Christmas Gift Suggestion

Thinking of a nice gift to give your favorite elementary school child (grade four and up)? We suggest the CMMA award-winning book, Si Kontra, Si Bida, at Si Big Boy Buwaya written by Christine Bersola-Babao.

Contact Goodwill and Bridges Bookstore for book availability. 

Christmas Gift Suggestion

Si Kontra, Si Bida at si Big Boy Buwaya (Press Release)

 Award-winning TV-Radio host and children’s book author Christine Bersola-Babao has collaborated with Jesuit priest, Fr. Ted Gonzales, on a Children’s Book entitled “Si Kontra, Si Bida, at si Big Boy Buwaya”.

Said book was given a Special Citation by the recently concluded 32^nd Catholic Mass Media Awards.

Edited by another award-winning author, Christine S. Bellen, and wonderfully illustrated by Martin Malabanan, the book is a project of Fr. Ted’s BASA (Bayan Akayin sa Abot-Tanaw) – an organization which seeks to uplift children’s values through love of reading.

“Si Kontra, Si Bida, at si Big Boy Buwaya” fulfills BASA’s mission by being rooted in Filipino values, particularly on working together, unity, and integrity.  The story revolves around the title characters’ transformational journey inside their forest kingdom.

According to Tintin, her inspiration for the story is "...what is happening in our present-day society. Our choice of leaders. What happens if and when we choose the wrong leaders. And in the end, how people can unite and work together and rebuild society. I wrote this a year before Ondoy. This book will remind us about Ondoy and our apathy  to nature. But in the end, lesson learned is  that we can all work towards common goals- positivism and unity“

This project has been made possible with the help of CEFAM (Center for Family Ministries), the LCF (League of Corporate Foundations) 57-75 thrust, and Accupoint Systems. It is published by Katha Publishing Co., and is available in Goodwill and Bridges Bookstores or call this number for inquiries and orders: 895-8684 or www.Bridgesbookstore.com

Si Kontra, Si Bida at si Big Boy Buwaya (Press Release)

Tintin Bersola-Babao's Si Kontra, Si Bida, at Si Big Boy Buwaya wins CMMA!

I am grateful to Tintin Bersola-Babao and other volunteers who believe in Imagination to Build a Nation; May we write more topics to ignite the soul of the nation!

- Fr. Ted Gonzales, SJ

Si Kontra, Si Bida, at Si Big Boy Buwaya is BASA's first book. Congrats to the creators of SKSBASBBB - Christine Bersola- Babao, Martin Malabanan, and Christine Belen, and  the Project Team and donors.

Read the press release.

Tintin Bersola-Babao's Si Kontra, Si Bida, at Si Big Boy Buwaya wins CMMA!

Trainors Training

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”

 —Author unknown

Are you considering Trainors' Training?

BASA's trainors' training equips volunteers with the basic skills needed to conduct and oversee reading sessions with school-age children in communities they are already involved with. The whole-day training includes an afternoon practicum with the children and an evaluation.

Sponsors need to provide the materials, venue, and transportation for the speakers, but the actual training is free.

You may:

-help sponsor a trainor's training
-attend a trainor's training with a small group of four

Interested? Let us know.

Feel free to forward this to friends who might be interested! Use the forwarding tools below.

Trainors Training

Book Donations

BASA accepts book donations.

1. Address your box of books:

    BASA c/o Fr. Teodulo P. Gonzales, SJ

    Center for Family Ministries

    Seminary Drive

    Ateneo de Manila University

    Katipunan Ave, Loyola Heights, Quezon City 1108

    Philippines

2. Email: friendsofbasa@gmail.com 

    a. to notify us of an incoming shipment,

      OR

      if within Metro Manila, the address where you would like to have the books picked up and a contact number/person.

    b. to let us know if the donation is anonymous or not (All donations are acknowledged online unless you request us not to do so)

We are unable to make donations tax-deductible at this time.

Book Donations

How CEFAM has affected my life

Below is Marifel Castriciones' testimony for CEFAM (Center for Family Ministries) and her involvement with BASA.


by Marifel Castriciones

CEFAM helps build relationships by giving hope to problematic families and encouraging responsible living starting from the core, i.e., in individuals, among other things.  I remember how Fr. Ted's Resiliency Class, which I attended for one semester, presented street smart people, single parents, and dysfunctional families who unabashedly spoke of their real life experiences before the class and how the programs of CEFAM tremendously changed their lives while gradually changing my own. Above and beyond instruction, CEFAM immerses in the lives of families.  No wonder its volunteers multiply in its outreach programs. Among the growing number it offers (Daluyan, Marriage Encounters, Discovery Week-End, Life's Direction, Agimat, On Fire, etc.), it is with Bayan Akayin Sa Abot Tanaw (BASA) that I took a special interest in and volunteered my services.  For 6 years, BASA  gave me very fruitful experiences - going around the provinces of Masbate, Vigan, Sorsogon, Nueva Ecija, Ilocos, etc. meeting people, talking with them, hearing their difficulties, joining in their activities, teaching them reading, helping them start their small libraries or reading centers –that made it easy for me to encounter God.  That was when I started to yearn for more. 

Adjacent to the CEFAM building stands the Loyola School of Theology.   From CEFAM's BASA which conducts storytelling and reading workshops, I ended up enrolling and studying the word of God.  This time, my storytelling is anchored in scriptures with seminarians, religious sisters and volunteer catechists as my students from my teaching stints at San Carlos Seminary, the Scalabrini Formation Center and the Institute of Catechetics of the Archdiocese of Manila (ICAM).  

My background with CEFAM & the Loyola School of Theology helped me know myself more, clarify for me what matters most, and to prudently act on these convictions, so much so that even in my other civic involvements like anchoring in a radio program with my husband in “Bro. John & Sis. Fel”  [Radio Veritas, 6 p.m on Saturdays], it is God we seek and the good of man.  

Thank you CEFAM especially to Fr. Ted’s BASA for bringing out the best leader in everyone.   This year, 2010, BASA has already given 5 reading workshops around the metropolis.  BASA team leaves for another reading workshop invitation in Laoag this July while we welcome our latest invitation to work in collaboration with Tony Maloto's GK scholars throughout the country with Vic Lorenzo, a pioneer graduate of CEFAM, as our link.

How CEFAM has affected my life

Back to School!

 School is just around the corner. Would you like to help your local public day care center or public school with free BASA seminars? Contact us!

Back to School!

Si Kontra, Si Bida at si Big Boy Buwaya

BASA launches is its first book!

Read Mark Ruiz' blog about here.

Enjoy the photos! (Courtesy of Mira Angeles)

Si Kontra, Si Bida at si Big Boy Buwaya

Thanks thanks thanks!

Thank you to Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez and her friends for putting together some book donations!

Do you want to donate to BASA but are unable to send your books to libraries affected by Ondoy? Get in touch with us and we'll get them from you!

Thanks thanks thanks!