What You Can Do to Help the Kids of Dinacuan in Malasiqui, Pangasinan

Pangasinan is often hit by storms so farming is an undependable source of livelihood. Most people live in dire poverty and the education source consists of public schools in the next barrios. Very few attend the public high school and even fewer go on to college.

There is a barrio in Malasiqui, Pangasinan called Dinacuan that have no running water and an electricity that fluctuates as the area is located within a remote area where people could be reached through a road from the main highway.  

Eve Geslani, a busineswoman who owns a drug testing laboratory named, Quickcheck Lab, in Caloocan, generously provides for this barrio using the profit from her business. 

Her dad grew up in Dinacuan and  have more or less a hectare of property there where he had a chapel built called, Jesus Christ Savior of Souls Christian Church, last August of 2010. Every Sunday, a Christian pastor conducts services there and then free snacks were served for the attendees. There are roughly forty families who join the lessons and services regularly. 

A sponsored college education with allowance of a full time religious worker stays in the Geslani rest house / chapel to teach more than fifty children of Dinacuan and to conduct bible studies and evangelism for the adults. There are regular lessons for children during the summer according to age group, with free meals per class included. The subject lessons consists of English, Math, GMRC, Filipino, Art, and Religion. 

Eve's family supplies Dinacuan with food and educational materials. The other portion of the rest house was recently opened as a library so that the youth may borrow books and may have a conducive place where they could study their lessons or gather for sessions or meetings.

The Geslani's main thrust is to provide intellectual, moral, and spiritual enlightenment to the people of Dinacuan and other nearby barrios. They teach both the parents and the children that poverty was neither solved by waiting for gifts nor by begging, but with diligence, hard work, and firm belief in God. 

In the future, Eve's family desires to register Dinacuan as a charitable institution, which requires a million pesos as capital. They also plan to expand the lessons to cover livelihood programs for parents who mostly depend on farming and odd jobs. Aside from these, they strive to have outreach programs, bigger chapel, separate library and a multi-purpose hall.

Sweet Says... Spreading good vibes through the act of generosity and kindness is a good way to teach a child in becoming a good person. My nephew will be celebrating his 10th birthday on Dinacuan this 18th of December, 2011. If you wish to share your blessings to the barrio of Dinacuan, I would be more than happy to send it to them for you. It is highly suggested to share food, clothing, educational materials, useful items such as but not limited to toothbrushes and slippers. You may leave a comment on this blog post or tweet me @iamsweetreyes.

If you're interested in sharing your momentous occasions with these kids, feel free to contact: Eve Geslani +63908 6535025 

For more information on Quickcheck Lab, click HERE!

For more information on JCSOS/ Dinacuan, click HERE!

*Photos courtesy of JCSOS Facebook page.

Who Else Wants to Help Play Pilipinas?

I have always been fond of helping others in my own quiet ways as an anonymous ambassador who simply love to pay it forward.

However, as quiet as I want to be, I cannot help but create an announcement on this one. I feel like this will be a big contribution to a noble project.

Mai-Mai Magtira, my classmate way back in high school posted a message on her Facebook wall. She is currently connected with an NGO that needs different scrap metals to help build charity playgrounds. 

They currently need the following items: 

• Bicycle Tires
• Car Tires
• Truck Tires
• Plastic Drum Containers
• Bamboo
• Tarpaulins
• Scrap Woods (preferably 300mm w 2-3 meters length) 
• Chain Links
• Paints
• Old Garden Hose
• Bolt & Nuts
• Cement

You may email her at maicenmag@yahoo.com

Kindly indicate the quantity of whichever item you can give.

Mai is open for donations and/or buying these materials at a discounted rate.

Click here to know more about Play Pilipinas

PLAY PILIPINAS 2011 

• is the Philippines' First International Festival on Children's Play. This will be held on October 21 to 23, 2011 at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City, Philippines.
• It is founded by PlayUniversal Co., a social enterprise that promotes the importance of play for children in the Philippines. 
• Their mission is to promote, enrich, and cultivate the benefits of play at home, in school, and communities among children in Asia.
• Their vision is to be the prime mover of play and its value to all children.

Sweet Says... Let's help build a wondrous recreation area for these kids. A simple act of kindness and generosity is an enormous contribution to every child's future that will benefit this playgrounds. Let's share our blessings :)

How latrines give ways to help girls change their lives

"The water in your toilet is cleaner than nearly a billion people have to drink. More people have cell phones than a toilet. The solutions are simple. Join the fight?" 

via Water Features

This girl washes up after using her new school latrine.
photo courtesy of water.org

Define LATRINE:

• A communal toilet of a type often used in a camp or barracks. 
• A receptacle (as a pit in the earth) for use as a toilet. 
• A latrine (from Latin lavatrina meaning bath) is a communal space with multiple toilets, or a single standalone apparatus that is designed for defecation and urination. It is also another name for Duchamp's Fountain.

There are Four Ways How a Toilet Can Help Change a Girl's Life:

1) She can stay in school. 

photo by Living in Kuito

Once girls in the developing world reach puberty, they often drop out of school because there are no separate sanitation facilities for boys and girls. When menstruating, there's no privacy when tending to their needs or dealing with soiled clothes. The resulting embarrassment and anxiety causes girls to give up on school.

2) She’ll have better health.

photo by gbaku

Lack of sanitation facilities forces girls to wait until nighttime to defecate (under the cover of darkness) or to wake up very early in the morning. This usually causes extreme discomfort, urinary tract infections and other gastro-intestinal problems.

Fecal matter is the leading cause of illness in the world. Most of these illnesses, such as diarrhea, are easily preventable with access to toilets or other means of waste disposal. Open defecation is a common practice in rural areas in the developing world due to unavailable sanitation facilities – despite the fact that people are ashamed of being forced to use this practice and often know that it is associated with disease. While many adult women suffer chronic diarrhea and survive, hundreds of thousands of girls less than five years old die each year because of it.

3) She won’t have to worry about her safety.

photo by Hamner_Fotos

Fear is a companion to the long-awaited opportunity for girls to relieve themselves. When a girl’s only option is relieve herself under the cover of darkness, in a remote field or other removed location, she is more open to attack by wild animals and poisonous insects, and more vulnerable to rape and physical and sexual assault.

4) She’ll have the dignity she deserves.

photo by Giorgio Montersino

Living life without sanitation have no privacy, no sense of security, poor health, and limited options for staying in school.

There are few needs more basic – or more important – than sanitation. Once women and girls have access to sanitation, they regain their dignity and the opportunity to thrive in all other areas of their life as well.

Sweet Says ... You can join the fight:

• SEE THE WORLD by joining a community.
• FALL IN LOVE with helping us bring more people clean water and the dignity of a toilet. Fall in love with being a water advocate in your networks.
• BE A HERO by donating your voice on Facebook or Twitter to the water cause today. Tell others about this outrageous crisis. Provoke thought and spur action. Fight for good.
• SAVE THE DAY by making a donation for clear water.

To know more about this noble organization, click HERE!