Rediscovering Kuya

After four years, I was finally back in the Disco. I knelt, kissed the ground, sat on the cold cement and came face to face once again with Kuya. Something that used to be so distant and abstract suddenly became so real and personal. I hugged myself, not wanting to let go.

We only had three hours of sleep for the next two nights. Most of us only had thin sleeping bags to shield ourselves from the classroom floor. Yes, we were even under staffed and some of our meals had to be delayed to make sure everything is running according to the schedule. We all had to make sacrifices, from not going to work, up to traveling to Manila from as far as Baguio.

But regardless of the hardships, no one complained. We were more than eager and helpful to bring back Days with the Lord in our high school after more than four years of its absence. It's about time for other people to experience Kuya.

It feels great to be working with my high school batch mates and friends again, although one of my closest friends isn't there because he's reviewing for the board exams. We all shared the same experiences so it wasn't difficult to keep all of us motivated. Looking at them work reminded me of how much I really miss high school.

I think more than doing it for the next batch of Dayzers, we served because we needed to. I think there's that insatiable thirst that urges us to keep coming back because the experience is so personal and beautiful that we want to get a glimpse of that experience over and over. In other schools, DWTL finishes after high school. But because our community is relatively so small, we know the people who are even 5 to 8 years older than us and close ties are formed. Some of the older Dayzers even serve as our personal mentors.

I hope we'll be able to organize another retreat this coming summer. Sa uulitin! Basta Ikaw.

photo from Melody Jurado