My SUPERWISH for my family this year

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Is there a perfect plan? Maybe but sometimes things don’t go as planned. It is one lesson I have learned when making travel plans. It was Lao Tzu that said ““a good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”

When my daughter made plans to take a short vacation back to the Philippines,I started to create travel itineraries for Cebu and Baguio. It’s been my SUPERWISH to travel together once again as a family, after all my second daughter has been away for a year now. Baguio is my husband’s place of birth while it is Cebu for me. Visiting our birthplaces is something I want my daughters to experience once again. They used to visit Cebu and Baguio as kids but this time around, they are adults. Since my father-in-law turned 80 this month , a reunion was planned way ahead of time for Baguio on the first week of January. Sadly, my eldest daughter got the flu and didn’t want to travel to Baguio as she recuperated. It was more important that my daughter recovered quickly than insist that she travel along with us. Her grandfather would understand.

It was just my husband, my second daughter and myself. My father in law’s birthday celebration brought a lot of good cheers and laughter among the family members. The cold Baguio air added a more holiday feeling to our vacation as we warmed ourselves by the fire. I was missing my eldest daughter yet it has always been my wish that my family members are well. We can always travel some other time. There was Cebu.

Our Cebu vacation was planned by my second daughter. Much as I wanted my husband to join us for the Sinulog Celebration, I was unable to book a ticket for the weekend. This time around, it was just me and my two daughters. Our plan to travel as a complete family fell through again but it was still no big deal.

My two daughters do not really know Cebu , my hometown. The last time we stayed here for a long vacation was when they were toddlers. Sinulog is also something they have never experienced. In fact, the last time I experienced the Sinulog was twenty seven years ago when dad was one of the organizers. I made sure to get them photo IDs to capture the festivities. It was overwhelming to see the huge crowds that gravitated to Cebu. Never have I seen so many people in Cebu. I explained to my daughter that Sinulog festival is recent but the “Sinulog dance” existed a long time ago.

Visiting the Sto. Nino Church, I showed the woman vendor selling candles offering prayers to the Sto. Nino. The vendor does the traditional version of the dance when lighting a candle with a prayer. I asked the woman for prayers for my family. As I watched her dance, all I could think of is my wish that my family is healthy and well.

Check this video that I took of the prayer-dance.

With a little help from Wikipedia, I found the origins of this dance.

The Sinulog dance steps are believed to originate from Rajah Humabon’s adviser, Baladhay. It was during Humabon’s grief when Baladhay was driven sick. Humabon ordered his native tribe to bring Baladhay into a room where the Santo Niño was enthroned, along with the other pagan gods of the native Cebuanos. After a few days passed, Baladhay was heard shouting and was found dancing with utmost alertness. Baladhay was questioned as to why was he awake and shouting. Pointing to the image of the Santo Niño, Baladhay explained that he had found on top of him a small child trying to wake him and tickling him with the midrib of the coconut. Greatly astonished, he scared the child away by shouting. The little child got up and started making fun of Baladhay. In turn, Baladhay danced with the little child and explained that he was dancing the movements of the river. To this day, the two-steps forward, one-step backward movement is still used by Santo Niño devotees who believe that it was the Santo Niño’s choice to have Baladhay dance.

It was fascinating to watch .

The prayer dance is so paganistic despite the Catholic origins of the Sto Nino but I believe it is faith too.

As I reflect on our two vacations this month, it may not seem perfect but what is most important to me? True, I still wish to pursue travel plans this year with my family. Now if it doesn’t push through, it is not a big deal. I can adjust. I’d rather get up in the morning, knowing they are happy and well.

My SUPERWISH for my family is love, good health and happiness.

Just the two of us. More Fun in the Philippines #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines

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“FUN is a very simple word that everyone in the world understands.” Secretary Jimenez

My husband and I hied off to Boracay last Summer. We had so much fun. It was just the two of us having fun. Our children are all grown up and it gives us the chance to travel places in and out of the Philippines. Just the two of us makes it even more enjoyable as we venture out to new places in the Philippines. I have been to Boracay alone but never with my husband. Lounging by my chair and enjoying the soft cool breeze , I spot him strolling along the shoreline of the white sandy beach. Walking barefoot on this powdery white is therapeutic.

Just the two of us, strolling and letting our feet enjoy and sink into the fine white sand as our eyes feasted on the crystal blue ocean and the coastline of the other island. So much fun to be together in a beautiful place.

When my siblings visit me here, I hear the words “oh it was so much fun.”

Department of Tourism announcement of the slogan “It’s more Fun in the Philippines” last Friday felt true. What is even remarkable is that the campaign slogan is we are all part of the campaign. You and me define the true meaning of fun and happiness. It does not mean closing our eyes to the sad realities of the Philippines. It does not mean that our government shouldn’t fix our airports, the infrastructure and other support systems. There is nothing wrong about the showing truth. There is nothing wrong about highlighting what is GREAT in our country.

“It’s more Fun in the Philippines” works especially when you know how to balance work and fun. When you know how to be part of the solution

The Filipinos are already known around the world to be one of the happiest and warmest people on earth. The campaign hopes to enjoin the whole country in creating positive buzz of the tagline. We can fix the negatives and focus on our positives. There’s more than 7,107 awesome reasons to love the Philippines, so my friend Ryan says.

I support it because I travel a lot and know how to have fun. “It’s more Fun in The Philippines” works especially when you know how to balance work and fun. When you know how to be part of the solution

The response of most netizens have been overwhelming and enthusiastic that creative ways of showing how #itsmorefuninthePhilippines are being displayed here.

You can also do it like my image above. Try the MoreFunMaker.com (If you have photoshop skills, check out Jayvee’s How to make your own ““It’s More Fun in the Philippines” Meme.

What about you? How can you make the new Philippine slogan work?

How can one be involved?

To Join in the Campaign, just tweet about things that are more FUN in the Philippines and tag it with #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines #1ForFun

Be part of the solution. It is up to Filipinos themselves to defend and make the campaign true.

When an alleged rape slay is not just a news item

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A rape victim describes it…as ” something that happens to other people. We read about it in the newspaper, see reports of it on the TV, but once read or seen we move onto the next item of news. We dismiss it, forget about it. Yes, at the time of reading it or seeing it we may think “oh how awful” or “poor thing” but because it isn’t happening to us we can’t even begin to understand how it must affect someone’s else’s life, so it is easier to just dismiss it as just another tragic event. It happens.”

It happened to an extended family member.

ACV (let’s call her ACV), the wife of my nephew (the son of my paternal first cousin) is beautiful. Being sweethearts for three years, they decided to get married last year. Now with a two month old baby, they moved to a new place in San Pablo on January 1 this year. The year must be so promising as they chose January 1 as the move-in date. The transfer made sense since it is closer to their work. On their second day, A went outside their subdivision to buy cellphone load . It was only 8:00 PM. My nephew got worried when his wife did not return home. He could not leave their two-month old baby so called my uncle and aunt to help look for his wife. They arrived at 1:00 AM and started their search.

At 7:00 AM, my cousin (the uncle of my nephew) found A’s naked body in a vacant lot just 10 steps away from their home. I cannot begin to imagine the horror on my relatives’ faces.

Reading the news in the Inquirer website is even surreal. Rape is something I only watch on TV or read in the news.


“CAMP PACIANO RIZAL, Laguna, Philippines’ woman was found dead in a vacant lot in San Pablo City, Laguna, the police said Wednesday.

In a phone interview, De Castro said …. was last seen Monday evening when she left their apartment in Green Valley Subdivision in Barangay San Francisco to buy load credits for her cell phone.

At around 7 a.m. on Tuesday, a relative found the victim’s body dumped in a vacant lot inside the subdivision.

De Castro said … body bore bruises in the chest and head which may have been inflicted using a blunt object.

He said the victim was also found naked, leading police to suspect she was raped…

Police were conducting an investigation to find a suspect in the killing.”

I visited ACV yesterday. Speechless. Devastated. Horrified. No words.

Her chest bones were broken and her death was caused by the internal injuries. The criminals meant to kill her. I think two criminals were involved here.

In Philippine society, rape is a heinous crime but only punishable by reclusion perpetua, and not life imprisonment. Reclusion perpetua is prison for 20 to 40 years. There are still no suspects but A’s father told me they will certainly pursue a case.

Will ACV ever get justice? Will she be another statistic of unresolved crimes?

I will see what I can do to help. This blog post is a start.

5 Things I Hope For in 2013

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““Hope never abandons you; you abandon it” George Weinberg

hopeThe new year always promises hope for all of us. Hoping for something is personal to us. Aside from being the project editor for Blogwatch.ph (a Citizen advocates’ site), I hope for many things on a personal level to keep me on track for 2013.

1. I hope to continue my healthy lifestyle and keep my weight to my ideal limit (not beyond 125 pounds). A relaxed and productive mind starts with a healthy body so being fit and right is my number 1 priority. I need to take care of myself first and foremost, and the rest follows.

2. I hope for clarity.

When I am caught in the midst of an experience, it is easy to forget that there is a Plan. Sometimes all I can see is today. I hope for a perspective whenever I undergo confusing, difficult learning times.

3. I hope for balance.

Sometimes I can get too obsessed with work because I love it so much. I need to seek balance. Balance emotions with reason. Balance giving with receiving. Alternate work with play, business with personal activities. Juggle responsibilities to others with responsibilities to ourselves.

change

4. I hope for courage.

I need lots of courage for the upcoming May 2013 elections. It can get tiring to monitor the candidates and the #epalwatch. Whenever I get compliments from my work, I often thank the person and say that I am a work in progress. I know as a project head, I need to know the way and show the way. I am constantly learning by researching and being open to new ideas as well as old and tired ideas. My courage comes from my passion to make a difference in this world and I call upon God to help me go through the day. I am aware that courage won’t be a loud roar at every step of the way. With each step I take, I know I will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.

I know that sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day telling me, “I will try again tomorrow.”

5. I hope for change.

I am doing my part as a citizen of the Philippines with the new media initiative for Elections 2013. When I talk of change, it means moving in the right direction. Change starts in us. I hope that more voters select their candidates based on informed choices and not on popularity alone. I hope they take it upon themselves to study Five ways to make a difference in the 2013 Elections.

Spread the word that voting criteria should consider a candidate’s coherent platform, clear vision, character, competency

I know I can’t control actions of people, places and things so I can only hope for the best.

That change starts in me. I will continue to be empowered and to learn more about the intricacies of the Philippine Electoral system.

Let’s all hope for the best in 2013. Sometimes things do not look too optimistic and we often feel helpless.

When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.

As Mahatma Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world”.

The best from Touched by an Angel in 2011

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As Abraham Lincoln once said, ““And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”

I look back at 2011 as a year that brought more fun, travel, readers, and social media engagement.

New Year brings joy, hope, and wisdom. With every passing year, I have learned to develop a keener understanding of my new normal without my son. It’s a new normal for the past 11 years. Life continues to be a learning process and I do gain valuable tidbits of wisdom along the way from old and new friends. I have learned to live my life without regret. So with the coming new year 2012, I embrace it with renewed energy.

Here is my New Year’s greeting to all my readers, friends and family. Below the video are the top stories for 2011 which I think you should read. There are stories on parenting, grief recovery, social media, relationships and just about life.

Click on the links for each story.

Parenting

1. What the daughter does, the mother did

Of all the haunting moments of motherhood, few rank with hearing your own words come out of your daughter’s mouth. I discover this to be true now that my daughters are adults.

2. Love your inner child

Without a mom and far away from my dad (since I became independent after college), I learned to summon my the parent inside me. True, there is a parent inside each of us, as well as a child.

Grief

3. A letter to my son in heaven

I wrote this on the 11th angel anniversary of my son, Luijoe. Love never died even if my son was gone from my embrace. Eleven years ago, I felt the world swallowed me up. I thought I could not live with the unbearable gut-wrenching pain in my heart. At times, I thought I went crazy. I barely survived. I had to find that courage to live because of my two daughters and my husband. That difficult journey left me literally with a broken heart but not too broken because why did God give me a second wind in life to make a difference in this mortal world?

4. A Letter from Heaven

Let me share one of the first grief poems a few weeks after we buried Luijoe. After all the friends have condoled with you, one is left alone to grieve. Now reading this ““A letter from heaven” poem eleven years after his death, I see the words that inspired me to move on with my new life. I forgot all about this poem. These words may have been subliminal but it played a big role in my healing journey. If you have lost a child, this poem may give you some measure of comfort. The words didn’t really strike a chord at first. I remember wailing ““but I want my Luijoe here beside me, bugging me with his toys.”

Relationships

5. True friends are never apart maybe in distance but not in heart

This friend is special to me. I don’t know if I am special to this person. For a while, I was mad ..but how could I stay mad at this person who introduced me to the Holy Bible, to be open to other religions other than the Catholic faith? How could I get hurt for long knowing that love does not keep a record of wrongs?
How could I feel abandoned when my friend never left me? The friendship remained in my heart.


6. The Honeymoom Phase

Come to think of it, this current phase of our marriage is the honeymoon phase. Ray Bandy asserts that ““the honeymoon is the only period when a woman isn’t trying to reform her husband.” We have arrived at this point in our lives that we have learned to accept each other’s quirks, that there are things beyond our control.

I am enjoying married life with my husband now more than ever. It’s been 2 years since we last had a major squabble. That’s a feat.

Social Media

7. Willie Revillame humiliates a crying 6 year old boy as he dances

When I tweeted “I think What Willie Revillame did to this 6 year old kid may be in violation of R.A. 7610 Section 3 (b) “Child abuse” bit.ly/i31hS”, the tweets were endless. I then wrote this blog entry and bewailed … This is just so disgusting. Willie Revillame, you are the lowest of the low.

What Willie did is humiliate this boy repeatedly in front of millions of people. Where is the dignity in that? Why does he subject Jan-Jan who is obviously crying, to that kind of torture. The adults who taught him to dance that way? Ugh, the very same people responsible for his well-being.

The awareness of child abuse went as far as Congress that they passed the HB 4455, ““An Act Promoting Positive and Non-violent Discipline of Children” on April. It is pending at the Senate.

8. You are what you tweet

The Willie Revillame brouhaha gave me thousands of new Twitter followers and paved the way to more social media engagement in other critical issues.

There are many lessons and quotes in social media I learned in the last two years especially in Twitter. Starting out with only 500 followers in September 2009, I now have 7100 plus followers because they wanted to hear about news not found in tri-media. Compared to big media networks and celebrities, the number is a drop in the bucket. The numbers do not matter. Let me tell you how it is.

Recovery

9. How I relax while tweeting with a cat on my lap

No time to get totally annoyed at useless tweets with a cat on your lap. As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows cats have enormous patience with the limitations of the human kind.

10. Simple tips and lessons in life

Lastly, whatever happens, just remember these simple lessons in life.

1. Don’t promise when you’re happy
2. Don’t reply when you’re angry, and
3. Don’t decide when you’re sad

Finally remember the five simple lessons in life to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred – Forgive
2. Free your mind from worries – Most never happen
3. Live simply and appreciate what you have
4. Give more
5. Expect less

Tampons 101: Freedom Guaranteed. Period

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Let me tell you how convenient it is to wear tampons over napkins. In the olden days my mom told me they didn’t use disposable napkins. I couldn’t imagine how that could be possible. Women often referred to their menstrual period as ““I’m having my rags” because pieces of old cloth were actually used to soak up menstrual fluids. Not only that, women washed the soaked blood after every change. Messy indeed. I didn’t have to use rags because in my generation, I got to use disposable sanitary napkins and a few years later, tampons came along. The sanitary napkins in the early seventies looked like a bunch of disposable cotton wrapped around a rectangular gauze that needed a belt or safety pin to tie the napkins in place. It was embarrassing to have those leak accidents. I still remember when the sanitary napkins in 1975 came out with adhesive to keep napkins in place. Though adhesives felt a bit more convenient, it left an unsightly mark on the underwear that refused to wash out.

When tampons came into my life in the early eighties, I realized how liberating it was to shift from napkins to tampons. At the beach outing with friends, I felt confidence as I wore my swimsuit.

Advantage of tampons over napkins

The main reason is of course feeling confident. Tampons offer better protection and help keep a period private. I can wear tampons confidently under shorts, a fitted skirt or my swim wear without showing unnecessary bulk. Wearing a tampon gave me the freedom to shower, play badminton, and even swim while on my period. This freedom is probably one of tampon’s biggest advantage over the napkin, making it the best option during a summer getaway.

Consider how a napkin leaks much more than a tampon can. When inserted properly, a tampon minimizes the chance of leakage because a tampon fits to the wall of the vagina and soaks up blood for a period of several hours. When one replaces it frequently, a tampon is so much more reliable than a napkin. It leaves me feeling much cleaner and fresher than using a napkin.

Facts of using tampons

Like I said earlier, myths surrounding tampons made me initially resistant in giving it a try. Some of these myths are explained below.

1. A tampon will not move beyond the vagina and get lost inside a woman’s body

It just isn’t possible for the tampon to get lost or pushed far back because the opening of the cervix found at the end of the vagina is too small to allow a tampon to pass through.The walls of the vagina also hold the tampon in place and it will stay put until you take it out.

2. A tampon does not get stuck inside a woman’s body

It is not possible for a tampon to get stuck inside you. There might be problems taking it out if you are feeling tense. Just try to relax if you feel some resistance when you pull out the withdrawal cord. Leaving the tampon a little bit longer will allow the tampon to absorb enough menstrual fluid and make it soft enough for easy removal.

3. Tampons do not block menstruation.

The tampon sits in the middle third of the vagina and won’t block the menstrual flow. It absorbs the menstrual fluid into its inner holding layers until fully saturated. When the tampon is saturated, the excess fluid just flows out of the vagina either through the tampon or outside of it.

4. A virgin can use tampons and it will not affect her virginity.

Many young girls worry about using a tampon because of an old myth that one can lose their virginity by the tampon breaking their hymen. This is not possible. Tampons are small and cylindrical and they do not go so deep as to break your hymen.

Whether one chooses to wear sanitary napkins or tampons is definitely a personal choice. It is really important to stay informed and weigh options in using tampons. Over the years, the use of tampons allowed women to be more active and have fuss-free menstrual periods. Women these days have come a long way since their grandmothers. Imagine the freedom and discretion to do whatever you like while menstruating including swimming and sports.

Christmas Greetings: May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through!

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May the Christmas season fill our heart with so much love and generosity that we let others enjoy the excess of what we have. Merry Christmas. Peace and goodwill to men!

Here is a video greeting aka slide show from my family to yours:

I am truly grateful this year. A year ago, I spent Christmas eve (up to New Year’s eve) at the hospital recovering from a gall bladder surgery. My family was supposed to spend the holidays at Singapore but because of this emergency surgery, I cancelled the trip but let L meet up with M so they could be together.

I am just glad to be alive and well. I know some of us are not complete during this time of the year. For many years after my son’s death, Christmas seemed such a lonely occasion but my family learned to celebrate Christmas using old and cultivating new traditions. Luijoe may not be with us but he will always live in our hearts and in our home.

 

This little inconvenience in my life made me realize that the Spirit of Christmas and the spirit of Christ lives in me and all those that believe in it. Stuart Briscoe states it well by saying The spirit of Christmas needs to superseded by the Spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ is a divine person. That makes all the difference in the world.

I will update more as the day comes.

Happy 15th blog anniversary to my daughter

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““Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.” Brian Clark

15 years ago, on December 22, 1996, Lauren wrote her first journal entry. The word blog was non-existent then. It was called a journal but as we know it, online media is emerging media. Blog came from the word web blog and the journal is the same format of the blog. Lauren’s original entry does not show in worldkids.net anymore but if you’re a geek, you can probably figure a way to read the full entry.

Lauren was 10 years old. These days, kids as young as 5 years old have their own blogs. The difference back then was one had to build your own site before blogging so that was quite the challenge. Together , we learned basic HTML, file transfer protocol (FTP) so she could upload her journal entry.


How could I not resist Lauren, my daughter’s question in early 1996? One day while I was busy with my emails, she walked up to my desk begging to create a web page using HTML. The question seemed so natural like she was asking for candy, but running inside my head was ““what is that monster… HTML ?” The Internet was such a novelty during those days that parents were both afraid and excited about its benefits for the kids. I took the risk and introduced my children to the World Wide Web.

I was often questioned why I allowed them to go online. Questions often raised were: Am I not afraid of pedophiles? Am I not wary of the pornography? What if the online friend is really some serial killer? Relatives and friends frowned on the Internet. I felt like I was a parent from outer space. Even my daughter’s homeroom teacher chastised her for talking about the Internet. I believe the teacher was just ignorant or intimidated about it. After all, in 1996, there were less than 12,000 Internet users in the Philippines. It wasn’t cool for a kid to be online during those days.

There were no hard and fast rules. One thing was clear though: I am a parent first. In the real world, one aspect of responsible parenting is never having to allow children to wander aimlessly and alone into unknown territories. So, too, in the vast cyberspace called the Internet. Responsibility towards my child’s offline behavior is the same responsibility for my child’s online activities. Parents can empower themselves and establish Web safety awareness in their homes. Start them young. The best defense is for parents to make exploring the online world a family affair.

I drafted my own Internet safety guidelines for parents, teachers and children to read in World Kids Network where I was their Internet Safety Head from 1996 to 1999. The guidelines are basically the same even in the age of connected technology (gaming centers, cellphones), digital devices and social media sites. My Internet safety guidelines inspired by my own parenting experience and my children’s internet experience is still applicable 14 years later:

1. Your child should only log on with your approval. Sit down together with your child and read the guidelines contained in their favorite kid’s site. Assess which may or may not apply to you and your child. If you have to, you can plan and formulate your own safety guidelines together.

2. Since the online experience should be a family affair, the computer should be easily accessible to family members. This makes online activities an enriching experience.

3. The computer should be located in a room where there is adult supervision.

4. Be clear on the length of time spent in the computer or other connected technology.

5. Let your child post your family’s e-mail address even if he/she has her own.

6. As you go on together with your online experiences, your child will soon be better equipped to deal with various online situations even if you choose to leave them on their own as I did when the girls left for their college dormitories.

The negative feedback and suspicions toward online activities often made me wonder how the Internet molded my children’s perspective in life. I found the answers now that my children are in their early twenties. I believe my kids got exposed to global thinking , varied ethnicities, cultures and religion, things they might not have learned in the classroom. The biggest surprise is that I gained so much more in the process. My children taught me a lot about being a mother in this technology-driven world. Is it any wonder that 14 years later, I am a 54-year-old tech-savvy mom blogger?

Today , Lauren moved on from a personal blog to a fashion and beauty blog at iambourgeois.com

““As I have repeatedly written in one form or other, blogging is not about writing posts. Heck, that’s the least of your challenges. No, blogging is about cultivating a mutually beneficial relationships with an ever-growing online readership, and that’s hard work.” (Alister Cameron)

Yakapin: Batang Hilagang Mindanao (YBHM)

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Think of one bear as one smile, one hug – one young life given joy and love this Christmas. Two thousand years ago, a child was (and is) the reason why we celebrate the most important holiday of the year.” Cathy Babao

How can one even begin to comprehend the loss of lives now reaching 1400 dead and missing in Northern Mindanao due to Tropical Storm Sendong . Imagine the grim statistics:

1. At least 19,759 families or 108,130 persons are affected by the calamity according to the National Disaster Risk Response Management Council (NDRRMC).

2. UNICEF Philippines estimates that 43,000 children are affected by the calamity.

Residents were caught unaware as the floods rose rapidly at around 2 a.m. Saturday, while they were sleeping. Many of the victims were recovered in mud.

When you hear this kind of news, one begins to ask is there a silver lining to all this? It may not be apparent yet but silver lining for the TS Sendong victims is collecting stuffed toys for the children and toiletries for the women affected by the wrath of Typhoon Sendong.

You ask “not slippers, clothes, water?”..Yes they need all that too and I am sure everyone else is donating whatever they can. It’s good to feel empathy, post, forward donation centers and contact numbers — but it’s another thing to take action. The simplest would be to TEXT 2899 with the message RED (amount you wish to give 100, 200, 500, 1000) and the funds will go directly to Red Cross. There are a hundred ways to take action, and mine is collating credible sources of donation in kind and in cash.

My friend Cathy (my co-founder of our grief advocacy, The Compassionate Friends) shows another way through Yakapin: Batang Hilagang Mindanao (YBHM) . Let me explain first.

See, children in trauma experience a lot of nightmares. The power of a hug, or something that they can hug cannot be underestimated. I took part in Cathy’s project five years ago when she initiated the “Thousand Bears for Bicol Project”. It was also around Christmas time too. You cannot simply imagine the joy the children felt when they received these teddy bears.

Cathy contacted the Regional Missionaries of the Philippines -Northern Mindanao Region after she spotted a poignant poster of a father with his child on a friend’s wall. She took that as her cue. Under their wing in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan are thousands of displaced women and children. This is Cathy’s small way of helping out. This is something that she had done before which is to collect stuffed toys for the children in the evacuation centers and to put together toiletry kits for the women affected by Sendong.

How to donate to the children

Here are the simple guidelines :

1. For stuffed toys please send clean, friendly looking toys (no pigs please, owing to cultural and religious sensitivities) in any size ideally, big enough for a child to hug.

2. For toiletry kits, each bag will contain the following items : toothbrush, tooth paste, soap, sanitary napkins (10 pcs), comb or brush, underwear (2 pcs) face towel, laundry soap — just the basics so the women can also take care of themselves as they take care of their children.

If you wish to help, please email her at cathybabao@gmail.com

Cathy plans to assemble the toys and goods throughout the holidays and deliver them to CDO just before the new year. She will need volunteers for drop off points in various parts of QC, San Juan, Pasig, Pasay, Makati, and Alabang. If you wish to volunteer your homes, establishments or offices as drop off points, please send me an email.

Please see a list of areas for drop-off here

Alabang – 12 Brentwood Street, Hillsborough, West Service Road, Alabang Look for Magding or JC

Greenhills : 33 Madison Street, North Greenhills, San Juan. Look for Ann or Shirley

Asuncion Berenguer, Inc. 3/f Homestudio Building, 63 Connecticut Street (same building as Homestudio, Torch resto and Bose) Northeast Greenhills . Please leave with guard and indicate ““Bears for YBHM”

Makati — The Citadel Inn, 5007 P. Burgos Street, Makati City c/o Andre Urbina

Marikina: 1 Ferdinand Marcos Street, Industrial Valley Subdivision, Marikina Leave with guard please indicate ““Bears for YBHM”

Paranaque — Johnson and Johnson, Edison Road, Paranaque City (Edison is street by Zuellig) Leave with guard, indicate ““Bears for YBHM”

14 C. Diamond Street. Greenheights Village Sucat Paranaqueque Look for Yaya Marlene

Quezon City: A-2 Dona Sotera, Pilarville Subd.,Quezon City c/o Dennis Mariano
41 Milkyway Drive, Blue Ridge B, Quezon City Look for Lily

C1C3 Narra Heights Condominium #28, Mariposa Street, Quezon City (near Camp Crame)

Eastwood area : Unit 5c Eastwood Lafayette Tower 3, Eastwood Avenue Libis Q.C (In front of Watsons, near Mcdonalds) Leave with guard indicate ““Bears for YBHM”

Let us all do our small share to help Northern Mindanao.

Every bear or stuffed toy that arrives matters because it counts towards making one more child happy. To share and to give is the true essence of the season.

A new and soft teddy bear costs about as much as a Starbucks frapuccino or a ticket to the cinema — a small price that will go a long way in bringing back hope and a smile into a child’s life.
May you all be blessed to be a blessing to others.