Pusong dalisay at tunay

A midst all the gloom and doom of our current situation, with seemingly no sign of any light at the end of the tunnel, my spirit was uplifted by two recent events I had the privilege of attending.

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The Assisi Development Foundation marked its 50th anniversary last month with a look-back celebration with family, friends and many of its partners. The only sad note was that Assisi founder Ambassador Howard Dee was not present, having passed away in August last year. But his widow Betty was in attendance, at 94 still active and as gracious - and beautiful-as ever (we should all aspire to age like her!).

The Assisi Development Foundation (ADF) was started in 1975- "nearly three years after the declaration of martial law, (but) the government's promise of a progressive new society remained unfulfilled" - by Ambassador Dee and Fr. Fritz Araneta to carry out development programs for the poor. Ending poverty in the Philippines was Ambassador Dee's over-arching goal "an aspiration that may seem impossible, yet one he pursued with unwavering hope," said Viel Aquino-Dee, chair of the ADF.

Viel, Ambassador Dee's daughter-in-law, succinctly expressed in her opening remarks the mission of the ADF and the pivotal role of Ambassador Dee in carrying out this mission.

"For five decades, Assisi had embarked on a wide range of development initiatives including sustainable agriculture, water systems, educational assistance, feeding malnourished children, relief and rehabilitation of war-torn and calamity-stricken areas, empowering indigenous communities, microfinance for entrepreneurial women and more. Yet today, we find ourselves still searching for ways to alleviate poverty in our country.