Upon my priestly ordination last October 11, 2010, I was full of vigor to start my ministry as a priest. My joy of God's love and the gift of priesthood can't be fully expressed in words because I felt so blessed being chosen by God to serve Him. Pope Benedict VI said, "the sacrament of ordination expresses this very point; through the sacrament the priest is totally inserted into Christ, so that by starting from him and acting in his sight he may carry out in communion with him the service of Jesus, the one Shepherd, in whom God, as man, wants to be our Shepherd." Without a doubt, I thank God every day for the gift of a vocation to the priesthood.
As a young priest, I find always an excitement to trek the mountains of San Carlos in Negros Occidental, Philippines. My visit to the different chapels or basic small communities in the mission territories had been fruitful and enriching because I spent time with the people. I celebrated sacraments of "MISA, BINYAG AT KASAL" "MASS, BAPTISM AND WEDDING" This experience of evangelization to our poor brothers and sisters in the mountains was a profound experience of faith, love, and joy. I love people and I find joy in interacting with the people. I learned a lot from their experiences and stories but above all, I experienced the poverty of the people in the mountains.
This was a moment of awakening for me. Every time I visited the mountain and celebrated mass at the barrios. I saw young kids, especially young girls carrying their babies. They are generally at the age of 15 to 20 without a high school degree. When asked why they get married early? They would say; because they are poor. My heart bleeds every time I hear this situation. I thought that poverty, lack of motivation, and no moral support from parents are the valid reasons that these kids would stay in the mountains. They have let go of their dream to go to school because of their helpless situation.
One day a girl named Rovelyn approached me and asked to finance her studies. I agreed that I would help her in my little way but I explained that I am a Catholic priest with a meager allowance. From one beneficiary that I helped, it became four kids. The good news spread quickly that eventually, I was helping 9 young kids in just a matter of months in the year 2011.
Considering this situation, I have thought that there is a need to create a group who believes in helping out these young boys and girls for a more decent life through education. Education is a way to alleviate poverty. Young boys and girls will have better opportunities once they are educated. I called my friends on this project and they loved my idea to help these kids with the students' sponsorship program. They were positive. They believed in my dream to help these poor kids, which became their dream as well. Initially, we started with 5 members and this grew to 15 members…all are volunteers.
Believing in this dream, in this vision, in this mission, and this goal; we created a DREAM and a HOPE FOR THE CHILDREN. This was the humble beginning of the Dream Foundation. We created a new organization that will commit to a particular direction.
Dream Foundation is a prayer-based community helping to bring Christ to those poor children who need financial support, moral support, and prayer to pursue their dream. Our primary goal is to establish a sponsorship program for education, "Adopt a Child/Student Program".
Dream Foundation is committed to showing compassion to those in need and values the trust and generosity of our supporters. Above all, Dream Foundation seeks to share Christ with those most in need. With a sense of gratitude, we seek to be an instrument through which our donors and sponsors can express their faith and love for God and their neighbor through actions and prayer.
