SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Sydney Sillimanians want to fly like a butterfly, they intend of giving up just being a chrysalis-bound caterpillar. Flapping, they have a vision to create a butterfly effect from here in Sydney all to way to Dumaguete City. They are the SU Sydney-siders. They are envisioning a butterfly effect that transforms lives, not havoc of a hurricane. Yesteryear, they traveled over and far from the halls of Silliman University in Dumaguete enhanced and empowered with a holistic Christian education. Today, in the embrace of Australia Fair, they want to share their blessings with the SU community in particular and Negros Oriental people in general.
Three days ago Thursday, the newly elected officers of the Silliman University Alumni Association Sydney Australia Chapter, Inc. (SUAASACI) took their oath of office before Consul General Anne Jalando-on Louis at the Philippine Consulate here in Sydney. Dr. Alice B. Dumlao, Engr. Enrico Garcia Jr, and Delilah del Rosario-Villahermosa serve as President and Vice Pres For External Affairs & Vice Pres for Internal Affairs respectively. The induction solemnized the SUAASACI officers’ lead to let the SU community in Sydney make a difference for the Oriental Negrenses.
Last July 31st they had a meeting hosted by Jed and Marissa Bala at their residence in Parklea, Sydney. It was the first meeting of the group following the election of a new set of officers at Rod and Evelyn Icao’s residence in Huntley Cove in May. It was a day of illumination. One of the assocation’s adviser Evelyn Icao conceptualized what she initially called as a “Mammogram on Wheels.” Originally she envisioned for SUAASACI to donate a Mammogram for the Guihulngan District Hospital. But there are suggestions that it may be donated through MARINA as an extension program of Silliman University in order to reach a greater area of coverage. The project is intended to reach out and touch the lives of the women in the province who may be unable to avail of the high cost of medical services for the early detection of breast cancer.
The idea is to get involved and actively in establishing a network of Sillimanians worldwide. During the same gathering, Alice disclosed the quickening of holding a Sillimanian Tipon here in Sydney. Alice and Marissa Dionson-Bala represented the Sydney Sillimanian Alumni Chapter in the SUACONA-initiated Tipon in Alaska last July. Alice recounted how she and Marissa made a splash by presenting an improvised kangaroo dance. Though SUACONA’s baby, organizers are open to holding the Sillimanian Tipon in Australia in Y2K13 or Y2K15.
To enhance and facilitate the participation of the Sydney Chapter into a Sillimanian Network worldwide, Wilan and Karen Bigay with Bobby Cabanag proposed the creation of a SUAASACI website. As new members of the Sydney chapter, the couple brings into the chapter their Information Technology expertise. Complete with a website logo, they made a presentation on how SUAASACI may present its real face and activities to the Silliman community in the Internet.
All still in the realm of ideas. But SUAASACI has the imagination and determination to make them manifest in the real world. They have faith, hope and love. That is all that matters. As an anonymous author once said, “just as the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” Sydney Sillimanians have no intention of remaining anonymous. This time, they are riding on wings of a butterfly.
SUAASACI officers, led by their president Dr. Alice Dumlao, pose with Consul Gen. Anne Jalando-on Louis during their induction ceremony Aug. 11 at the Philippine Consulate in Sydney.
