New Times - May 2012 - Uniting Church in Australia

volunteering
Buildings, barcodes and Baguio City
Enid Ninnes
The Ecumenical Theological
Seminary (ETS) was formed
in Baguio City, Philippines,
16 years ago. The teaching
facility was birthed by a group
of students and lecturers
from an existing seminary in
the Philippines which failed to
meet their needs.
ETS developed a curriculum
and style which had a strong
social justice focus and a
strong practical component.
Students were divided into
four groups, with each group
spending one week at the
seminary for classes and
reflection, then three weeks in
a church placement.
Though now boasting
around 300 students, the
seminary started in the
basement of the church
office next door to the present
building with only a few
students and some unpaid
staff.
The current two-story
building is designed to
house students, guests, the
principal, dining and kitchen
facilities, the library, offices,
lecture and meeting rooms.
Despite the minimal facilities,
the seminary is a lively and
progressive place.
The reality of funding cuts
hits visitors immediately
14
when seeing the half-finished
building. While some lecture
rooms, staff, student and
guest accommodation
had been established and
the library filled the damp
basement, the rest of the
seminary was “open-air”.
Amongst these building
needs, the principal’s wife, one
of three permanent teaching
staff, has taken charge of their
present library. Though eager
to excel, she was untrained
in librarianship and wanted
to catalogue the resources
according to the Dewey
Decimal System.
After hearing of this specific
need for library support I, as
a trained teacher librarian,
and my husband Alan decided
that we would visit ETS for two
weeks and assist where we
could.
During our two week stay
we sorted donated books,
set up a cataloguing system
and processed materials. Our
visit meant two weeks of hard
work. It also meant two weeks
of new found friends and
fellowship, two weeks of new
foods, two weeks of sharing
what it means to be the
church today, and two weeks
of beginning to see a beautiful
country and understand the
Enid and Alan Ninnes spent two weeks in the Philippines helping the
Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Baguio City to organise its library.
needs of our partners. It
was a never-to-be-forgotten
experience.
There is still much to be
done to help this seminary
function at its full capacity.
Currently, a movement within
the United Church of Christ
in the Philippines is calling
to merge all seminaries as
one unit with a number of
campuses. This will mean,
among other things, the
development of a quality
library suitable to support
doctoral level students.
To help fulfil the needs
of this seminary, through
financial support or librarian
skills, please contact Christa
Megaw:
p. (08) 8236 4203
e. cmegaw@sa.uca.org.au
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