SPEECH OF INTRODUCTION

Today, as we celebrate the Youth for Christ’s 1st anniversary in UP Mindanao, we, as officers of YFC, would like to inspire each of the members to strengthen and work with their faith in Jesus Christ. With the help of the testimony of a liable guest speaker today, let us together face the trials in our life’s journey.

A lot of students in UP Mindanao today are lost and bewildered with God. Some of us assume that most of our faculty members, especially those in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences don’t have faith in God. I myself is surprised after seeing one of my teachers attending an Ash Wednesday mass last year. But believe it or not, today, our guest speaker is from the Social Sciences Department.

Fortunately, he is a graduate of UP Mindanao. He finished Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences Major in Behavioural Studies on 2003. He took up his masterals in University of Sussex in UK. He is currently an assistant-professor in Social Sciences Department of UP Mindanao. He is also a co-director of summer fieldwork of the BA Anhtropology programme. Students who already took up his SSPs are surely fascinated with his British accent. But mind you, he can also speak Spanish as well. Aside from teaching in UP Mindanao, he is also a member of a non-government organization. His projects involves Poverty Reduction, Agrarian Reform, Peace and Rural Development, and Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights Advocacy.

This may surprise or eventually fascinate us. Mr. Guest Speaker can surely share to us some of his experiences and opinions about having faith in God because he is a former seminarian too. He entered the Congregation of Marist in 1989. He stayed in the seminary for one year, and left because of financial matters. But he admits that until now, he still has a very strong faith in God. He likes the last paragraph in Desiderata that says “…be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.” Being a former seminarian and a graduate of UP Mindanao makes him a very potential guest speaker for today’s activity.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Valeriano Clamonte. A round of applause please!