How I Won an Echoing Green Award in New York City that Changed My Life

How I Won an Echoing Green Award in New York City that Changed My Life
...michael a. bengwayan

On May 12, 2001, I got a letter from Echoing Green Foundation of New York City informing me that I was chosen as one of 20 finalists over 1,788 applicants from 63 countries. I was the only Asian. I could not believe it but I have been in unbelievable situations before (eg. Passing a European Union scholarship to Belgium and Ireland), yet it took some time before it sank in.

Passing as an Echoing Green Fellow carried a $90,000 prize, a post-graduate scholarship and funding for my non-profit Pine Tree, the Cordillera Ecological Center for four years

Echoing Green flew me to New York City, my first time in the US, put me in a first class room at the 30th floor of Holiday Inn and instructed me to relax and meditate for the big day—the Finals interview. Only ten winners would b e chosen out of the 20 finalists. Of the 20 of us, 14 were Americans, one Yoguslavian, one British, and two South Americans. The credentials of my co-applicants were exceptionally excellent.

My Holiday Inn room was so big and comfortable, fit for a king, I could not sleep—I felt the jitters, I was nervous and could not still believe it. Here I am, a mere rural and environmental worker carrying the weight of the Philippines on my shoulder. Ten months back when I applied, I ran every day in the highway and nearby university praying “Lord, let me win, let me do the impossible, let me win”.

The following day, May 13, the day of the Finals Interview, Echoing Green officials fetched me from Holiday Inn at 9 am. I was brought to the Echoing Green Headquarters then (before 911) at Madison Avenue near Manhattan. For the first time I saw the other 19 finalists. Few, if none at all talked, but there was a brief exchange of pleasantries. We were all nervous.

We were all interviewed individually by a 7-person panel inside the Echoing Green Conference Room. The panel was made up of the Executive Director of Echoing Green, two senior professors from Harvard University on development studies, a Princeton University Dean on science and technology, a Georgetown University professor on economics and two directors from two of USA’s prestigious NGOs.

When it was my turn to be interviewed, I looked at the brilliant figures in front of me, aware of who they are, I felt so small facing them.. even more bewildered to face such luminaries. Given 10 minutes to compose myself, I could not figure out what questions will be thrown my way.

Then the questioning began. I stammered in the beginning of my first response, but went on, I could not hear my own voice but was aware I was talking. I gave them what was on my mind. My experiences in working in other countries being/working with local peoples and teaching in the Graduate School came to my rescue, on questions clearly hypothetical and oxymoronic. I became aware the interview was over when one panelist said, “Thank you Michael, I guess we have nothing more to ask.” I was glad it was over. It was the toughest 30 minute interview in my life.

After an hour, they called each of us 20 finalists, individually, to announce whether we failed or passed. I stood before the panel and the chair Dr. Sarah Jones announced: “Michael, we are happy to tell you that you passed not only the interview but also topped all interviewees……”. I could not hear the rest of her words… I was shocked, felt suddenly weak, wanting to sit down, which I did….the months of stress, apprehension and anxiety flowing out of my frail body….

I could hear myself crying “Thank you Lord”, over and over again.

And so I became the first Filipino Echoing Green Awardee.

The Holy Week Rain Is A Reminder of our Covenant with God

The Holy Week Rain Is A Reminder of our Covenant with God
…..michel a. bengwayan….
I was happy it rained yesterday. The rain came softly, not in large sputtering raindrops but soft pelts, bringing delight to many trees and plants long wishing for water. I went out to watch the rain and how it fell on the trees. The leaves appeared greener, the varying flowers from Margaret yellows to violet clambering morning glorys and walking irises sparkled with joy.

The plants’ delight comes at a time when we are reminded in our meditation that our existence too is watered to life by the death of the Saviour who took all our sins for us, suffering in doing so.

It also warns us that at this time of climate change, water will be a bone of contention and the only way we can prevent the worst from happening is by holding on stronger to God. “Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow to them. For the Lord’s anger will flare up against you, and He will shut up the skies so that there will be no rain . . . (Deut. 11:13) “

For too long man has bowed to greed and material things, destroying nature along the way and threatening two of God’s gifts—trees and water.

And this summer, there will be water wars due to limited water resources. Farmers will fight tooth and nail for every spring and river for irrigation. Already, the government is warning us power will be low due to expected low water supply in hydroelectric dams.

What does this tell us? That the impending the scarcity of rain is a spiritual safeguard. As we renew our faith with our Maker who has taken the bullet for us, we must fear the spiritual danger of sovereignty. That after renewing our bond with the Greatest Spirit, we might forget about God’s role in our lives.

When we have worked ourselves to the top, bought and built the mansions we desire, filled our bankbooks, our hearts grow haughty and we forget the our Creator . . . who led us out of . . . a parched land with no water in it, who brought forth water for us from the flinty rock; ……..We forget and claim, “My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.” But it is “ the Lord your God who gives you the power to prosper (Deut. 8:12–18)”.

Rain, at this time of climate change, serves as a reminder of our covenant with God.

A reminder that He made us stewards of His creation. To be good stewards. Not bad. And to be good, we treat each creation with sacredness. But the images of seas and waters polluted, forests decimated, land destroyed to smithereens only portrays the kind of stewards we are..

The coming scarcity of rain reveals our vulnerability to greed and reminds us to return to that ideal spiritual state of humility and dependency. Without a yearly reminder of our frail human condition each Holy Week, we might grow too haughty in our own land and begin to worship the power of our own hands.

This yearly reminder of our fragile human condition is meant to jolt us out of our complacency, to inspire us in our search for greater meaning and purpose in life.

We must conclude the Holy Week with spiritual prayer for rain in the coming months, humbled by the awareness of our fragility and our dependence upon God for sustenance and survival.

As we pray for rain, we must also rejoice in the notion that the Father cares for us and keeps His eyes on us, from year’s beginning to year’s end.

Rain will be a daily reminder of our human limitations and the greater meaning and purpose we can find in accepting a covenant with God.

I watched the rain for more than an hour, as it watered the land and the trees and plants unselfishly, lived and dwelt on its presence, awed by its contribution, but equally wary of its destruction, whether inadequate or too much.

I sat for another hour thinking of how nothing we are without God…as no life can be without rain.

Believing Yields Miracles..

Believing Yields Miracles..
....michael bengwayan   ph.d.
.
I taught social change, social entrepreneurship and development communication at the Graduate School of Benguet State University, after my studies abroad .

Many of my students were working professionals. Some came from far away Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand. Some worked in government line agencies, others in the private sector and the rest with the NGO world.

Sadly, some took graduate units either to be promoted or to have a higher salary before retiring.

But all, I can understand, were doubly hard-up by the fact that they worked five days a week, traveled to the university on weekends, rushed assignments, traveled back to their homes for short periods with their families and joined the crazy rat race once again every Monday to Friday.

To determine how challenged my students were especially in developing themselves to be better personally and professionally in relation to their commitment to work , I offered them this. : “I thank you for being my students this semester. I know it has been difficult for most of you, to be working and studying at the same time so i have an offer to make. I will give a grade of “2” to anyone who opts not to take the final exams today. You can go out now”.

There was joy and whooping and many rushed past me to say thank you and leave. But not all left. Four graduate students remained silent in their seats.

I closed the door and prepared to write the questions of the examination on the board. But on a moment’s notice, I turned my back, faced them and said “Why did you choose to take the exams?”. The student i remember, named Joana stood and said, “We want a Grade of “1”.

I looked at their stern faces again for some minutes and decided, “Because you believe in yourselves and because you believe you can get a “1”, I will give all of you a “1”.

I let them out of the classroom without taking the exams.

Hold On

Hold on to what is good,
Even if it's a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe,
Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do,
Even if it's a long way from here.
Hold on to your life,
Even if it's easier to let go.
Hold on to my hand,
Even if someday I'll be gone away from you.

Walk in the Woods, Trees Will Teach You

Walk in the Woods, Trees Will Teach You

...by Michael A. Bengwayan (written for the Ecologist)

One nice, soft morning , the sun was up quicker than I thought so after a run, I decided to walk. There were silhouetted reflections on the dry road as soon as each breeze breathed so I was awash with fresh calm air that started to dry my wet shirt. The day was as smooth as morning water.

Overhead, the sky was blue, carrying big white cotton clouds reminiscent of a giant feather bed but on the horizon Cumulus cauliflower-like clouds threatened the afternoon. The leaves of the Alnus japonica were in full form while the young pine trees' fascicles were starting to clamber up.

The leaves of a pine tree are evergreen needles, which grow from the branches in bundles (fascicles). The number of needles in each bundle is a key to pine tree identification. For example, the Benguet pine (Pinus insularis) has needles of mostly three but in rare cases four to five. Spruce pine (Pinus glabra) which I observed in the US has needles in bundles of twos, while the eastern white pine (Pinus globrus) has bundles of five needles each emerging from its branches. The needles differ in length and texture, with some long and rigid. others, like our Benguet pine, soft but taut.

I walked the road leading to Longlong Communal Forest in La Trinidad, Philippines. I just passed a small orchard that had a half a dozen orange and coffee trees. Before the road forked, I entered the forest fringes and ran smack into highbush blueberry shrubs.

The blueberries to my left and were just entering full blossom and a wild strawberry in front of me was in full flower. There were perhaps fifty painted lady butterflies that have been attracted to the nectar, now in full swing, on the berry blossoms.

They danced from pink blossom to blossom, staying long enough to collect the sweet juice and unintentionally carrying pollen that will help to produce fruits. This yearly ritual is a perfect example of symbiosis between a plant an animal. The butterfly needs the nectar for survival, the berry needs the pollination for future generations.

There was a time before flowering plants when spore producing plants dominated the plant world. Some ferns, horsetails, and clubmoss plants were huge. These plants, known as allies, could reach tree size; some being hundreds of feet tall.

During the Carboniferous era, some 370 million years ago, these plants were the primary botanical residents on a very volatile Earth. This volatility helped to form their reproductive system that utilized spores that fell onto the soil. These spores grew into nonchlorophytic plants that developed beneath ground level.

It was these nonchlorophytic plants that bred and formed the green vascular plant that rooted itself in the earth and grew into this warm, even hot, carbon filled atmosphere. It is the remains of these plants from which we get our crude oil and gas reserves today. The advantage these plants had was the earthen buffer during their breeding cycle. Subterranean development of each new plant was a decided advantage in an era of volcanoes, earth quakes, and a heavy gaseous atmosphere.

About a hundred and fifty million years later flowering plants appeared. The atmosphere was much more settled; insects, mammals, and birds abound and dinosaurs rule but will completely disappear in the next five, or so, million years. The earth, as we know it today, has begun. Codependent relationships between plants and animals continue to develop, ever so slowly, and the blueprint was set for what we have today.

All of these strange and overwhelming facts run through my head as I stared at the wild strawberry blossoms. I was witnessing nothing less than a miracle and I am awed that what seems so simple is the result of the most complicated series of events imaginable.

The wisdom of our planet is found in its sheer ability to change with time; almost endless time considering our planet is four and a half billion years old.

One recent change is the tremendous decline in honey bees. These imported bees ae our primary pollinators for the last fifty years but as I stand here I can see a few bumble bees, a few mason bees, and a few miner bees along with the painted lady butterfly working the nectar in the apple blossoms.

We are likely all aware that there has been a world wide bee colony collapse when it comes to the honey bee populations. It is a matter of grave concern for those in agriculture.

While it is true that many crops are wind pollinated, for instance almost everything in the grass family like corn, it is also true that many of our flowering crops are dependent on natural insect pollinators. Bee colony collapse has been going on for about ten years. It has been the subject of serious study.

Some of the planet’s best ecologists and entomologists have been dedicating their careers to solving this mystery and we still do not know the cause.

One major theory suggests that honey bees have lost their genetic diversity. This may have been caused by large bee breeders that took over the markets and lessened the genetic stock. Another theory blames the collapse on pesticides and herbicides.

One study within the pesticide theory suggests that bees are getting lost and not returning to their hive because the chemicals somehow impact their homing instincts and leave the bees in a state of confusion. There is no absolute proof of the cause of this terrible malady yet but it is very serious turn of events and should not be taken likely.

The fact is that for millions of years wild bees did all of the necessary pollination for the natural world. These creatures can do the job for at least some of our crops, unless of course, wild bees become effected by whatever is causing bee collapse as well. New evidence points to this being a very real possibility. In Great Britain scientists have documented a strong decline in bumble bee populations, likely caused by insecticides.

I took a deep breath and looked around me. The blossoms, all pink and white, filled the air with a sweet aroma. Wild bees and butterflies flew from flower to flower in pursuit of their nectar. The sky was blue. The trees were all green. And the birds are were chirping.

And at that precise point in time I was happy to appreciate the moment. Life is beautiful.

But I can’t stop wondering what the future holds for these plants that depend on insect pollinators for future generations.

Be A Part of Nature, Not Apart From It

 Be A Part of Nature, Not Apart From It

When we live with nature it's like constantly being in school. We are in an environment that is always teaching. We are constantly being reminded that there are laws, Natural Laws, which are running the universe. Once we know these laws and we drift from them, we start to live our lives in a different way. Soon we become discontent, selfish and disrespectful. Then, we get in trouble. If our lives have become this way, it can be reversed by going back to nature to be among our teachers.

My Passion with Passion by ....Michael A. Bengwayan, Ph. D.

My Passion with Passion

....Michael A. Bengwayan, Ph. D.

As we near the Christian calendar of Passion, I focus on one of my favorite fruits--passion fruit.

If you have been to my house, one of my garages is totally covered by the sour yellow passion fruit. Down where my lemons and oranges grow, I have three more varieties, including the red one.

Passion fruit by any other name is still the same. Passion fruit, a perennial woody creeper which is indigenous to the tropical regions. In the Cordillera region of the Philippines, it is locally known as "masap" or "masaplora". In other countries, it is known as passiflora, apricot vine, maracuja, Grenadilla, purple granadilla, and yellow passion fruit, with related species in fragrant granadilla, red granadilla, sweet calabash and banana passion fruit.

Why the name 'passion'? It was the Catholic missionaries in South America who gave it the name and the biblical explanations associated with the fruit. The corona threads of the passion flower were seen as a symbol of the crown of thorns, the five stamens for wounds, the five petals and five sepals as the ten apostles (excluding Judas and Peter) and the three stigmas for the nails on the cross.

Sour-sweet fruit
The passion fruit is small and round with a hard, smooth purple or yellow casing which becomes lumpy when ripened. Inside the fruit is a delicious, sour-sweet yellow pulp that contains black, edible seeds. Passion fruit is tropical, almost growing wild and is used to make refreshing beverages, desserts, confectionery, icing, sauces and ice cream.

The purple passion fruit is common in southern Brazil, making its way there from Paraguay and northern Argentina. In Hawaii, seeds of the purple passion fruit, brought from Australia, were first planted in 1880 and the vine came to be popular in home gardens. Today, the purple passion is mainly cultivated in Africa and India.

Yellow passion
The yellow passion fruit is cultivated in Peru, Brazil and Ecuador.
It is common in Jamaica where it grows easily, requiring about 35 inches of rain annually. The plant does not grow well in intense heat. The yellow form has generally larger fruit than the purple, but the pulp of the purple is less acidic, richer in aroma and flavour, and has 35-38 per cent more juice than the purple variety. The origin of the yellow passion fruit is unknown, but it is believed that it originated in the Amazon region of Brazil.

Clinging vine
The vine, especially the yellow form, is fast-growing and will begin to bear in one to three years. Passion fruit vines can be used in containerised gardens and grow well indoors, with some maintenance by regular watering to keep a vine flowering and fruiting almost continuously. If water supply is inadequate, fruits may shrivel and fall prematurely.

The vine will cling to almost anything for support and can grow up to 15-20 feet with a lifespan of five to seven years. The vine can be trained into an attractive arbour with regular pruning to keep the vines within bounds. The vines are usually shallow-rooted and should benefit from a thick layer of organic mulch. Passion fruit vines will also require regular fertilising.

Pollination of flowers
Amid the green and glossy foliage, you may find beautiful white, fragrant flowers with purple to pink crown, born at each node on the new growth.The passion fruit leaves are hairless and lobed. The flowers of the yellow form are perfect for sterilisation. Carpenter bees are the most efficient purveyors of pollination, much more so than honey bees. Wind is ineffective because of the heaviness and stickiness of the pollen. The flowers can also be hand-pollinated.

GROW YOUR OWN PASSION FRUIT
So you want to grow your passion fruit? It can be easily added to your front - or backyard garden. The next time you eat the fruit, secure the seeds for propagation. Seeds planted in beds half an inch to one inch deep soon after removing them from the fruit will germinate in 10-20 days: Seeds that are cleaned and stored will germinate a slower rate.

Seedlings may be transplanted when they are 10 inches high for the best yield. A more technical procedure is to plant cuttings of matured vines hastening rooting with hormones. Agriculturists use grafting for perpetuating hybrids and to reduce the incidence of disease.

When the fruit is ripe, it will quickly turn from green to yellow or deep purple and they can be picked when they change colour before they fall to the ground. The fruit is sweetest when slightly shrivelled.

Storage
Bag it: The fruits should be washed and gently dried in bags. They should last two to three weeks at 50F.
Freeze it: Both the fruit and the juice freeze well. For ease of use, frozen passion fruit can be retrieved and blended with citrus and many other fruit flavours.

NUTRITIVE VALUE
✓ Passion fruit is loaded with nutrients and a moderate amount of calories. Most important, passion fruit is free of fat and cholesterol.
✓ It is high in vitamin C and vitamin A, which protect the immune system and guard against cancer.
✓ It's rich in iron and its absorption is enhanced by the presence of vitamin C.
✓ High in potassium content and helps with stroke prevention.
✓ Rich in B vitamins and magnesium for healthy skin, nerves and muscles.
✓ Rich in fibre from the edible seeds.

Medicinal value
The medicinal value of passion fruit was discovered when the Spanish explored South America and found that passion fruit was used as a sedative in native folk medicine. The Spanish took the passion fruit to Europe where the leaves were used for sleep-inducing medicine.

Anti-cancer: Passion fruit is known for its richness in phytochemicals such as passaflorine, carotenoids, scopoletin, carotenoids and theobromine. Passion fruit is known for its anti-cancer effect. Researchers at the University of Florida have found that yellow passion fruit extracts can kill cancer cells in vitro. The phytochemicals which are responsible for this effect are carotenoids and polyphenols. The juice and the leaves also contain alkanoids, including harman, which is known for lowering blood pressure. It also has sedative and antispasmodic properties.

Sedative
 The passion fruit flower is a mild sedative and is sometimes used as a hallucinogen. Passion flower has been used in the treatment of nervous and easily excited children, insomnia, gastrointestinal disorders, menopausal problems and bronchial asthma.