It gives me great joy to have expressed the Filipino bayanihan sprit in Temuka yesterday afternoon. Temuka is 15 kilometers north of Timaru
I and Dennis, a Filipino I met here in Timaru, went there and helped a Filipina and her partner moved their things to their newly bought house.
What was great, another Filipina volunteered to pick up our daughter from school at 3:00 PM because I will be in Temuka whole afternoon and my wife will be out from office at 5:00.
Bayanihan is a Filipino term for community cooperation, where neighbours and friends gather together and help someone or a group in need.
I must testify that our family has availed much from the bayanihan spirit that Filipinos and non-Filipinos showed us in our nine-month stay in Auckland.
So when the president of the Filipino Association of South Canterbury called and requested me to help, I did not hesitate. It is now my opportunity to pay forward the bayanihan that I got from others.
I was dead tired after hauling and lifting furniture and all household things for almost five hours. Nevertheless, my spirit feels happy and proud that bayanihan thrives well in South Canterbury.
Mabuhay ang Filipino!