I’m in Tarlac for the next week or so…voluntary exile from the hustle and buste of city life. Here are the things I appreciated in the real world, post Kawayan Camp:

1. Seeing my grades in my first year in grad school… amazing.

2. Staying at our rooftop and being tossed about in my hammock in Signal#2 winds.

3.My dad’s 58th birthday.

4. Remembering the laughing trip I had with four IVPM friends last Tuesday and realizing that it’s been exactly a year since we met.

5. A REAL vacation and coming home.

I don’t own a camera and I am totally clueless about documentation. I have ample cause to regret it when I look back at my recent spate of out of town trips and activities the past few months. So here’s something that I hope I can learn within 2008:

from http://bongkiko.blogspot.com/

SPEED video
I developed a course on video production and called it SPEED video -
Producing Strategic, Practical, Effective, Exciting and Do-able Videos

This Five-day course dynamically integrates these three essential elements of video production – 1) skills and techniques in photo-video recording, 2) tools and principles of video editing using simple software (e.g., Movie Maker and ULEAD), and 3) key ingredients of creative Story telling. Specifically, the course will focus on producing short videos (less than 10 minutes) for various purposes like documenting events, program summary, project highlights, personal accomplishments, and others. All these contents will be taught using Dialogue Education principles and approaches.

We initially offered it in Davao where we had 9 participants from a LGU. We are also setting to schedule a run in Quezon City, Cagayan De Oro, Iloilo and Cebu in the coming months
So, who will benefit from this course?
This course was designed to benefit groups who can use short videos for various purposes. These groups include: local Government Units, Government Agencies, Non Government Organizations, Local churches, church and mission organizations, Foundations and Civic Groups, Schools, Colleges and universities, and others.

and who may attend the course?
Any adult - ages 18 up - can. The participant must have, sufficient working knowledge on basic computer software program (i.e. Word), and an attitude and desire to learn. Participants are limited to maximum of 20 only.
To benefit the most are Program managers, officers and staff who participate in various events, monitors programs and other work-related initiatives. Anyone who needs to come up with a short but powerful summary that highlights the “essentials” without spending so much time and resources on the technical and tedious process usually involved in video production.
What are other requirements?
Each participant or pair* must bring the following:
1. a digital Camera and /or video Camera (preference on digital Camera with Audio-Video recording mode and I GB of memory card )
2. Laptop with at least 512 MB of RAM (higher would be better) and Windows XP
3. Samples of digital photos and video recordings (prints and/or soft copies – i.e., digital files)
4. a Flash drive/memory stick /thumb drive/ memory card with 512 MB minimum capacity
* - Note: it is best to have 2 participants coming from the same organization so they can work as a pair.

These are what some of the participants in our maiden offering in Davao have to say about the course:
“The course was amazing and the process used was fundamental and in layman terms. Thanks to Boyet Ongkiko for making things easy for us”
“I’ve realized the power of SPEED in delivering messages to target audience.”

“I see myself as a creator of SPEED Videos which conveys the life of farmer-beneficiaries, including the landowners too.”
“Now I can produce my own video of family and friends’ activities as gift for any celebration.”
“Useful for training activities”

“The Method used in imparting the skills and experience is fun and effective.”

“It will be very useful and applicable for our PROGRAMS in 2008 which will focus on profiling our 86 Barangays”

“The technique and way in producing videos in a short time – that is SPEED Video”
For interested groups, email:
The Director – Strategic Training Unit
eklipse.is@gmail.com

For other inquiries send text to:
09209226840

Kawayan Camp 2008 is over. How do I put a month’s worth of memories into words? 

Let me count instead the ways I encountered God in the ricefields of Negros.

• Each time I gazed at the starry sky or at a blazing sunset and marvel at their beauty.

• The only time I did a serious Spritual Retreat and finally was able to discern what I should do next.

• Each time the rain stopped long enough for us to do our special events outdoors without getting soaked.

• Each memory verse that reminded me of who God is and who I am in Him.

• The deep and not so deep conversations I had with the campers, my fellow counselors and the staffworkers about life, calling, love, and leading.

• Each step of the 1.5 km hike along the muddy ant-infested pilapil in pitch darkness. 

• That last night during the Community immersion, when I prayed for the lola in our host family and I understood her straight Hiligaynon without knowing how.

• Each station we designed for the Missions Night Amazing Race and how the questions challenged my readiness and willingness to do ministry.

• The many times I inadvertently hurt someone with my words and then realized how amazing grace is.

• Each hug and warm embrace I gave and received, and the trust willingly given and carefully kept in our cabin and small group discussions.

• The tears I shed as I watched The Kite-Runner.

• Each of the 60 testimonies from the campers of their own encounters with God during KC.

• The night after the campers left and I said to myself: It’s less than 24 hours and there are cobwebs in our cabin already…. I miss the kids.

• Each time we sang this song:

Knowing You Jesus

C G/B Am   F    C              F    G C
All I once held dear, built my life upon,
    G/B  Am    F C         Am      G
All this world reveres and wars to own;
C     F    G       C   C/E     F   G   Am/C
All I once thought gain I have counted loss,
      G/B Am   F    C      Am       Gsus4
Spent and worthless now compared to this.

G       F6   C    F/G  G    C
Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
      Am    Em/G    F
There is no greater thing.
          C/E             F/A
You’re my all, You’re the best,
          C/G              F/A
You’re my joy, my righteousness,
      C/E      F/A    C/G   G
And I love You Lord.

Now my heart’s desire is to know You more,
To be found in You and know as Yours,
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All surpassing gift of righteousness

Oh to know the power of Your risen life,
And to know You in Your sufferings;
To become like You in Your death, my Lord,
So with You to live and never die.

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. — Philippians 3:7-11

 

For You, Lord, a thousand times over.