Sentro Rizal Ottawa Hosts Ambeth Ocampo Lecture
Dr. Ambeth Ocampo lectures to a full house at Sentro Rizal Ottawa. (Ottawa PE photo)
OTTAWA 07 June 2019 – The Filipino community in Ottawa welcomed Dr. Ambeth Ocampo back to Canada’s capital for the latter’s lecture titled “Rizal: The Hero as Traveler” held on 31 May 2019 at the Sentro Rizal Ottawa.
An expert on 19th century Philippine history and the country’s leading authority on Filipino national Dr. Jose Rizal, Dr. Ocampo led the audience of more than a hundred people through the life and times of the Philippines’ national hero.
Among the issues highlighted during the lecture were the impact of Dr. Rizal’s travels on his world view and how his teachings continue to be relevant in the 21st century.
Dr. Ocampo exhorted the audience to look beyond Rizal as a hero and see him as an ordinary person, as it is through understanding his humanity that other Filipinos can realize their own capacity for greatness.
The lecture went into overtime as the enthusiastic audience bombarded Dr. Ocampo with questions ranging from rumors about Dr. Rizal to little-known snippets of the Filipino national hero’s private life.
First generation Filipino immigrants to Canada conveyed their amazement at the trove of information uncovered through Dr. Ocampo’s research while second and third generation Filipino-Canadians expressed their appreciation to Dr. Ocampo for connecting them with their heritage.
Dr. Ocampo’s lecture was organized by the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa’s Sentro Rizal Ottawa of the, in collaboration with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and with the support of the Knights of Rizal Gatineau Chapter.
This is the first of a series of Dr. Ocampo’s lectures scheduled to take place in Toronto, Washington D.C., Chicago, and New York. END
For more information, visit www.ottawape.dfa.gov.ph, www.philembassy.ca or https://www.facebook.com/PHinCanada/.