where the moon shines

Just as Typhoons Ondoy and Peping wreaked havoc in the Philippines two years ago, Pedring and Quiel came one after the other last week to do another round of damage.

Unlike Ondoy though, our place wasn’t heavily affected. Yes, we had floods, but not as bad as that nightmare of 2009. A few days after leaving the country though, Pedring still continues to make lives of countless Pinoys a living hell.

Many areas are still flooded. Hundreds of families have no safe and dry homes to go to. They are cold, wet, and hungry. Hundreds of babies are in need of milk. Some communities are cut off from aid because bridges have been destroyed or roads blocked by landslides. There’s not enough rubber boats to get to where the people are.

Although Ondoy left us with lessons and perhaps we already are somehow better prepared for disasters, it is once again proven that we haven’t truly mastered disaster preparedness. What’s worse, this lack in direction for what to do with babies in evacuation centers needing milk just show how government has yet to prioritize the special needs of children in times of disasters. I understand, hindi naman talaga inaasahan. Who knew that the land was so saturated with water that it can hold no more? Who knew the floods would be that bad? But the whole point of disaster preparedness is preparing for the worst.

Hindi man tayo maging handa kaagad-agad, sana man lang mas mabilis na natin na-momobilize ang resources at tulong pag nandyan na ang sakuna.

Watching the news the other day, Dad and I couldn’t help but exchange comments on how disgusted we were about the inefficiency and inadequacy of service. Hay. The death toll during the actual typhoon wasn’t much, hihintayin pa bang madagdagan in the aftermath?

But whining won’t do anyone any good. So to re-channel my energies, here’s some info on where you could send help for the victims of September’s latest pasabog:

• The Philippine Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org.ph/donatenow
• The Angel Brigade: http://www.facebook.com/groups/145564996085/ (if you don’t have the money to donate, but have the time to help packing, then join the Angel Brigade)
• ABS-CBN Foundation’s Sagip Kapamilya – they are accepting donations at the Pinoy Big Brother Concert Hall. You may reach them at (02) 411-4995 for necessary arrangements

I’m sure there are many more groups accepting donations, these are just a few I would trust with whatever little I can donate. If the Angel Brigade still needs helping hands this weekend, I’m hoping the boyfriend and I can go get involved.

Lastly, I just really wanted to take a minute to thank the Universe for sparing my family from any harm this season. I don’t always verbally say thanks for every little blessing, but I am always grateful and appreciative.

I finally did it – I am officially a UNICEF Champion for Children! I’ve been thinking of making the monthly commitment to support their projects but it took so long before making a move towards it. Perhaps the hesitation came from wanting to donate time and talents rather than sending a check monthly. Since I still haven’t found the right opportunities to work with children in need, being a UNICEF Champion for Children would suffice for now.

Sent an email to them a few days ago inquiring about being one, and I received a prompt response. I didn’t get to sign up right away, but after watching DaphneOP’s video of her recent trip, I just had to.

Check it out and be moved too.

Donate to UNICEF!

I thought carefully before posting about making the pledge or not. But I wanted to share this video, and it seemed relevant to proudly say that I am again working with UNICEF, albeit in a different capacity than I used to.

And speaking of UNICEF, remember this photo? It’s from my  I Love UNICEF post.

Thanks to Czaroma, I learned of this project that aims to bring pencils for indigent students.

I know nothing about Hotel with Heart, but I am hoping that they follow through with their claim and they really donate pencils to DTC’s Kariton Klasrum.

Go checkout their FB page and lend your digital signature in exchange for a donation of pencils.

I just remembered Nortehanon and her Pens of Hope. I should check back with her and find out if she’s accepting donations again for this school year.

I would love to say that I put in a bid in any one of the lots in UNICEF’s Auction for Action, but I have not. The current bids are all beyond me at this point. So if I can’t help UNICEF by winning a bid, I’ll do so by spreading the word.

There are only 3 days left before the auction closes. All the items were donated by the artists, so all proceeds from the sales of these pieces will fund UNICEF projects. All of it. The curator is Urbanista Daphne Oseña-Paez so you can be assured that all the pieces in this auction were chosen in very good taste.

It would have been wonderful to score a modern cocktail table while knowing that the very amount you spent for it is going to a good cause. Here’s one from the lot:

It’s a coffee table, with the view from above, minus the round glass top. Photo linked to the auction page.

But if I had the money, I would have really loved to bid on this chair:

It really looks quite comfortable. And cool.

Here’s another favorite from the lot, Tweet lamps!

Aren’t they cute? They are up for bid separately but look gorgeous as a group.

But if I were to pick one piece that really spoke of UNICEF’s work, or a piece that would speak to the young kids that UNICEF help, it would be the work of Michael Cacnio:

Children in difficult circumstances dream of a home. A small simple house up in the trees would do, as long as it is safe and they have family. The child flying a kite is a representation of a happy child. So yes, this piece speaks to me of the work of UNICEF. Whoever wins the bid, should donate the piece back for display in the UNICEF offices.

As for me, I will sit back and keep looking at all the pretty things up for auction. And I will also continue to pray for its success. After all, more money raised from this effort, means more Filipino children finding hope in these bleak times.

As for my dreams of owning beautiful art pieces, and artsy furniture. Oh well, that can wait. If I were to buy any piece of furniture at this point, it probably should be like this 1001 console table, more function than style.

Go on and head over to EBAY.PH and bid on the lots for UNICEF Auction for Action!

I was a kid in a time when the world realized how important it was to protect children. In 1990, the UN and its member states ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. That year was also the beginning of my being a child rights advocate. UNCRC is already 20 years old, I wish I could proudly say that I’d been a CRC advocate for the same number of years, but I could not. Sadly, when I left NGO work about 6 years ago, much of my advocacy stopped too. I don’t even remember the facts anymore.

Of course I hadn’t intended it to be that way. If anything, I thought that allowing myself the freedom to live a different life would afford me more free time and resources to be involved in other child-focused advocacies. I was wrong.

I’d like to think that I still carry it in me, that in some way I am still an advocate for children’s rights. The recent issue of Willing Willie and the accusations of Child Abuse thrown against them has reawakened that spirit.

The issue has gone the rounds of social media sites for over a week. I have reserved my comment though my blood boils every time I read or hear about it. For awhile, I resisted viewing the video of the 6-year-old – being contented with the description of how he was in tears as he danced for the crowd. I could already see him in my mind, and I could hear Willie’s voice prodding him on and adding more drama to what already was a very sad scene.

I refuse to post the Youtube video of the kid on my blog, I will not even tweet you a link to it.

Call me OA (over-acting), but I sincerely believe that leaving that video online for all to see is just the same as telling the boy to keep on dancing his sexy macho dance. It’s no different from what Willie, the production team, the network, and even the audience, did to the little boy. We take a stand against child pornography right? Saying that mere possession and viewing illicit content is a violation of the child’s rights. Well I say the same about the boy’s video.

But I did watch it. I saw the 1-minute video that was shared on Twitter. It was enough for me to form an opinion. I do not wish to see it again, and I do not think others need to watch it.

* The boy was crying as soon as he started dancing. Whether he was crying out of fear of Bonel Balingit (a towering giant who happened to be at the show that day), or out of humiliation for what he was being asked to do – he should not have been made to continue, much less repeat the dance. He could have cried out of stage fright and not because he was ashamed, nonetheless, he should have been asked to stop. Does he really have to dance? All he needs to do is answer a question correctly in order to win a prize. Yes, he might have joined up and said that his talent was dancing, but if he changed his mind and was suddenly all too shy to do it in front of millions of people – then he shouldn’t have had to continue.

* Last night, the boy and his family appeared on the show. I refused to tune in and watch. Whether the family intends to file a complaint against the show is irrelevant. Protecting the child’s rights is a State duty. Violation of children’s rights, Child abuse, is a crime. Just because the parents don’t know better doesn’t right a wrong.

* I do not understand WW’s and TV5’s apology.  Neither do I accept it. There was no admission of wrongdoing. In fact, they have been trying to salvage the host and the show’s reputation. The timing of the awarding for their 7 millionaires and its feature in Paparazzi last weekend is very suspicious. TV5, and all other networks, should come up with very clear guidelines on children and minors appearing in their shows – whether as actors or show contestants.

Maybe we’re barking at the wrong tree. Willie has done other things that were met with public outrage and he has gone away with it. He earns 80,000USD a day doing Willing Willie (source: Cristy Fermin, Paparazzi 3/27/11). No doubt he feels that he is untouchable. Writing to TV5’s president is probably not going to work either – after all, Willie is currently the most bankable star in their roster. Would they risk losing him the way ABSCBN did by attempting to discipline him? I don’t think so.

But the advertisers should be different. It is their money funding the show. They should demand more from its hosts and from the network.