Maraming Salamat Po!

When the Pay It Forward GenSan 2008 feeding program was on the move last Christmas, I was in Manila waiting for my medical results.

I needed help.

Organizing a program, no matter how small, is no easy feat especially if crunched on resources.

Luckily, I am surrounded by these wonderful people who deserves a shout out in the blogosphere.

Front to Back: My Cousins and Brothers - Andy, Don, Pax, Mico, Atchu, Kathleen, Yan-Yan, Ram-Ram and Aiza.

Friends: Joy (in red), Leigh Ann Grandeza (in black),

Ira, Roxanne (of RD Corporation)

Tito Avel of Bariles Republic, Roxanne's brother, Lasib Family, Ma'am Vilchez, Ma'am Chua and Ma'am Mercado of Brokenshire College General Santos City, Chriz Quintana, the Old People and many many more.

Thank you guys for sharing your Christmas day with them.

Them being the people who spends not only Christmas but most of the year on the streets of General Santos City.






We may not be able to do life altering help to them but at least they know that they are not forgotten and never will be.








All day I get text reports from the facilitators which my heart swelled with pride. The best feedback I received though was by the end of the night when my brother texted me that they can't find anymore street children in GenSan that is why they went ahead and distributed the food to the adults too.



Does it mean that the number of street children in GenSan dwindled? I sure hope so.

Now, it's being suggested that for the year 2009, we will take the feeding program with the DSWD GenSan or other centers that houses these young people. It's a great idea but I still have to think real hard about it for the little fact that I know those who are being sheltered by DSWD or other housing shelters are in a much better living condition that those who are on the streets.
What do you think?

Emigrated Person In The House!

Hey Kids,

I am back and is itching to blog all of my adventures and misadventures this past 6 months.

It took me 6 months and a whole lot of help from the Great Providers to get back on the work flow. Yep you read it right, I'm officially a working girl again. Yey!

Since I'm still on my 100 days probation I shall not be yakking about it for now.

I have, on the other hand, a funny story about my residency status (which I will dedicate a dozen posts on how I finally got one) according to Al Ghanim.

Like any other normal OFW here in Kuwait, we rely on Al Ghanim Easy Credit to furnish our apartments and in my case, the burning desire to get that pretty pearl white Wansa 32 inches flat screen HDMI plasma tv and a laptop with all those freebies.

I went there armed with my salary certificate and visa stamped on the passport, selected all my purchases (initial selection was the Toshiba Laptop that comes with free genuine MS Office 2007, Norton Antivirus, a printer; that pretty Wansa TV and Philips MP3 and Ipod player. A total of which will earn me 4 vouchers and 4 scratch card. Good deal right? Off I went to credit counter and was processed. I signed for a bunch of papers all in Arabic. I told the credit officer that it's scary to be signing for something that I don't understand he gave me a witty reply of - welcome to Kuwait!

Welcome to Kuwait indeed because when he checked my Civil Id status it says on his computer that I am a - "Emigrated Person". I asked the credit officer what the heck it's supposed to mean and he said - it means you're not here in Kuwait.

Uhm. Yeah?

I am sitting right across him and he got all my paper works but I still can't get all my goodies because I am after all an "emigrated person".

Pffft.

I'm told they'll be giving me a call later on this week for my status but I'm not holding my breath. I'm having second thoughts about getting those because now I am considering getting a house in GenSan and being stuck with a credit for a year doesn't bode well in my net worth. Ha!

Photos From Pay It Forward GenSan 2008

This post is so long overdue and I can't apologize enough for it. My only excuse, as always, is that real life really gets in the way of blogging.

Anyway, I was finally able to organize and choose the best photos (all of them are great but blogger won't let me post 100+ photos at one time) that was taken on our Pay It Forward GenSan 2008 program.

COMPLETE PHOTOS IN MY SPANKING NEW FLICKR!

My kids at work!!! Congratulations and thank you to my cousins especially PAX; my brothers Don and Mico; my best friend JOY; sponsors Roxy from RD Company; Tito Avel of www.gensantos.com; and of course the old people.

Every Christmas day, we try to give back as a way of giving thanks for all the blessings that we have received. This is our second year and due to recession we asked for a little help and boy did we get it.

We managed to feed more or less 100 children again this year. Seeing this photo below gives me a warm glow inside.

Maraming Salamat Po!

Photos are c/o of Lilet Grandeza and Proud Art Productions

Volunteers Joy, Eugene and Leandre with the Happy Kids =)

Photo Ops with the Kids - Leandre, Ira and Roxanne from RD Corporation

Walking the Streets to Look for the Children

Van full of Food Goodies and Beautiful Ladies

The Volunteers!

The Awesome Organizers wit their official shirts

Kuya Mico ( who is coming soon in Kuwait, yey!)

Pax ( who is also coming soon in Kuwait and is now a Registered Nurse, double yey!)

My best friend Joy ( who is my best organizer not only for this program but she's also behind Proud Art Productions that throws fun parties in GenSan)

Sharing The Food on Christmas Day!

Much love and huge thank you's to everyone who has helped made this program possible.

Until next Christmas =)