"Preferential option for the poor."
In a nutshell, this phrase captures the spirit of social justice. It was first used in 1968 by the superior general of the Jesuits, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, in a letter to his order. The term was later picked up by the Catholic bishops in Latin America. The liberation theology movement fully embraced the concept, particularly when they closely associated the poor and the vulnerable with Jesus himself, citing Matthew 25, "Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me."
For me, first time I heard the phrase was in a lecture by Fr. Asandas Balchand, our Theology professor back in the 1980s. Fast forward to 33 years later and I again heard those inspiring words on the morning of April 7.
I woke up early at 5am on that Sunday morning and eagerly drove to the Loyola Heights campus of the Ateneo de Manila University . Had in mind to do a 21-km long slow distance (LSD) run. By 6am, I was already doing my pre-run walk along the Father Materson Drive inside the campus when I chanced upon a group of people assembling around a makeshift stage. On that stage stood a woman and a man who judging from appearance appeared to be emcees of a fun run event. At that point, I wasn't interested to join the fun run because I was deadset on doing the half-marathon long LSD so as to build up much needed mileage to prepare for a 50-km ultra marathon later in the month of April.
But suddenly, I hear the man on the stage blurted out on his microphone the famous words of Fr. Arrupe. Hearing "Preferential option for the poor" was kind of like the magic word that got me sold to joining the fun run. The context that the emcee used was that the fun run will be to benefit the marginalized in society. This got me hooked and immediately I lined up to register and pay the Php 400 reg fee.
Turns out the name of the fun run is "Yapak Yakap" and it is annually organized by a student organization of the Ateneo called Barefoot Philippines.
Founded in 2015, Barefoot Philippines is a student organization in the Ateneo de Manila University dedicated to supporting UNICEF Philippines, particularly its objective of protecting and upholding children's rights. The aim of this student organization is to provide sustainable, contextualized assistance for children in rural communities. At present, Barefoot Philippines has two partner communities: Lupang Pangako, an Ayta community that relocated to Zambales after the Mt Pinatubo eruption; and Katutubo Village composed of three sitios of Ayta communities in Pampanga. Formative assistance includes monthly community engagements where student members of Barefoot conduct modules for the kids in the area , while structural assistance including providing infrastructures (e.g. water pump) that are needed in the community.
Thru the years, Barefoot Philippines has used a number of fund-raising initiatives to support all these good work for the communities of Lupang Pangako and Katutubo Village. These have included Food for the Sole (bake sale), a movie screening of Beauty and the Beast, Foot it to Good Use, and Fundraiser X: PAAlala. And in Feb 2018, they added a fun run called Yapak Yakap. The April 7, 2019 Yapak Yakap is actually the 2nd running of this fundraising event.
Yapak Yakap is a color run with distances of 1.5km, 3km and 5km. Color and youth do mix quite well together and the photos prove it.
As for me, I joined the longest distance available - 5km. At the start, arrayed against all the youth, I was at the rear and eating the dust of many of these eager beaver runners. But it is not how you start but how you finish. As we reach the mid-point of the 5km run, I noticed that many of the young ones have tired and were resigned to just walking. That is when the penguin had the satisfaction of overtaking more than a handful of bunnies.
But that was just small consolation for me. The delight I had that morning of April 7 at the Ateneo was knowing that I got to join a running activity in my alma mater that was all about being of assistance to our fellow human beings.
Great job Barefoot Philippines. Looking forward to another Yapak Yakap.
.
I woke up early at 5am on that Sunday morning and eagerly drove to the Loyola Heights campus of the Ateneo de Manila University . Had in mind to do a 21-km long slow distance (LSD) run. By 6am, I was already doing my pre-run walk along the Father Materson Drive inside the campus when I chanced upon a group of people assembling around a makeshift stage. On that stage stood a woman and a man who judging from appearance appeared to be emcees of a fun run event. At that point, I wasn't interested to join the fun run because I was deadset on doing the half-marathon long LSD so as to build up much needed mileage to prepare for a 50-km ultra marathon later in the month of April.
But suddenly, I hear the man on the stage blurted out on his microphone the famous words of Fr. Arrupe. Hearing "Preferential option for the poor" was kind of like the magic word that got me sold to joining the fun run. The context that the emcee used was that the fun run will be to benefit the marginalized in society. This got me hooked and immediately I lined up to register and pay the Php 400 reg fee.
Turns out the name of the fun run is "Yapak Yakap" and it is annually organized by a student organization of the Ateneo called Barefoot Philippines.
Founded in 2015, Barefoot Philippines is a student organization in the Ateneo de Manila University dedicated to supporting UNICEF Philippines, particularly its objective of protecting and upholding children's rights. The aim of this student organization is to provide sustainable, contextualized assistance for children in rural communities. At present, Barefoot Philippines has two partner communities: Lupang Pangako, an Ayta community that relocated to Zambales after the Mt Pinatubo eruption; and Katutubo Village composed of three sitios of Ayta communities in Pampanga. Formative assistance includes monthly community engagements where student members of Barefoot conduct modules for the kids in the area , while structural assistance including providing infrastructures (e.g. water pump) that are needed in the community.
Thru the years, Barefoot Philippines has used a number of fund-raising initiatives to support all these good work for the communities of Lupang Pangako and Katutubo Village. These have included Food for the Sole (bake sale), a movie screening of Beauty and the Beast, Foot it to Good Use, and Fundraiser X: PAAlala. And in Feb 2018, they added a fun run called Yapak Yakap. The April 7, 2019 Yapak Yakap is actually the 2nd running of this fundraising event.
Yapak Yakap is a color run with distances of 1.5km, 3km and 5km. Color and youth do mix quite well together and the photos prove it.
As for me, I joined the longest distance available - 5km. At the start, arrayed against all the youth, I was at the rear and eating the dust of many of these eager beaver runners. But it is not how you start but how you finish. As we reach the mid-point of the 5km run, I noticed that many of the young ones have tired and were resigned to just walking. That is when the penguin had the satisfaction of overtaking more than a handful of bunnies.
But that was just small consolation for me. The delight I had that morning of April 7 at the Ateneo was knowing that I got to join a running activity in my alma mater that was all about being of assistance to our fellow human beings.
Great job Barefoot Philippines. Looking forward to another Yapak Yakap.
.
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