Dumaguete MISSION Initiatives

Dumaguete Initiatives

Buglas Bamboo Institute

The reason for the establishment of Buglas Bamboo Institute was to provide additional income to the subsistent farmers in the southern part of Negros Oriental and at the same time to contribute to help diminish global warming. After 4 years of study about bamboo and discussing with small farmers in the country side about its feasibility, it became clear that setting up such organization was not an easy task. And indeed, after 10 years of hard work and deep reflections the reality is still that the processing of bamboo takes a long commitment of farmers and community workers, but also clarified that the task is not impossible. There is income and money in bamboo if certain conditions are fulfilled. A great contribution to minimize global warming can be made at the same time.

Buglas Bamboo Institute (BBI) in Dauin, Negros Oriental was recognized by the Philippine Government on August 7, 1999. Since then it has worked hard to use bamboo for the production of construction materials, accessories, panels and even paper. In more than 10 years BBI has evolved into a social development organization, providing the local population with additional income of more than 2 million pesos a year. The slogan of a social organization is People, Planet, Profit. BBI has been successful in the People and the Planet aspects. In the Profit aspect BBI has suffered serious setbacks to the extent that it has great difficulty to make the program self-supporting.

We are the Citizens of the Cosmos!

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By Sharmaine de Guzman

March 3, 2012, Botanical Garden, Baguio City—After a series of heavy reading and prolonged meetings for our regular study group, we finally finished Beradene Jocelyn’s Citizens of the Cosmos. Everyone shared their insights from the book which triggered meaningful reflections and wonderful learnings.

The group started with a moment of silence as each individual invited focus and positive energies. With the help of an assigned facilitator, each member of the group was able to share their insights and explain how those relate to themselves and/or to other events in their lives.

Everyone was amazed by the values the book teaches. The load of intellectual and spiritual learning it offers also fascinated everybody. The realization that we are not separated from anything and that each of us is significantly part of the larger whole—of the universe, reflects the core thought of the book. Understanding life and its relation to the cosmic movements—the journey of the planets, the moon, and the stars—can be overwhelming; however, it creatively helped each of us appreciate the meaning of life’s cycles and struggles as it enlivens our consciousness about the wonderful things around us.

As one of us shared in the group, the book helped us realized that indeed “Life is a constant metamorphosis”. Life is a cycle.  Life is a lemniscate. Realizing this encourages everybody to be more conscious and more appreciative about the wonders of life. The ups and downs, the struggles and successes.

Through the book, we were also able to understand the meaning of death. Quoting from the book, it says “there is death, but death does not end life”. The cycle of life involves death, but death is a wonderful phenomenon that does not end anything but essentially welcomes us to a more beautiful journey.

Death is part of the cycle, just as life is. Everyone is not separated from world. Each event in our lives is significant in forming our individuality. Each of us is significant part of the whole. We are one with the universe. We are indeed, the citizens of the cosmos.

Also, after the study group, we happily shared with one another news and updates about our individual and group initiatives. We also had time to discuss the events and updates coming from the national movement through our nodal representative, Grace Calleja.

With that, we happily end our meeting as we form a circle with our hands holding one another. We offered a moment of silence as we send our energies to the forces in the universe.