A ‘wonderful’ blog

The boys and girls of P. Campa

IT SEEMS LIKE IT was just a couple of years ago.  Fact is, it was sometime in 1992 when a band of newly grads, some would-be Electronic & Communications engineers from Saint Louis University in Baguio City, came to Manila to confront their future.  Their first mission was to pass the ECE Board Exam. Their second mission was to try it out in the dog-eat-dog job market of Metro Manila.  After all, they were a bunch of promdis (promdi mountains and promdi provinces) unaccustomed to the hustles and hassles of the big city.

At about the same time a group of soon-to-be-nurses from Far Eastern University, also fresh from university, were looking for a place for them to mount their campaign to tackle the battery of exams ahead of them, ultimately to pass the NCLEX which will be their license to work in the US or in some other place where the grass is much greener than at home.

Alas these two groups who have nothing in common and who have not known each other before found themselves occupying adjacent rooms in a small bed-space-only rental place in P. Campa St. in Sampaloc, Manila.

And then a very beautiful thing happened.  First they became friends, really good friends.  And then they became a family.

There was obviously a very strong mutual attraction. Sure it involved some romantic infatuations among some of the members of the two groups. But it was clear soon enough that it was a familial bond, more than anything else, that kept the two groups together.

For about a year it was an extraordinarily beautiful relationship among siblings, brothers and sisters all. They shared their food, their time, their talents, their dreams, their angst, their fears.  They comforted each other, supported each other, consoled each other, cheered each other up, prayed for each other.

And then as quickly as they came to P. Campa they had to go their own separate ways to chase their own dreams and live their respective lives.

The engineers went ahead and became engineers. Or at least most of them did.  The nurses went to care for others as they have trained to be.

P. Campa has changed a lot since, with newer and bigger buildings that sprouted in the past sixteen or so years.  The old house where the engineers and nurses shared their lives may be long gone now. But to the boys and girls of P. Campa it will always remain in their hearts.  Wherever they may be now, they will always go back to P. Campa, even just in their dreams, for once upon a time it was home.

The boys and girls of P. Campa:

Allan, Becks, Bevs, Bhong, Edward, Faye, 

Iris/Claret, Lino, Malou, Mann, Mitz, Ramil, Russ, Trix

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Tags: Family, Friends, memories, nostalgia