Many of the people here live on the equivalent of $6.00 USD / day. They eat boiled rice garnished with a soup of weeds, gathered from the roadside or their gardens. They live mainly in Nippa huts, getting eaten alive by mosquitos each and every night. Most of them are so thin they would need to run around in the shower to get wet, if they had a shower. They are very clean, bathing daily by paling litres of cold water scooped from a bucket over their bodies. They are educated, most speaking 3 different languages, they thankful for small blessings in this life and they are basically happy.

However they are trapped in a country that is still reeling from the economic hardship, caused primarily by the actions of one, thankfully now deceased man, renowned as the second greatest thief in the history of the planet, Ferdinand Marcos; oddly enough the people here still revere him, because when times were tough, he gave them milk; which I might add, he could easily afford to do, while he was stripping the coffers of the Philippines to the tune of a $100,000,000,000 USD; one thousand million dollars, no sense crying of a little spilt milk.

Anyway, daily I am approached in the streets and in the markets, by Filipina women, asking me to find them one; meaning, a foreigner like me; Only today my wife, a very sexy Filipina, to whom I am completely devoted and she to me, was handed an envelope with a photo and a phone number by a another Filipina, asking please put me on your website, help me find a foreign Joe.

We are not making money out of this, yesterday I made $3.35 from Google Adsense clicks, but spent $5.00 on Google Adwords advertising, an established trend. I have invested over a thousand hours work, for little or no recompense, unless you can count the satisfaction in assisting people to escape the bonds of poverty as reward; well I guess you could… It is true that many of the Filipina are very exotic and beautiful and sexy looking too, and I don’t blame them one little bit, for using any God given character trait or physical advantage they possess, in their efforts to escape the demeaning poverty in which they now live.

My final thoughts are these, directed at those who would trample under foot, the inalienable right of Filipinas to be sexy. People in glasshouses should not throw stones. Before you judge them you should get down from your high towers and walk a mile in their shoes.

Ingat lang…

Here’s my blog entry- The Filipina Woman’s Image Online: We Have The Power To Shape The Future

http://radiantview.com/blog/2007/07/30/the-filipina-image-online-we-have-the-power-to-shape-the-future/

love,

Lorna

Thanks for the wonderful blog entry. Thank you, too, for sharing the SEO links. It’s a very important part of our Filipina Women’s Network’s “Shape the Filipina Image” Campaign. The more of us there are who rally for this “Filipina Woman Consciousness” Movement will reap the benefits, even if our children and grandchildren will be the ones to reap them. Everything takes time!

We’re getting ready for our Annual FWN Summit in Washington DC this October 25-27 in Washington DC. I hope some of you can join us. It’s going to be a remarkable gathering of women!

I tried to go to the link that you provided for our Shape the Filipina Image Campaign. http://ffwn.org/campaign/index.htm

Just in case you can’t read what it says, I’m copying it here.

“SHAPE THE FILIPINA IMAGE CAMPAIGN”

A quick Google search of “Filipina” yielded 1.1 million results, a high majority about Filipina Mail Order Brides. When you Google search “Latina” or other Asian American women, more positive images are listed and most are about accomplishments and their businesses. This is one of the reasons the Filipina Women’s Network launched a national campaign so the public will see Filipina women differently.

The campaign is about creating positive images and leadership opportunities for Filipina women in corporations, government and nonprofit organizations. Culture and media have immense power to shape public perceptions. Creating positive media images of Filipina women leaders is an important first step in shifting the cultural climate in the world so that Filipina women in powerful roles become commonplace and accepted in today’s society.

People often mimic the images, trends and ideas they glean from pop culture. Changing the perceptions within the popular culture can be a precursor to challenging and changing stereotypes that hold Filipina women back from becoming full participants in the workplace. Promoting more positive images of Filipina women in leadership roles will be a catalyst to making it absolutely normal in the eyes of the press and the public for Filipina women to ascend to the roles of senior management and public leadership.

FWN has a series of initiatives aimed at working within popular culture venues. A key initiative in changing the cultural climate is FWN’s collaboration with V-Day’s Worldwide Campaign in producing “The Vagina Monologues,” an all Filipina cast working to raise money and awareness to stop violence against Filipina women and girls. The one-night benefit performance is a celebration of Filipina Women’s Day on March 30, 2004 in conjunction with Women’s History Month celebrated every year in March.

Other Initiatives include the Filipina Image Program and the Filipina Women’s Leadership Summit. The Filipina Women’s Network is dedicated to advancing Filipina women across sectors, enhancing public perception’s of Filipina women’s ability to lead and fostering the entry of Filipina women into leadership positions.

I’M VERY HONORED TO BE IN THE COMPANY OF FABULOUS, REMARKABLE WOMEN! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Lorna
(Noemi’s sister in San Francisco and Chicago)

P.S. Noems, I just got back from a quickie trip to Paris with hubby. We went to the Montmartre District, our favorite, remember?