A letter from Dessa Palm serving in the Philippines
october 2014 - A time for healing
Precious Laughter: A Time for Healing
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4:
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance
It is almost one year now since the super typhoon Haiyan (or Yolanda) hit the eastern Visayas region on Nov. 8, 2013, with great wrath. It was a time of terror and tragedy, one that led to massive devastation and loss of lives. I remember having cried with anguish as we witnessed the stories through print and television, feeling so hopeless and helpless from our relative distance. I also remember having prayed for God to let us know if there was any way we could help rebuild and heal the affected communities in ways that we know and love best—through the arts and creative action.
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Creative sessions were filled with music, movement, art, and lots of laughter
God has answered these prayers through a series of trainings and small performances that opened up as a timely opportunity. In February it was with a group of Child Friendly Spaces facilitators in coordination with UNICEF. And then in May, through the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and a Korean foundation GFI with its project manager Byoung Gi Kang, it was with a group of pastors held in Dulag, Leyte. Then a couple of weeks later it was with 84 elementary schoolteachers in Tolosa from 13 schools. And then again in August in Palo, Leyte, and just these past two weeks in Tanauan, Leyte, where close to 300 public school (Department of Education) teachers participated.
What struck me most is the oft-repeated comment that many DepEd teachers expressed about feeling grateful for the gift of laughter. They said they had not laughed as much since Typhoon Yolanda. And it is in the spaces of laughter that much of the joyful learning has happened.
I feel there is a degree of compassion fatigue, helping fatigue, that many in the service sector, teachers included, experience because as much as there is a natural compulsion to work and address other people’s needs, sometimes it is at the expense of their own need to heal their brokenness. Many of the teachers we met were mobilized by local government units to help in the evacuation of families. Many of them would have left their communities after the typhoon, but couldn’t. One said, “When our students found out about our plans for leaving, they came to our house and asked: ‘Teacher, who will teach us if you are gone?’”
They have carried so much weight in their hearts, and expectations on them are quite high to minister to the children even if many schools were battered and tattered. And so during our training on the Use of Creative Methods for Psycho-Social Support and Community Action, the safety of the space allowed for them to recognize and embrace their feelings without the sense that they were judged, by others or by themselves. There were tears, but also laughter generated by their collective creative and childlike spirit, sparked through arts and group games. It was a respite from their fatigue.
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Group photo after the teachers performed their original pieces at the end of the Training on the Use of Creative Methods for PsychoSocial Support and Community Action in Leyte.
Our trainings were held in rooms at various schools and colleges still recovering from the battering of the typhoon, with shattered windows and doors, with roofs still undergoing repairs, so that we would shift our spots every time it rained or when the sun glared unforgivingly. A single extension line provided us with access to electricity, but there were no electric fans until the last day.
But in spite of the reality of scarcity and making do with what was available, the spirit of the teachers, volunteers and facilitators was undaunted. Young and old, those residing near and far, a few very pregnant women, some with health issues—they all said they wanted to come every day because they felt happy and lighter. They were singing more, they were talking more, while learning ways to apply these creative methods in their own classrooms.
In a sobering way, it also gave me so much pride to witness the amazing display of competence and generosity of the young artist-trainers of the Youth Advocates Through Theater Arts (YATTA) team. As young educators and leaders, they also communicated to the teachers the immense value of empowering our youth—they demonstrated the blessing of helping shape a generation that has the capacity to give, to share, to develop their gifts in ways that serve others.
And like a perfect script, God orchestrated for us this time to reveal how many people help the survivors through an outpouring of kindness and compassion. It takes a global village, after all, to heal a people who have witnessed such unfathomable destruction in their midst. But for us, to see the teachers laugh with abandon is so deeply poignant and precious that even their district supervisor, Milagros N. Jamora, Ed.D., lauded and appreciated the experience. It is God’s life and light sprouting from the little cracks where hope and resilience will emerge and thrive. Amidst the mourning and weeping is a time for healing, for laughing and dancing.
Dessa
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 238
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 249
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