I even got some walking exercise just to scout for some newspaper stand who might still be open that evening hoping to get the days' issue of Philippine Daily Inquirer so that I will be able to get personal copy of the news. Unfortunately no more copy is available at the nearest 7-11.
Gladly, I have a friend who lives near a 7-11 store and I just texted him to get a copy for me. Yes! I was able to get one and soon I will be able to have it.
Here's an excerpt of the news:
To view the full article, click here: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/learning/view/20090705-213984/The-day-they-sang-God-Bless-America
The day they sang ‘God Bless America’
By Chelo Banal-Formoso
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:05:00 07/05/2009
Filed Under: Education, Youth, Music
FROM the where the guests have been invited to stand, one can see the perfect lines formed by the girls, perhaps over 3,000 of them. Only discipline can make lines like these.
And then – their voices strong, their hand movements synchronized, looking like they are lit from within – they sing. God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her, through the night with the light from above. From the mountains to the prairies, to the ocean white with foam, God bless America, my home sweet home.
A choreography of emotions and amazing grace, the rendition moves Kristie Anne Kenney to tears. Even the non-Americans among the guests are misty-eyed.
“That you chose to welcome me today by learning a special song that honors my country and my heritage, and to do it so brilliantly, is a very wonderful treat,” responds Ms Kenney upon being handed the microphone. “And I know of no other nation in the world that has that kind of kindness and welcoming spirit.”
It isn’t every day that the US ambassador to the Philippines comes a-calling on the Sisters of Mary (SOM) and their wards at the Girlstown complex in Silang, Cavite. And this afternoon, she comes bearing gifts.
“I brought you some books because if you’re like me and you dream of what else is out there, you can do a lot of that through books,” she says to thunderous applause.
The girls are all in uniforms of blue and white. Marian colors. In this live-in high school founded in 1985 by Msgr. Aloysius Schwartz, reading is highly valued, but so is moral and spiritual formation. The girls are taught to live a life of simplicity, charity, gratitude and joy. Marian virtues.
None of these kids is holding an iPod or a Sony Ericsson phone or any such cool gadget for teens these days. That’s because these girls, and their fellow scholars at SOM Boystown (not to be confused with the facility for juvenile delinquents), come from dirt-poor families of Luzon and Palawan (Visayas and Mindanao are served by the SOM schools in Cebu).
At Girlstown and Boystown, they are given free education, room and board, medical and dental services, not to mention heaps of hope.
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