If it was curiosity and a sense of adventure that brought my 99-year old grandmother, Jessie Lichauco to the Philippines 80 years ago, it was love that made her story. Click here […]
It’s not often that members of a community in Tondo find themselves in a position of being able to give back to those whose efforts have enabled them to take a giant […]
Co-produced & co-directed this award-winning documentary about one woman’s journey through a century of love, war and discovery.
Curiosity, Adventure & Love is a the story of a woman raised by fate to go boldly where few young women of her time and upbringing would go… into the arms of chance and life.
A young American woman leaves her country and all security behind, to begin an adventure in
the Philippines that would witness the birth of a nation, a cruel war and Occupation and
reconstruction.
Jessie, is a striking personality, somewhere between Scarlett O’Hara and Amelia Earhart, who knew no boundaries and flew far ahead of her times, without regard to sex or society.
Her story of a century well-lived is both rich and one that should restore our faith
in our own humanity.
"VIRGIN OF THE ROCK"
I went stand up paddling as is my habit, but this time I found 40 pesos ($1) floating in the sea. I watched it float a little but then decided to pick it up. After a few moments, I decided it was a gift from the sea to the Virgin of the rock- this is what I have nicknamed the statue of the Virgin Mary that sits in the middle of a makeshift shrine on Willys rock near the shore of Boracay's White Beach. She sits in this giant rock formation, (which looks like a giant turtle) guarded by one young coconut tree, and only accessible at low tide.
I paddled over and tied my board to the makeshift banister, walked up the rock-stairs and after a few seconds of reflection, placed the 40 pesos between her praying hands…
I only visit her when the sea or beach provides a gift and today it did! Sometimes its’ a shell or a piece of coral or a small rock or in one case a hermit crab ( I thought perhaps she needed a friend so I introduced them) but today it was cash..
The Virgin gets lots of visitors so I figured maybe someone would come along who needed hope or the sign of seeing money or perhaps the money itself -- so I decided I would leave it just in case..
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SUNSHINE LICHAUCO DE LEON