My First Trip Abroad for Ecumenical Studies & India with Leaders of the Christian Conference of Asia...

M E M O R I E S: Life and Time of Pastor Rudy Bernal, his Glimpses on History &

                        The People’s Struggle for Freedom

Chapter 40– My First Trip Abroad,  Ecumemical  Studies & Exposures in  India with Leaders

 Of   Christian Conference of Asia (CCA)

In 1981, after working for 4  years  in  the local churches and 4 years at  CPBC, and involvement in ecumenical ministries thru the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP),  I was invited to attend a 1 month ecumenical training and  exposures trip to India. The training was sponsored by the   Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), thru the NCCP. It involved   pastors  and church leaders  from Hongkong, Philippines, India, Taiwan, Bangla Desh, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Cambodia,  and  Myanmar.  There  were some  visitors from the USA and Europe, some of whom spoke a Resource Persons.

During that  time, Dr. Johnny Gumban was President of the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches. Dr. Domingo Diel, Jr. was General Secretary

An   NCCP  officer told me that  CCA   will hold  training  that year.  He asked me to   write a letter of intent.  I wrote  CCA,  thru the NCCP  office,   requesting for study  exposures in India. I was accepted.  Rev. Tosh Arai, of Japan and  in-charged of Urban Industrial Mission answered my letter. He gave the date of the training and exposures  trips.  I prepared for the trip.

Rev. Tosh Arai wrote me that I will get my two-way Pal ticket   from Iloilo Airport. He told me, I will only be one  of the three  CCA  training and exposure participants from the Philippines. But he said, two weeks after our arrival in India,  several hundreds from Asia,  Europe and the US will be in Bangalore, India to attend the General Assembly of the CCA in Bangalore.

It was my first time to be out of the Philippines.   My first,  of  some   25 trips and training, seminars, exposures and  invitations to  different cities  – in Southeast  Asia, Sweden, Germany  and Australia. It was a great opportunity, for trips abroad was a great educational  adventures. The day,  I first went  to Singapore for the trip to India  was big learning process.

But I felt some kind of fears  going abroad, alone.  By  that time, I was already at Manila International  Airport. But some kind of fears was gripping me.   I  prayed  for God’s help, strength  and guidance. While I was waiting in the passenger’s area,  a man who was quite tall  came.  He sat beside  me.  We started a conversation. I told him, I will be going to Singapore and then to India.  I told him, I am from the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches in the Philippines.

He was a pastor of the  UNIDA church, a member church  of NCCP.  He   was also going to India. And he  was also a delegate to the CCA exposures trip to India.  We will be going on the same trip and will be involved in the  same  exposures.  We will pass thru Singapore and  have two days in Singapore  before leaving for India. My new friend, whose name  I cannot recall now, said,   he has a church member in   Manila, a couple   who were working in Singapore now.  He and his wife, were Accountants working in Singapore.

They will met  him at the airport.   And he asked me to join him.  They will have dinner together and he invited me to join them.  He said, his members will be happy to have me also with them for dinner. That afternoon, his members,  met us at the airport.  He invited us to go with them visiting places in Singapore. 

God has answered my prayers for a companion  on my first trip abroad.

That night in Singapore, my friend and his two members, a couple,  went for dinner. I

joined them. It was a time for  sharing. They shared with us their lives in Singapore.  And  I learned a lot from them. I learned life in   in Singapore from their sharing,  a very small but very progressive and prosperous city in Asia. 

The worked they were now involved in, the church they  worship, the life in Singapore,  the iron leadership of the President of  Singapore. They shared with us,  why  the think Singapore became a very  progressive city  and  why the Philippines was very far in comparison in education and economic and political life.

One  reasons for advanced life of Singaporeans?   The strong  discipline and  deep   honesty  of the Singaporean,  which was  called  and  practiced by there  political leaders.  They told us, they would be staying long in Singapore.  For business and life were   much, much    more better in that  tiny island  city,   called Singapore.

We  stayed  two days in  Singapore.  More delegates arrived from  all  over. There were also visitors and Resource Persons from the USA and Europe. And the following  day, we left for India.

We were in  6    teams  in the exposure programs.  Each  team with 6 to 7 members. Each team go to 2  two or three  provinces or cities.  Our team was assigned to Bangalore City and some towns  Kartanaka province.  After the CCA Assembly, we proceed to other areas in Kartanaka Province. After that, we will  go to Bombai (Bombay), the biggest  province/ states of India.

In Bangalore City, first attended the  Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) General Assembly in Bangalore. It was held on May 18-28 in one of the Christian Colleges in Bangalore.  The Assembly theme was,  “Living in Christ with People”.

I think, more than 500 delegates and visitors  attended the CCA General Assembly in Bangalore.

The Philippine delegations was headed by Rev. La Verne Mercado, General Secretary odf the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP). There we a number of Philippine delegates who came from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, the Iglesia Philippine Independente,  United Methodist Church, Convention of Phil. Baptiist Churches, UNIDA  and other member churches.

Our group, those attending the CCA  Education and Exposures Project were  observers for the  General Assembly. But we were  encouraged to participate in the General Assembly discussions. I tried to asked some questions during the  General Assembly. That was  my first time, to attend a Asia Assembly of the CCA. There were heavy discussions.  But they were all cordial.

One of the speakers of the Assemby was Fr. Edicio de la Torre, a Catholic Priest and known for this fight against Marcos dictatorship. Fr. De la Torre spoke to the CCA General Assembly one evening.  The assembly was full.  Many, from the churches in Bangalore and from colleges and universities attended to hear Fr. De la Torre.  He spoke from his heart.  It was one of the most eloquent  presentations of the assembly. When he finished,  many  delegates and visitors came to Father de la Torre, congratulating him for his message

We were sent on exposures trip in the farming area of Bangalore. One  of our exposures area where  we visited  a village, where  it was said  a ”holy man” was  living and ministering.  We went there to see how  a holy man  was living and working.  But he was not around when we visited his  home and place.

We visited a farming village. It was a very big farming area.  More  than 300 families

lives   in the area. The farmers’ homes were  concentrated in one area. Here, in their homes, the farmers have their chickens.  They have also cows their homes. Almost all families have cows, about 2 to six cows, which   each  family  cared. The  “cow houses”  were  adjacent to the rooms in the  homes.

Every day, we learned that the farmers  took  the fresh manures  and brought to them to their  farms  on the other side of the village.   There  in their farms, we saw   different vegetables growing vigorously verdant. I learned,  before  1981, the  farmers of  nearby villages were already planting what were called today “good agricultural practices” in farming for their fruits, bananas and   vegetables.  The cows,  which  were  considered holy among Indian residents,   provides the daily manures  the farmers need to make composts fertilizers for their fruit plants and different vegetables the whole year.

In another area of the province , we went to a quite high  mountain  area  with verdant trees and vegetation.   At the top of the mountain ranges,  kilometers   away, we were told,  some bodies of  the dead in the family were carried  and  left  in the  mountainside.  And the birds eat the  bodies.  Or the bodies just dried under the heat of the sun. That was part of the culture and religious beliefs in the  area during that time. But we  only heard  that story. We  have not  seen,  bodies of dead person,   left by their  families on the rocks on the mountain sides.

We also visited a slum residential area in Bangalore.  Our  guide, who was a pastor and teacher, brought us to the center of   the slums. There, the  young people gathered that afternoon. They have  Sunday School  lessons.  They students just sat on the  floors. There were no seats. After the  study and prayer, the young people left.

The following day, we were brought to one of the big restaurants of the city.  We will stay there in their hotel. We will have our studies.  Every day a resource person/ lecturer will  provide us different studies of life, works, challenges and  possibilities among Indian people. We will stay in the hotel. And for one week, all our food in the restaurants only  served  “vegetarian foods”. No fish. No meat.  No pork. No shrimps. No crabs. All will be vegetables, during the whole week. That was hard for me who used to fish as part of our fishes. 

One  afternoon, while we were in the slum area as part of our exposures in a big residential area,   some young  people and adults  came carrying some bottles. We learned, they bought liquors.  There was a group in the slum area that produces and  sell  liquors illegally.  Some people buy this  liquor.  They were told not to buy these.  These were dangerous for their health.  But  people buy the  liquors.  There were reports of  some  poisoning. And many got sick.  But they continue to drink the liquor.

Then the following  two weeks,  in July 1981, after we have left  Bangalore and  Kartanaka, we received news of more than 308 people who died  consuming illegal liquor. And more were still in the hospital, still sick.

Spurious alcohol, known as Hootch were  rampant  around  Tannery Road area of Bangalore cantonment, with dwellers getting seriously addicted to alcoholic drinks.  Notorious bootlegers  who were also officials in the town, were running the racket. Hootch were  brewed from industrial  alcohol, by separating Methyl alcohol and adding water. This was considered a dangerous process which leaves traces of  poisonous Methyl Alcohol. The brew is slow poison, damaging kidney and intestines, leading to slow death. We have seen this during our Educational and Exposures studies in Bangalore.

Then, we also saw during our exposures studies,  the ongoing  the 4-months  strike in prime   premier business sector undertakings that severely affected business in Bangalore.  The fall-out of the four-month strike in the five premier public sector undertakings in Bangalore was  still  felt, several years  after the end of the 4 months strike, continued to be felt  through out the nation.

After about 2 weeks, we went to Bombai (Bombay), the biggest city of India. We travelled by plane to Bombay. It was  one of the biggest and crowded cities of the world.  We tried to learn about Bombay during our studies and exposurers in India.  Bombay is a very big city.

We have  seen during  the nights the kind of “evangelistic meeting”of the Muslims.  It was a big crowed that   gathered.  At the front was a wooden platform with the pulpit.

The preacher spoke  without notes. It was a long meeting. Standing guard by the side of the speaker were two big fellows, each with a sword. I am not  sure,  however, if the swords were  real swords. In the Philippines, it is prohibited to bring long bladed weapons in meetings and it the city. Long bladed weapons are okey when you are a farmer and working in the farm.

One thing I will always remember of Bombay.  There were so many crows and  so many “banogs”.  Thousands were  around flying and setting on the tree branches all days.

And the  beggars of Bombay are just  too many. There were small huts, about 1 meter wide and 2 meters long, covered with sacks as roofs and  walls of the huts. This huts runs for nearly 2  kilometre, on one side of the road. I have not seen this kind of poverty  in the Philippines, despite our country known as one of the  poorest countries of  Asia.

But India  in 40 years has transformed itself.  Some  of those hut dwellers, living in 1 meter wide and 2 meters long hut covered with sacks as roofs, were now in the Philippines, some transformed  as entrepreneurs,  providing loans to Filipinos in many parts  of cities and towns  of the country. They provide loans, some with 200% interest per year, which were collected daily from the  people.