KATHERINE ROSE POLOTAN LIRIO
1. Give us an example of a goal you’ve set and how you achieved it.
Back in 2012, my husband and I were gifted our first child, a girl, after a very long and exhausting journey filled with fertility issues and immunodeficiencies. When she came, we decided we wanted to be hands-on stewards of our child. Mainly for this reason, we decided to be business owners. My husband and I love agriculture and the peacefulness of nature so we decided to put up a farm. In 2013, we searched for land away from Metro Manila. We took out a hefty bank loan, quit our jobs in the city, left our families and found ways to work together. We navigated the road of owning our own business with a lot of sacrifice. We tightened our belts and we withheld from a lot of luxury. We kept envy at bay and we focused on one common goal for a good ten years. We took on and divided every role running a business would need. We avoided outsourcing to cut costs and instead relied on family and friends. They taught, helped, and supported us. In August of this year, and two kids later, we made our last bank payment and are relieved to call the farm truly ours. But to us a single goal that has been achieved doesn’t exist. We believe it should carry on to further growth. We may have achieved owning the farm but more than that, we are happy and excited to grow it and sustain it.
Now in my forties, there have been many goals I have wanted to achieve and in some of them I have failed, but this has taught me to focus on the process. Stars are never permanently aligned. Sometimes a star will spin so wildly coming off its spot and it is in these moments, these off-axis moments, where we have to pivot, that we are given the chance to learn acceptance and creativity. In these moments, we are given the chance to be better.
2. Do you have any suggestions on how we can help our beneficiaries?
In my mind, awareness or presence is key – a strong resounding presence to help strengthen the AC identity.
It would be good to start with the AAA beneficiaries. The ongoing information
sessions of the AAA which help us get to know the five beneficiaries is an essential starting point. Continuing the sessions and reaching as far as Visayas and Mindanao is the goal. For starters, I would suggest invitations using music and animation to attract more attendees. In addition, post session materials to sustain interest and push for future attendance as part of the planning. Interest is a seed for action. For example, to help the point stick, instead of disseminating simple recordings or articles, a short, edited video with a storyline focusing on the relevance of the theme, would be a more modern and purposeful way to pass on the message, especially to a younger crowd. This kind of material can also be shown at CLE classes to build more awareness within current AC students.
Another way would be a re-introduction and a call to embrace the AAA mission of ”A Christ-centered community of women grounded on the teachings and spirituality of the Foundress of the Religious of the Assumption, St. Marie Eugenie.” To start the dialogue across the alumnae community, we need to keep encouraging more memberships. One example is through AAA registration. To implement more coverage, a concrete plan/campaign with staggered releases about AAA registration accompanied by AAA stories or testimonials will help encourage registrants. It can be done with a set timeline and materials so that it can be viewed by a wider audience. A variety of materials with digital effects, animation, and music will also be more dynamic and create a stronger presence. For proper execution, I suggest a concrete and streamlined plan of action (like a PR plan) to help guide coherence and time tables.
3. What did you learn about yourself from the pandemic?
The Pandemic generally left me with self-awareness and confidence. It seemingly brought the world to a halt but as we’ve seen, as long as people keep on moving, the world will keep on turning.
With this, there were countless lessons learned from Covid-19 but for me, some lessons resounded more than others. Personally, the first lesson I learned was that being locked up with just my husband and two kids did not drive me to insanity. We made the most of being together. We were fully exposed to each other’s strengths, intricacies, and shortcomings. The good days and not so good days gave us the chance to love each other harder and
build a solid team of four.
My family and I were very lucky to have a place in the province. It was isolated from the busy life, set between a mountain and the sea. Thus, I was also pushed to learn about the benefits of food, how certain ingredients are healthy and how certain treatments can strip them of their nutrients. My family and I practiced eating simply and with grateful hearts. At times, we would go outside to forage for fresh vegetables like Tagalog ampalaya, lemongrass, and malunggay. We would pick mangoes, avocadoes, bananas, coconuts, papaya, and suha from the trees scattered around us. We were blessed with the opportunity to respect food and nature.
Moreso, I realized that even when I am lacking, I am always capable of sharing. With many left with a shortage of resources, my husband and I were still able to ration food and share with our barangay after every farm harvest. Relying mainly on our faith, we were able to go beyond ourselves and trust that we will never be left hungry or thirsty. This has become very valuable for us, because even now that we have entered an endemic state, we continue to practice what we’ve learned.
The final and most important lesson I learned is about myself. It is largely because of my Assumption experience and the sometimes severe emotions the pandemic brought, that I now consciously accept blessings with humility, accept challenges with courage, and accept sudden turns with complete surrender.