Her Imagined World

CEBU, Philippines - She sees a river clean in the sunlight, its blue color reflects those of the skies and its water tripping over rocks. She stands there while little children climb strong trees, roll in a field of green grass and swim in a brook not black with trash.

She's in a place where electricity bills no longer cause her parents' wrinkles or gray hairs. It is where a lot of cars are not spewing out black smoke. She sees the roofs of every house stretching for miles, covered with solar cells, cheaper and affordable.

Where could she possibly be?

There she is, in her own world of imagination created by hope.

She is 16-year-old Gerriane Faith Rizon and this is how she envisions the Philippines in her essay entitled "The Future I Want."

In response to the seemingly endless environmental problem of the country, Gerriane's essay won her a trophy and P15,000 in the recently concluded United Nations Information Center (UNIC)'s nationwide essay writing contest.

Among 126 submitted essays, Gerriane's imagined world won the hearts of the judges. She was awarded first prize for her essay on July 16 in Eastwood Mall in Libis, Quezon City.

The competition, with the theme "The Future We Want," challenged young people from all over the Philippines to provide a perspective on the kind of world they would like to see in the future. The content of the essay must adopt as much as possible the advocacy underlying the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or the Rio+20 Summit, according to UNIC website.

Gerriane or "Gerry," as she is fondly called, is a second year Mass Communication student at the University of the Philippines Cebu (UPC).

It was her mother, Annelfa Rizon, who saw the poster of the contest beside UP's canteen and encouraged her to join.

"It took me few days before deciding to pursue it because I had a lot of doubts about my writing skills," Gerry pointed out. Later on, she realized she won't lose anything from joining. Thus, she noted, it was a good opportunity that shouldn't be taken for granted since the contest will only happen again after 20 years just like the UN's Summit for the Environment.

Simple and straightforward, is how she describes her essay.

Expecting of having no chance to win even a consolation prize, Gerry said she was truly shocked when she got the good news. "So when I received a call asking if I was available to go to Manila for the awarding ceremony, I asked the organizer repeatedly to check if it was true," exclaimed Gerry.

Her winning piece was inspired by Gerard Rizon's stories, her father, that center on his childhood home, barangay Camputhaw in Cebu City.

"The way he described his home before is totally different from what it is now," Gerry explained. She pointed out that what happened to her father's childhood home has happened all over the Philippines. Hence, she found it interesting and decided to write about it. She now resides in Mandaue City together with her parents and her younger sister.

She is also thankful to her Environmental Science Professor, Jason Nieva whose subject made her analyze and understand the environmental problems the country is currently facing.

As to her readers, she hopes they will realize the importance of the environment and will be encouraged to do something about it.

Gerry believes that her imagined world can become one possible future for Cebu City and for the entire country.

"I always aspire to see a lush green Cebu City in the near future, the way my father once experienced it," she said.

Thus, for the sake of the next generation, Gerry stressed the need to conserve the environment as a call for change.

The Art of Procrastination

However, she confessed that coming up with an award-winning essay wasn't meant to be easy. It took her a long time to decide on what topic to write.

Whether it is procrastination, mañana habit perhaps or merely a writing strategy to compose her thoughts, it was only a week before the given 3-month deadline when she finalized her topic and started working on her 1,291-word essay.

She even thought of not submitting her essay due to a series of unfortunate events. On the day of submission, she was at Camotes Island to attend a family affair. Since the essay is required to be submitted online, she had to take a 30-minute habal-habal ride in order to reach the nearest internet café.

 She almost gave up but with her father's encouragement, she gained strength and decided to finish what she started.

After dealing with a “piso-piso” internet system, she ended up submitting her essay, 30 minutes before the given deadline at 5pm.

Gerry candidly admitted, it's her mañana habit she wants to break. She is also aware that it is the same vice of most Filipinos that paralyzes development in the country. Thus, conscious effort, she said, is needed in order to get rid of this vice.

Getting herself a daily planner is Gerry's answer to start change within her and to organize her plans for a better future. (FREEMAN)