COMVAL WINS GREEN BANNER AWARD ...

... and  RECORDS LOWEST CHILD MALNUTRITION INCIDENCE IN DAVAO REGION

Davao City- On the second consecutive year, Compostela Valley Province bagged the highly coveted Green Banner Awards. The distinction is given to local government units that recorded the lowest child malnutrition incidence. Senior Board Member and former Governor Arturo T. Uy along with employees from the Provincial Health Office-Nutrition Council received the award before National Nutrition Council-XI Program Coordinator Maria Teresa L. Ungson last October 28, 2019 at SMX Convention Center, Davao City.

 Due to the 95.18 percent that Compostela Valley garnered during the Annual Monitoring and Evaluation of the Nutrition Programs conducted by the Inter-Agency Regional Technical Working-Group to all provinces and cities in Davao Region. Compostela Valley also recorded the lowest child malnutrition incidence in the region recording 2.9 percent.

Since 2007, Compostela Valley rolled out programs that address hunger and malnutrition especially among children. Among these programs are the Adopt a Child, the Kusina Ng Kalinga, supplemental feeding among children in their early development phase, provision of vitamins and other services to pregnant women.

Reading the message in behalf of Governor Tyron Uy, Senior Board Member Uy said that the award is a product of convergence between local government units, non-government organizations and national government agencies.

“Through the bayanihan of the employees of the provincial government, we were able to rescue many children from the bondage of hunger and poverty”, he said.

 The former governor continued that addressing malnutrition is an urgent matter. He underscored that a truly progressive society is one that is characterized by well-nourished citizens.


“We can never build a peaceful world out of empty stomachs and human misery because the foundation of a truly peaceful and progressive community is always a healthy and well-nourished society”, he quips.

I AM FEELING SO BORED!

Many of us shy away from boredom, but it’s actually very good for creativity.

Many of us lead incredibly busy lives, constantly hopping from one task to the next, and when we’re blessed with a little bit of downtime, we pick up our phones, and scroll the boredom away.

But is that the best way use of our time?

Sandi Mann, a senior psychology lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK says boredom is an essential part of the creative process and should be applied to our day-to-day lives.

While being a columnist of "Tinig ng Bayan" (published in Abra) during the 1980s, I remember our Taiwanese coordinator Cristina Lising-Geronga, who expressed herself in innumerable write ups about the topic loneliness. Sure, "Tinig ng Bayan" has been a publication or Filipinos abroad. Loneliness, borne by Filipinos living abroad while missing their families in the Philippines became a very "normal" expression.

During that time, my Philippine mentor, the late Monsignor Professor Dr. Dr. Hermogenes E. Bacareza, Chaplain of the Philippine Community in Berlin, started together with me publishing "Ang Mabuhay". Believe me, "loneliness" became a main topic in many write-ups.

Nowadays, loneliness and boredom seem to be the splitting image of each other - so to speak being as like as two peas in a pod. While browsing in social networks like Facebook, one can find more and more comments as in "When Boredom Strikes" or so. Boredom, ending up in loneliness - or vice versus?

How comes that loneliness and/or boredom are still a general topics in our today's society?

Loneliness has been called one of the main diseases even during the last century. It really doesn't strike not only the Filipinos abroad and their love ones back home. Too often loneliness is being followed by alcoholism, drug abuse and even suicide. Yes, loneliness becomes a modern day plague.  I observed several people trying to surround themselves with so-called "friends" only to find that such relationships are often shallow and unsatisfying.

Loneliness can be painful but being lonely or alone at that is not always a bad thing. Ask yourself, how do  you use your time, if you are really alone? Do you simply let the time pass without doing anything  at all? Why not use such time productively? There are many worthwhile activities to engage in, even if you are alone, such as reading, writing, listen to good (light) music, play an (forgotten?) instrument, gardening... .

Reading the bible can be also very particularly beneficial.  The Word of God is "alive and exerts power" and can take our minds off ourselves.

To break the cycle of loneliness, one must be a giver. Let's keep an eye, not only and always on our personal interests but also on the interests others. Look around and watch out who needs help, or who needs a real friend or good listener. Once you have spotted such a person, act! Thus, in order to have friends, you must act like a friend. Luke 6:38 says, "Give to others, and God will give to you!" Besides, "There is more happiness (and less loneliness) in giving then receiving", says Acts 20:35.