Being a Ninang

Back in December Grace and Kuya Mang asked me if I would be a ninang (godmother) to the newest addition to their family, Josephine Himig. I was really chuffed! Grace has been my best friend here and in her I feel like I found a new soul mate. Grace is Filipina and her husdand, Mang, is from North East India. They joined the team two years ago and Kuya Mang started the project in the community with the drug rehab boys. When I arrived here the first time round, Grace was over 7 months pregnant and was responsible for my orientation into the team, the culture and to Davao. She did a great job and in her and Kuya Mang I found new friends. They always made me welcome in their home (which was just up the road from my house) and their son, Lian-Ed, was so much fun to be around! He’s only 3, is incredibly bright, speaks about 5 different languages and is always full of energy. In them, I found a new family, who looked after me, fed me great food, let me hang out at their place and listened to my rants about cultural differences. They left for home leave at the end of December and I miss them a lot. So it was a real treat for me to go to Manila last weekend for Himig’s dedication. I’d heard a lot about Manila, about how dirty it is, how bad the traffic is, the fumes and I’m now able to confirm that it’s all true! I can’t believe how different it is from Davao, I know which one I prefer…

The dedication was held in the chapel of the theological seminary where Grace and Mang met, it was really great to meet so many of their close friends, people who they’d known for years, prayer partners, family, professors… The service was beautiful and Himig is such a contented baby, I think I’ve only heard her cry 3 or 4 times in the whole time I’ve been around her! She doesn’t even cry when I hold her and sometimes she even smiles J It’s such a change for me, this time last year there is no way I would have held a baby, I didn’t like children at all and I think Himig is probably the first baby I’ve held in over 10 years. Still, I have to practice, my brother and his wife are expecting their first baby in February, which I’m really excited about! I’ve really enjoyed being around Himig and Lian-Ed, playing, being silly, watching cartoons, it certainly brings out the child in me.

Being a Godmother has got me thinking. As a Godparent you make a commitment to pray for the child, and the parents, to assist in the upbringing and nurturing of the child and, most of all, set a good and loving Christian example. For most of her life, Himig and I won’t even be living on the same continent, let alone country, so I started thinking how on earth am I going to be a good Godmother. And I think the key is prayer. I made a commitment to Grace and Kuya Mang to pray for their child and I will. One of the things that has really struck me as I’ve got older, and continues to do so, is that my grandparents prayed for me, my brother & sister and my parents every single day. And I mean EVERY day. My papa still does, and that has a profound impact on me. What an example to follow. I now have two goddaughters, Jireh and Himig, and a little nephew or niece on the way, so I’d better get praying J