Eva Luna

A quiet day today. In the morning my housemate and i were absorbed in the normal rhythm of weekend household work and by mid-day ensconced ourselves in the sofa to watch the regular Sunday TV shows. After dinner i went back to my reading and finished the remaining pages of Isabel Allende's novel "Eva Luna".

“My name is Eva, which means “life,” according to a book of names my mother consulted. I was born in the back room of a shadowy house, and grew up amidst ancient furniture, books in Latin, and human mummies, but none of these things made me melancholy, because I came into the world with a breath of the jungle in my memory..."

So goes the opening sentence of the book. This is the story of Eva Luna who triumphs over harsh realities of life and love and escapes oppression and melancholy through the creative power of her own imagination.

It was a good read. Maybe 7 in a scale of 1 to 10. Not a perfect score because Eva's character failed to really "engage" me the same way other female book characters did in my past readings. Maria moved me with her diary entries and daring adventures in Paulo Coelho's novel Eleven Minutes...Sayuri dazzled me with accounts of her mysterious world in Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha...and there's this group of 4 women who call themselves angry housewives eating bon-bons whose "company" i enjoyed so much. Long after i've devoured the last page of these novels, the thoughts and emotions of the heroines continue to echo in my mind as if they were my own. I guess this is what Eva Luna didn't do to me. I enjoyed her story, yes, but i didn't feel like i was part of it or i was "her."

Nevertheless Isabel Allende surprised me with her great talent. She's a master storyteller and her gift of language, her power with words and the rich imagery and adventure she creates seem to flow effortlessly in this extraordinary mystical tale.

Tweet

my place, my space

you protect me from the rain, the scorching sun, the sweltering heat, the destructive typhoons. you give me warmth and comfort during cold windy nights. you keep me safe and secure. you welcome my guests. you keep me company. you confine me yet give me room to move and breath. you have space for all my stuff: no more keeping them in boxes. you showcase my life captured in pictures. you provide me entertainment: when i am lost in the adventure of a book, your ceiling disappears and gives way to vast landscapes, snowy mountains, forests and endless seas, outer space, what-have-yous. you allow me to dress you up. you encourage my creativity and artistry and seeing my creations on you makes me really proud. you grieve and celebrate with me: your walls and doors deaden my sobs, your windows fan out my laughs. you know my stories, my fears, my joys, my plans, my dreams, my secrets.

the first time we met you were nothing but an empty dirty piece of square lot, i wasn't even sure then how to keep you. but that's history...we've been together for five years now. you ended my restlessness - no more moving in and out, packing and unpacking, meeting and leaving...

happy anniversary to you my dear cute little green cozy house. let me light some candles now so we can both wrap ourselves up in aromatic bliss.

Tweet

(un)finished work

In this life we cannot do great things,
only small things with great love. - Mother Teresa

Time flies so fast. It was in May 2005 when i got a call to write a project proposal for a non-government organization. I can still remember that day: I was in Pranjetto Hills in Tanay, Rizal documenting a weeklong youth training when my mobile phone rang and from the other line, FMT was convincing me to write about a big project they thought of submitting to the European Union for funding. Fresh out of government service that time, i was so eager to try new things (and i need the money too) so i accepted the challenge and gave my positive reply.

The deadline was in 2 weeks. I only had that much time to digest all the reference materials, learn and understand the project concern, listen to the project proponents as they brainstorm and put them all together in a well-written proposal following the prescribed form and format. whew! I spent the night before the deadline with Binsent at the office, both of us cramming for the unfinished parts of the paper. I managed to sleep on the sofa by 3am and, in between winks, i mentally concocted the Logical Framework. Hours before the deadline, the whole office was under an organized chaos - we were on our toes as i finalized the proposal and passed it on to the others who had it signed, photocopied, labeled and packaged. It was like running a relay and the last one who got hold of the baton (the proposal) was Francis who dashed from Quezon City to Makati City to beat the deadline. He made it!

So anyway, while waiting for the fate of the proposal, i landed a temporary job at the Supreme Court as organizer of the International Conference on Judicial Reforms. It was in September (3 months later) when i got an SMS from FMT saying our proposal was approved for a grant of more than a hundred thousand euros equivalent to about P10 million! who-a! i made it! i'm such a genius...i'm so proud of myself! hahaha :-)

The project was officially launched in March 2006 at the provincial capitol of La Union. Project implementers were the Institute for Social Studies and Action (ISSA) in partnership with the Social Weather Stations (SWS) in cooperation with the Provincial Government of La Union and with fund support from the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines.

Its primary goal was to help the provincial government develop and put in place a functional local monitoring system on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) specifically on MDG 5: Target 7 that will be sustainable and replicable in other local government agencies.

I joined the ISSA project team in May 2006 when we had a series of consultations with the various stakeholders in La Union as part of the situational analysis. When the project was presented to a bigger audience via a National Workshop last June, i was among those who expressed commitment to the project as we gamefully participated in the "bond of hands."

I am thankful i made the commitment. I learned a lot from our participants and resource persons, gained friends and shared both good and difficult times with the project team. It was a rollercoaster ride: one time we were celebrating and eager to go on with the project activities, the next breath we were working under a cloud of confusion. There were a lot of setbacks, criticisms and holes to fill in. Some of the project team members gave up and left. I was lucky to be spared of the pressure and usual office drama as i was not really involved in the tedious everyday work - i did my reports and researches at home, communicated through e-mail and only made myself visible during the project's major activities. It was the project staff who spent more than 8 hours of work each day and stood by the project from start to finish who really bled for it.

Finally we had our project dissemination forum yesterday, the culmination of our year-long effort. We were all smiling from ear to ear, relieved to have completed the project and complied with our commitment to the funding agency. We all know though, at the back of our minds, that the project may have ended but the work has just begun. It's a long road ahead...a lot of things still need to be done, issues to be resolved, partnerships to be forged and people to be trained to make sure that all our efforts will not go to waste. Development work is a long tedious process and we can never expect things to be accomplished overnight.

Personally, i learned a lot from the project. I am now ten times a better person than I was when i received the call to write the proposal. I have improved my research, writing and analytical skills and developed my interpersonal skills as well. Most important of all, I have discovered a new way to market myself - proposal/grant writing, that is - so maybe next time I get an offer I can command a higher price. hehehe :-)

Congratulations to the project team members! Let's enjoy the fresh air for a while before we move on to the next challenge.

Tweet

C's

Coffee...

Chocolate & Cheese-flavored Cakes...
Candles...
Cat decor in gift bag...
Chat with friends one Cool February night...

Life's simple C's...

____
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - Greenbelt MakatiCarmel, Candy & Grace Carolyn

Tweet