reminded that your coins can mean so much for a family who happens to be members of our Parish, who with us, worship in the same church. Thank you so much for your eager response.