“This is a symbolic celebration of my birthday,” says Fr. Romeo S. Saniel, OMI, president of the Notre Dame of Midsayap College (NDMC) referring to the “Alay ng NDMC sa Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Datu Piang on his 51st birthday last June 20.

It was one of the most significant birthday celebrations in the life of the ever dynamic and sports enthusiast president, Fr. Romy. He emphasized that the celebration was a remarkable one for the day was spent with the victims (mostly children) of the man-made atrocities which started in August 2008. He expressed a heartfelt gratitude to the kindhearted donors of assorted relief goods and medicine which were distributed to the IDPs.

The relief distribution was timely and relevant since the children are prone to common ailments. The survey shows that majority of the 600 families of the IDPs are jobless. These families depend mostly on relief assistance coming from concerned agencies, religious congregations and schools. Merly Tamson, M.D., surgeon, is the overall in-charge of these IDPs. She commented that the common diseases from which the IDPs suffer are amoebiasis, diarrhea, and typhoid fever.

It was good to note that in the course of the relief distribution, one of the beneficiaries, a certain Babu (a female elderly Maguindanaon) expressed her immense happiness by bestowing a peck on the cheek to one of the personnel who was distributing the goods. One of the beneficiaries by the name of Danikin Dandoy, 43 years old and a mother of seven children, in an interview, said that she was very grateful to NDMC for coming over to their place and gave what they really need. Another is Parasan Intok from Lintokan, Maguindanao who said that the relief goods were a big help since they lost their livelihood when the conflict in their area started.

The celebration, according to Fr. Romy, was also a token for the first anniversary of the burning of the St. Therese Church situated beside ND Dulawan. He is hoping that the Christian residents in that place will support the rebuilding of the church to further strengthen the spiritual life of the people.

The outreach activity successfully concluded with Fr. Romy beaming with happiness knowing that he spent one very meaningful birthday with the most needy together with some of his personnel. He stated that the insights that the personnel gained from the experience would be possibly shared with their students which would eventually provide the latter with knowledge and information about the realities in the neighboring areas. Such knowledge could develop in them a sense of concern and eventually lead them to extend the necessary assistance to those in need.

See pictures here.