Sister Celerina Zabala - Missionary Sister of the Servants of
the Holy Spirit
35 years ago, in 1974, the Missionary
Sisters of the Servants of the Holy Spirit arrived in Sitio Paitan,
Naujan, (a town very near Calapan), Oriental, Mindoro, to spread the
Good News and the love of Jesus Christ to the Alangan Mangyans of the
sitio.
Sister Magdalena Laykamm pioneered the
evangelization and community building. She stayed and lived with the
Mangyan community, learned their language, their culture, their way
of life. She planted the seed which encouraged the natives to stay
and build a community. The sisters were assisted in their missionary
work by the SVD priests, particularly Father Edwald Dinter.
Other sisters came and left their mark
in the process of community building. Sister Victricia Pascasio was a
main player in their struggle for the registration of their land as
their ancestral domain.
Little by little, the community grew –
from a few families coming to the mission to now more than a hundred
families coming together as one community. The Mission has
established a school which teaches academic subjects from the
Mangayan perspective.
Sister Celerina reminisces :“Hindi
naman kaagad agad kami welcome ng Alangan Mangyans. Many of them ran
away when we first came, went further up the mountain and refused to
have anything to do with us. But the sisters persevered and now, much
improvement can be seen in health, sanitation, economic endeavors,
especially in education. The death rate caused by ignorance and dirty
surroundings has gone down”
Sister Celerina observes “the
Mangyans have stopped the kaingin and have learned to harness their
culture to produce the distinctive black and white woven products.
Unfortunately, they do not have a written language and when the
elders pass away, there will be no one to remember. Maybe that will
be the next project of the Mission”.
“The wives/mothers will be tapped to
spearhead this project. The women of Alangan Mangyan are strong and
serve as partners in any family endeavor. They are the bearers of
tradition and culture. They teach the crafts, bring in extra income
for the family through the products they derive from the farm,
forests and the environment around them and, most important, the
women keep the family intact. They are the homemakers”.
.
Sister Celerina visits the mission
twice a month – to ensure that the women continue their homemaking
duties and responsibilities. To facilitate the marketing of the
Alangan Mangyan products, the Mission links with agencies such as
Gifts and Graces which bring their products to the attention of
the market. “Gifts and Graces is a big help to the Mission because
not only does it market our products but also assists us in product
quality control”.
These days, Sister Celerina is kept
busy by her mission work with the women of Alangan Mangyan and by
the “little” store the Mission has set up at 48 Valley Road, Q.
C. (02 7270324) where the products of their communities are proudly
displayed and sold. Sister Celerina truly is on a mission for her
beloved Alangan Mangyans.
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