Ternate: Community Immersion Program Experrience

Immersion Lives intertwine. And hundreds of stories fill up the pages of this spectacular chapter in our lives. We don’t how to start, where to start. For our words are primitive and will never suffice for the grandeur we had felt, we had witnessed, we had lived. A lot of the best days from our two decades of living came around pouring and the only obstacle was the longing for home. It wasn’t love at first sight. It took its own course in time, slowly penetrating the fortresses we had so eagerly fortified to seclude our vulnerabilities from the sight of the new world we are trying to identify ourselves with. We were moved to a being far from who we used to be. We used to be governed by prejudiced and we were often accompanied by fears and misconceptions. Nevertheless, the moment we set foot on the soil of such land miles away from home, the world tilted and showed a different face. The overwhelming kindness and hospitality shattered all barriers, all differences. We were changed in ways we are neither capable of elaborating nor enumerating. This defining moment in our cheery young lives made a better person out of us; outgrowing the childish things and realizing the weight of responsibility in independence. From that moment on our perspective about so many things comes flashing in different lights. Lives intertwine. Our own individual stories are woven together in the fabrics that created stupendous consonance with the other twenty souls or less that came along. There were bright sunny days and gloomy rainy days. There were moments of laughter and a period of tears. There was a time of building bridges and there was a time for an untimely goodbye. There was longing for home and there was enjoyment in independence. There was a long winding road that we ended up trudging and there were places that took our breath away. There were strangers who became acquaintances, acquaintances who became friends and friends who became family. There were sleepless nights and some strolling under the luminous moonlight. There was everything that we prayed for and a house that became our home. We were moved to love. We were moved because we felt loved. The strangest beauty is to find serenity amidst the chaos that goes on within. And the bitterness of life melted away in the struggles that we endured. We were blessed. For not having everything and yet feeling too much. We were blessed for not having everything and yet there lies contentment. We were blessed to have so many things to thank for. We were blessed to have met amazing people who touched our lives and made us better persons. We were blessed to have experiences that taught a lot about life. We thank God for all of it. Lives intertwine. Twisted and bonded; our lives intertwined in the crossroad named TERNATE. And though blood maybe thicker than water, the water flowed like the massive torrents of an angry river. Strong and indestructible – that’s who we are together. We were bound though not by blood but by each passing day that we went through together feeling what each one felt, working on what each one needed, struggling on the same things, experiencing the same

moments. We partake in each other’s lives in this momentous portion that will happen nevermore. What we had was a once in a lifetime and the aftermath of a lasting nostalgia. It wasn’t love at first sight for it wasn’t in a spur of time and the intensity of the moment. It was more of that subtle love that grows with everyday as we came to know deeper the persons we had met and the places we had been. It is the kind of love that is ingrained in our hearts and endures through time. We had met so many different persons before from all walks of life. We had been to places that left blissful memories in our minds. We heard countless stories of day-to-day struggles of survival. There were heartaches and pains. There were laughter and fun. We had been through so much in our lives. Yet, what are left with us now are memories. And what had been in that place, in that particular span of time, will be remembered dearly as we dance down the memory lane decades from now at the beat of the sublime melody echoing TERNATE.