By: Karenlyn Barone
Born and raised in the Philippines, Ordona, now 34, was a local artist, happily creating pieces of natural beauty when he met a Peace Corps volunteer in 2000. They were married and when his wife became pregnant, they agreed that it would be better if the baby were born in the United States. So Ordona gathered up his meager belongings and prepared to travel to his wife's hometown of Lynbrook. They arrived in New York in September of 2001, just one week after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
While Ordona looked for work, he and his wife lived with her parents and prepared for the birth of their child. The job situation was bleak thanks to a combination of factors, including the aftermath of Sept. 11, a national recession and his immigration status.
"I couldn't find a job," said Ordona. "My son was born in February of 2002 and I had no working papers."
Ordona's spirit took another blow when suddenly, just days after his son's christening, he was asked to leave his in-laws house. Without warning, says Ordona, the marriage was over.
Kind souls, like Larry Lombardo from Lynbrook's St. Mary's Council of the Knights of Columbus, reached out and extended Ordona a helping hand. He offered Ordona a job as a custodian at the council in Lynbrook and St. Mary's gave him a place to live.
"I tried to help Jongo anyway that I could," said Lombardo. "Charity is part of my oath as a knight. But when he decided to pursue his art, he left the job to try and make a go of it on his own."
Ordona was thankful, but he said he knew the work he should be doing was his art. "I was thinking that this is my work," said Ordona. "This is what I can do best. My art is the only way I know how to contribute to society."
Ordona, who is an avid surfer, would travel to Long Beach every day and use the ocean as his bath. He would pick up discarded crayons and scraps of material on the way and use them to create art. He drew what he saw from the boardwalk at Long Beach -- colorful scenes and peaceful pastels -- using broken crayons and bits of bright chalk.
"I have little materials," said Ordona. "I want to paint, but I have no place."
Now living in a shelter in Hempstead, Ordona has to leave the only home he knows every day at 7 a.m. and he cannot return until 7 p.m. each evening. Unfortunately, this arrangement does not afford him a secure place to keep materials, even if he had them.
Walking the streets during the day, Ordona wandered into the Town of Hempstead's African-American Museum. There, he felt at home. The beautiful and diverse artworks inspired him to keep creating and gave him something he was almost out of -- hope.
"Jongo kept visiting the museum and he kept telling me he was an artist," said the Museum's exhibit coordinator, Dolores Contreras. "He showed me a photo of his work and since I was coordinating a multi-cultural show, I thought we should include his art."
Ordona was thrilled to be given an opportunity to show his work.
"I believe in museums," said Ordona. "Galleries are only for money."
Ordona presented Contreras with three pieces of his work. Two are pastels of his Long Beach renderings and the other is a sculpture called "Ankas."
"It means 'to carry' in Filipino," explained Ordona. "To me, it means I carry my family."
The whimsical yet poignant piece is a standing sculpture of his life. Resembling a huge wooden horse, the piece stands on crutches, which represent standing up in life. "I knew I would be living in the streets, and I used the crutches to symbolize someone standing up, or leaning on something to stand," said Ordona.
The names of the members of his family are engraved at the top of each crutch in his native language. Ordona also included a broom from his days as a custodian.
"This is the broom I used to feed my son," said Ordona. "And the cloth hanging underneath is to symbolize the shelter you need in life."
The head of the sculpture wears a simple smile, with the towers of the World Trade Center as its honor guard. The face is haunting. Ordano used images of two airplanes, in place of the irises.
Although life is far from a beautiful painting for Ordano right now, he plans to stay in American and make his way. "I will stay here to prepare the path for my son." he said. "I am strong because I have him."
The museum's director, Willy Houston, is impressed with Ordano an artist and as a human being. "He is seeing life in the raw right now," said Houston. "But it will not crush him; he is stronger because of it. I think the American dream will be his, at least that is my wish for him."
Ordona's work may be seen at the museum, located at 110 North Franklin Street in Hempstead through Nov. 1.
