Waiting

"Lives of Service depend on Lives of Support"

--Tracy Kidder

When I began this page, not only had I planned a different use for the photo of at the left, but the title was "The Waiting List", and the quote above hadn't yet entered my literary life. That was nine months ago, and today, Sunday, July 20th, 2008, is the first time I've been able to make a posting since then.

When we were in California (Oct.'07), I had less demands for my attention and was able to think about topics I wanted to address on this blog. Thus, even though I didn't have the time then to complete more than a couple (leaving unfinished 'JILL & JULIA' until today), I did make placeholders by creating drafts for the ideas I had. I never dreamed it would be so long before I could return to any of them, or I might not have though it so clever of me! It now feels silly and awkward to be writing to a date nine months old, but the positive aspect is that it does provide a framework for me to continue with.

This entry will be short, created to provide relief from repeatedly seeing the last one for those who'd looked for updates, and to let them know that there is, indeed, TWO new postings now! This one, and the completed:

Jill & Julia .

Which I hope everyone will scroll immediately down to find, third from here!

The three girls in the picture at the top of the page will get their own space, later--they were three who came to the school last year, hoping to become students immediately. Its been gratifying to see how many children want to join us, but twenty has been the limit I could handle, so we had to create a Waiting List (now at 45 since January 2007). However, these girls exemplified the type of students I longed to reach...so for a while I gave them special sessions until I just couldn't juggle it all anymore. It broke my heart, frankly. It didn't seem fair to make wait the very students who were so responsive to what OCSH offers. The experience made me all the more resolved to find a way to move the school into a setting that could accommodate more students--but more on that later, too.

The goal of this page is to provide directions back into the blog so that Jill and Julia's contributions aren't overlooked. The quote from Tracy Kidder's book about Dr. Paul Farmers' work in Haiti (Mountains Beyond Mountains) will be seen again in a future post for the publisher and contributors to the Australian sailing magazine, THE COASTAL PASSAGE, but even though I introduce it here to honor Jill and Julia, it applies to everyone who does anything to make the life just a little bit better for someone else:

Service and support doesn't have to be self-sacrificing or dramatic; just genuine and with heart, in whatever way we can, according to our abilities.

The following are only two of the many who thoroughly enjoyed using the watercolor pencils that Jill and Julia most recently sent:

Special Kindnesses, Santa Cruz Style

"I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts."

--John Locke

It is a wonderful thing to experience "the kindness of strangers" when one most feels vulnerable. In a world of increasing bureaucracy and indifference, encountering people who relate sympathetically is almost a mystical experience. In Santa Cruz, California, we've recently encountered especially spontaneous people, and I want to take a moment to spotlight their kindnesses...

The first week after we arrived, needing to attend to a change of shipping addresses for the small marine supplies business we have in the Philippines, YACHTS IN TRANSIT, we phoned the accounting office at our wholesaler. A woman named Cathy answered but, in reviewing the file, discovered that our account predated their more current forms. She said it was necessary to fill out new forms to maintain our account.

Indeed our forms were old! Thirty years ago, before there were any forms, Bill had been buying rope out of the founder's Mountain View garage! With the establishment of our own boat maintainence business, we'd naturally progressed to wholesale customer status and had watched, amazed, how rapidly West Marine exploded into an international success story. (Our own success, needless to say, was more modest.) In 1991 we left California to sail across the Pacific, but continued to work on boats as we cruised. Our partner in Santa Cruz maintained the business of restoring old boats.

Cathy was only doing her job when she asked us to bring our application up to current standards, a safeguard against individuals without a valid business, but because our activity had become so reduced over the years, we worried we'd become too marginal for a big company to bother with.

Losing our account was a chilling thought, because through YACHTS IN TRANSIT, cruisers in the Philippines have helped support the school. Donating a percentage of the orders we place for them, the income provides for special needs, like repair of our computers, or stimulating materials (colored gel pens, thick papers, or matte boards) for artwork.

Cathy, bless her soul, understood the significance of this information. Though initially feeling the need to consult with others, she recognized that while we were no longer high-end customers, we'd been loyal customers, annually meeting our financial commitment--so she said, "Lets' just keep it as it is."

There isn't a photograph of Cathy because we met only over the telephone, but the picture above, captured through the windshield of my car while stopped at an intersection, portrays something of our encounter. Maybe the two cyclists even knew each other (though it felt differently) or, perhaps, it was only a moment's meeting, but there was something so human about the two helmeted people (the older woman with her basket of flowers and the sleek man in his special clothing), that I felt enhanced, uplifted, just watching their brief exchange.

Anais Nin said, "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage" and Cathy's action not only inspired gratitude and respect in me, more importantly it has contributed to the betterment of One Candle Schoolhouse's students.

The next lovely encounter was Crystal. I'd previously been told I'd need to buy a new cell phone because my Philippine phone wouldn't take a Verizon sim card. No other options offered. Three weeks later and very frustrated with public pay phones, I asked again, in another Verizon store. This time, though still not possible to use their sim cards, I was directed to the AT&T store (Thank you, thank you!). It was there I met Crystal.

Immediately understanding it didn't make sense to buy a new cell phone for a remaining two weeks, Crystal whispered sympathetically, "We'll give you a loaner," adding, "sometimes some people get funny about doing this but, after all, it's our JOB to make the customer happy!"

And happier, she couldn't have made me! With a quick flip here, and a tap-tap there, Crystal effortlessly presented me with a sheaf of instructions and a used-but-working cell phone! The word grateful didn't begin to convey the feelings I had, floating out the door with my new/old cell phone.


Those two examples were major kindnesses given in response to problems I needed help with. The next two (though I hesitate to set a number as yet!) fall under "Random Acts of Kindness."


While searching for items in a thrift store (wonderful adventures, Thrift Stores; how we miss them in the Philippines!) I watched a dark-haired young man sorting through a box of cameras.

Filipinos love photographs, and I encourage our students to learn photography with what we have. Unfortunately, our cameras haven't much life left in them by the time they reach us, but nonetheless, the kids have gained valuable experience anyway, so I was wondering if I should take a chance and explore the box, myself. Last year, Bill found a point-and-shoot in a thrift bin which proved to be a good buy. Could I also be so lucky?

Suddenly the man looked up and smiled, telling me, "Feel free to dive in!" Pawing through the box together, he enthusiastically related all the wonderful things that could be done with these old cameras! My head was spinning and my heart pounding with trying to remember everything he said. I LONGED to have him come to Tambobo and show us how to do all these things--and told him so!

But, of course, we both knew that was more a wish upon the wind as he finished his perusal through the box and began to leave. He mentioned he was a photographer himself; he also taught photography, sometimes for children at summer camps.

He'd filled my cup to overflowing with his enthusiastic information. "What a gift that was!" I was thinking when he startled me by returning.

Almost embarrassed, he held out a folded 5"x7" index card, with a drawing on the back side. "Sorry, that's all I had to write on...if your students ever have any questions I can help with, here's my email address." And then he was gone before I could think to reciprocate.

But I have his email address, and I will write to Phillip, photography student at University of California, Santa Cruz, that a Thank You note has been added here just for him--one of the special flowers in my Santa Cruz bouquet of memories.


I use that metaphor deliberately, because this morning--summoned to Enterprise Car Rental to have new license tags affixed--I entered the office in time to see a bouquet of autumn flowers, wrapped in pumpkin colored paper, passed over the counter. 'Erin' had brought them for Enterprise employee, Katelin, in response to great kindness during a difficult 'moving day', when Erin had rented a vehicle.




Tom, unfailingly charming during the numerous times I've returned to dither about some needed information (not to mention his inserting my car to the head of the lot's line today, when I asked where to find a car wash), deadpanned, "No one has EVER brought ME flowers."

(Not yet they haven't, Tom; not yet...)

I hope these vignettes of kindness will bring pleasure to those who gave them in the first place, as well as continue to radiate outward, in the lives of those who read of them.

Teresa, Karyn & Carol

"The social significance of a cultural breakthrough,
as contrasted with a social movement, does not
arise from its being done by vast masses of people
but from its being done decisively by someone"

--Jim Corbett's Quixote Principle

One of the most touching aspects of the school is how new sponsors have joined with old friends to become like an extended family for the students. Their continuing loyalty never ceases to reduce me to absolute mush.

Teresa and I became friends thirty years ago in Redwood City, California, when we both were new to the world of sailing. Bill and I were building our gaff-rigged PILAR, and Teresa and her partner were refitting their cruising sloop. Teresa and I began working together on other boats, sanding and varnishing, and while we worked she would enchant me with stories of her huge family, growing up in Spain. Dazzled by the bounty of her memories, not wanting to lose any of it to time and poor memory, I began writing them down...my first literary efforts for which I will always be grateful.

Karyn and Carol came into our life through an email last year, and continue to brighten our mailbox with frequent updates. They initiated the friendship thus:

"Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 22:44:26 -0500
Subject: What can I do to help your school?

Good evening, Diane,

My name is Karyn, I am Cathy's sister. Cathy has been talking about you and your wonderful school, non-stop, since she got back from the Philippines. You and your students have had quite an impact on her, so I wanted to see what I could do to help, too.

Cathy gave me a set of the cards your students made, and I love them, so I would like to help market them...I also wanted to let you know that I love to haunt garage sales and flea markets, so if you could provide me with a list of any books (classroom or otherwise), supplies, clothing, etc, you might need, as well as an address to send them to, I would be happy to keep an eye out for them."

In the Philippines, the government allows a special service (called "Balykbayon") for people abroad to send packages inexpensively into the country. For the past several years, in addition to sponsoring (in conjunction with her husband, Steve) one of our college students, Teresa has been regularly forwarding boxes of donations to the school--thus enabling Karyn and Carol to send HUGE amounts of clothing, books and school supplies to the students.

With any donation we receive, the students begin working on their Thank You's, incorporating the new materials if possible, and/or using the computers to develop their skills. For Teresa, Karyn and Carol, they turned to PowerPoint Presentations--their first-time experience!

Much of the art the children used were their own, utilizing their previous skills to scan the pieces themselves. They were very taken with the "bells and whistles"--sound effects and animations--but these have been lost during the embedding process here...

Jill & Julia

"The World isn't about You,
but about you in the World"

--Jane Alexander

Here is another email of introduction from someone who has remained steadfast in her support of our students:

Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 12:11:58 -0000

Hi Diane

I am a friend of Patricia Lucas, we used to be neighbours and went to college together! I was in Oz recently and stayed with them on Soleares and she was telling me about your work with the children. Then she sent me a copy of your fascinating booklet!

One of the friends that I share a house with has visited the Philippines three times and was helping the Monobo people. She went to Cotobato City then up to Isulan and on to Kulaman, 5 hours into the mountains by motorbike! I have just found where you are on our map of the Philippines.

Patricia was saying that you would be pleased to receive things for the children. What sort of things would you appreciate??? If I send a parcel what address should I send it to?

All three of us who live together were teachers!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We live in a little village with a medieval foundation, in fact a medieval bridge is alongside our garden. I can send pictures for the children to see, if you are able to receive them.

Very best wishes, I look forward to hearing from you

Jill Phelps

Since the year 2006, Jill and her friend, Julia (an artist, not a teacher), have regularly posted small packages of art supplies to us, including numerous historical postcards of the site where the three teachers live. Jill has also emailed special internet links sites of interest, and sent beautiful photos of her garden (see above) which many of the students have used as subjects for painting...but personal photos were a little harder to come by, which is partly why this posting--begun in October of 2007--is actually being finished in July, 2008! Those who are reading this now will have already read the post, "Waiting", explaining the reasons for the delay--which I will compose just as soon as I publish this one! (this is dizzyingly like being trapped in a time-warp, weaving unfinished old into the new) but here, finally, is public acknowledgment and heartfelt tribute to these two women who have shared so generously what they have with us.

The following slide show was created from pictures taken of the students working from a series of wonderful art craft books from Jill and Julia. I will add that they are well-thumbed by now!

* very sorry, the slide show has been lost.  Bubble Share closed down in 2009, no doubt sent notices but I was distracted, did not pay attention as to accessing the file before they became unavailable.