09, The More The Merrier – 1-Ha Garden For 17,000 Households? It’s Faith!

Roman Catholic faith works! From Faithfuls to Farmers: “Tondo Parish Turns Soccer Field Into Vegetable Farm[1]” (Karl R Ocampo, 17 February 2021, Inquirer.net). Above is the soccer field at St John Bosco Parish in Tondo, Manila, all of 1 ha transformed into a giant garden, all vegetables. Now serving the 17,000 households in 17 barangays in that parish. Last January, P17,000 worth of vegetables were sold.
(“FaithWorks” image[2] from FaithWorks.org)

Now, the number “17” has a special meaning to me: I was born September 17. In numerology, “17 represents compassion, self-confidence, spiritual consciousness, and strength[3]” (Numerology Nation). That describes that Tondo parish in their gardening project!

Yes, it was started by the priests of St John Bosco. Parish head Fr Gaudencio Carandang says:

It all started with suffering. We were giving consistent relief to members of our community during the lockdown. They would knock on the parish’s doors and ask for food, and we could not turn them away. But as the pandemic stretched on, donations became fewer, and so did the relief (foods) that we could give. We had to think of something to feed them.

The Church serving the Church.

When the government imposed the lockdown, most of the parish residents, that is, the drivers and street peddlers, eventually lost their sources of income. Thinking about it some more, the parish priests decided to turn the idle soccer field into a busy vegetables field. Through the intercession of Fr Anton Pascual, Executive Director of Caritas Manila and President of Radio Veritas, a vegetable partnership was formed with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). The die was cast.

The DAR provided the inputs: vegetable seeds, fertilizers, basic gardening tools. The parish residents provided the workputs, all volunteer labor. Mr Ocampo says, “Farmer-scientists from Cavite visited the site a few times a week to teach the residents how to properly till the soil and what implements to use on each crop.”

Scene: Volunteers, gardeners, masked and gloved men and women, young and old, enjoying themselves; housewife Sally Funtanares tending the bottlegourd (upo), Barangay Councilman Jun Valdez the chayote, and parish cook Len Molina the cabbage patch.

The soccer field is being used for free. The harvests are sold to the parish residents at low prices; after that, the profit is equally divided among the volunteer gardeners.

Last January, the parish community celebrated its “Pick, Harvest & Pay” festival co-organized with the DAR. Fr Carandang says, “The turnout was overwhelming. It was a success.“ Mr Ocampo says:

Booths lined one side of the field and residents presented recipes showcasing their crop. Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones, who attended the festival, said Tondo residents had inspired other local government units in Metro Manila to replicate garden (projects) in their respective areas.

With their own garden projects, Quezon City followed, and Caloocan, and Pasig.

I’m a Roman Catholic; I believe the DAR could save more stomachs, not to mention earn more indulgences, if it helped more parishioners like those in St John Bosco.@

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[1]https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1396854/tondo-parish-turns-soccer-field-into-vegetable-farm?fbclid=IwAR1f1P3P8kSksIjGLnASLmnzFU5s6HQn5Qkodp9bOvkmBqHJJK8WwvcZUzA#ixzz6mmiJOoKK

[2]http://www.faith-works.org/

[3]https://numerologynation.com/angel-number-17/