Continuing on the path to recovery over the last month, we saw some better economic numbers and new programs and events which I believe are good moves as they are game changers for the youth that I see are keys to pushing our economic recovery and strengthening our resilience.
The rise in import and export volumes in April compared to last year indicate increased economic activity, boding well for our employment numbers and our over all recovery. (https://mb.com.ph/2021/06/09/ph-foreign-trade-doubles-in-april/).
Pushing continuous recovery will require engaging the future, personified by today’s youth, mainly the Gen Z and post millennial generation. Their exposure to technology, among other skills enables them to better take apart complex problems and find ways forward to solve them reflects a capacity to multitask and think at various levels. These skills also enable them to connect quickly, and obtain the needed information to make decisions fast.
The good news is that there are programs meant to harness these.
You will note, there are many young farmers featured in the Manila Bulletin who are able to inspire many with their clear grasp of the scientific underpinnings of agribusiness and are thus better able to harness technology that can allow them to address two key issues affecting many farms: climate change and biosafety. Many of them are able to unlock and explore opportunities never before seen for their farms, such as far- to-table restaurants, organic produce buyers.
Recent scholarship programs can boost these capabilities, under the Department of Agriculture such as the Mentoring and Attracting Youth in Agribusiness (MAYA), and financing such as the Kapital Access for Young Agriperenurs (KAYA), can provide up to 500,000 pesos in uncollateralized loans for their agribusiness projects.
Also worth noting in the BSP Youth Summit on July 9 are the up and coming young entrepreneurs taking charge of and utilizing financial technology and other digital tools to not only make payments, but to obtain business loans to propel their ventures. Another is the Sulong Pilipinas on Climate Change and the Youth Sector, an online event on June 15.
These programs and events bring together various actors, through technology and online exchanges, that can facilitate the necessary discussions on pressing matters, which I believe can bring forth solutions.
Honoring our fathers, and why we miss our parents
The first week of June marks the midpoint between mothers and fathers day, which are two events many of us who have a lost a parent celebrate, or at least reflect upon for good reason.
We miss our parents not because they were perfect parents. After all, there is no certification or degree program that makes one a good parent. Besides, we also cannot claim to be perfect children.
But we miss them because we can now look back with 20/20 hindsight, remembering them for who they really were, to which we credit the experiences which shaped us into the being we have become.
What we become then, is our response to those experiences. We eventually make that decision, empowered by the full knowledge of experience, to become the loving person which every parent- yes, every parent- would want us to be. This same vision and hope we nurture, and decide to build in our children.
Remembering my late parents in the mid of these two special days teaches some valuable lessons: that life is still a great teacher, that time is a formidable healer, and that God did not give us control over these two for a deep reason faith will help us discover.
Continue to stay safe everyone!
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