A homecoming

Saturday, September 17, 2011

WHAT is the best way to celebrate a long lost friend’s return? Of course, a welcome home party.

Surrounding that person with love, joy and sparkling emotions are perhaps the best perfect homecoming message one can receive.

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It was, indeed, mix emotions for Ms. Dolly Ilogon, a former member of the media in Cagayan de Oro who is now based in the United States, and Maria Fe Ilogon-Sohn, her sister from Utah, California, when a simple gathering was made especially for them at the Grand City Hotel on Saturday by a group called Kagay-anon Kaniadto Community Chat (KKCC).

KKCC is a non-commercial, non-religious community chat group of Kagay-anon Kaniadto, a product of a social networking site whose members post historical value of the rich culture of Cagayan de Oro.

Ms. Dolly and her sister are members of the group along with other 3,666 Kagay-anons.

The KKCC is a product of what we call today as the digital generation, where the world gets smaller as people can make easy access thru the social networking sites offered by the Internet even if they are miles apart.

The simple welcome home party also served as a meeting and an acquaintance for the members, some of whom saw each other for the first time though they are chatmates for the longest time.

The welcome party was hosted by Oscar Caiña, a staff of the Department of Health, who made the crowd smile for his humor and “bizarre” prizes during the parlor and mind games.

Everyone came to enjoy the time together as Ms. Dolly could feel the energy flow and the vibe that came out of the warm reception. Laughter was all over the place as the members entertain each other.

Ms. Dolly was a former disc jockey of 99.9 DxRK, a newscaster of GMA 7 and an anchor of Bombo Radio and DXIM who became a media icon in Cagayan de Oro. She felt honored and overwhelmed of the group’s effort.

She says she felt sad for the reason of her homecoming – her dad was very sick. But still, she felt happy as she was reunited with her family and friends and met new faces.

Genevieve F. Queppet, also known as “Moon Neri” who is the secretary general of KKCC, shares that the group has become much attached that they try to reach out and help a fellow member who is in desperate need.

During the short meeting, the members agreed to do a charity for a fellow member who will undergo a kidney transplant and dialysis. They intend to raise P400,000 for the operation.

Indeed, the homecoming has not only showered Ms. Dolly and her sister that “welcome mood” as it also served as a venue for Good Samaritans to come together and help another who is in dire need.