Group helps ‘invisible’ Filipinos find livelihood

By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net
YOU often see crocheted bags made of threads and yarns. But have you seen one using plastic?
The Invisible Institute, a non-government organization (NGO), is now using plastics as material for their homegrown crocheted bags.
“As we all know, we have many poor women who really need more income generating activities because they have so many people depending on them. What we’ve done is to take those people whom I call ‘invisible’ or ‘unseen’ and put them together with invisible waste, which I consider factory waste,” Invisible Institute founder and artist Ann Wizer said.
The group uses “clean trash and garbage bags” as materials to teach poor women to crochet.
“It’s a very simple skill. And we’re also teaching any men who are willing,” said Wizer.
Crochet is a French term that literally means “hook.” It describes a “series of interlocking loops onto a chain using a slender rod with a hook at the end,” according to CrochetDoilies website.
Wizer began the organization in collaboration with another non-government organization called Gems Heart, which gathered women in Malibay, Pasay in October to train every Tuesday afternoon.
“In this project, I have given very little design advice because I was trying to see what they would come up with themselves first,” said Wizer.
Virgie Buencochillo and Rene Sison, two of the participants in the workshop, related how the program changed the way they eventually see plastic.
Buencochillo, for her part, said she now saves plastic bags from groceries and uses them as materials for crocheted bag. She also uses empty containers as another material.
Sison admitted plastics turned into bags can generate extra income.
“Sometimes, our budget is insufficient since I still have kids who are studying. That’s why I use the money that I get [from this new livelihood] when we’re short of budget,” Sison added.
So far, Sison has created bags out of scrap materials, such as rejected syringe, plastics, excess carpet. He said he has earned about P 4,000. Buencochillo has also finished some bags which has earned her a total of P 1,950.
Sison said crocheted plastic bags are very cheap to make. You don’t need a lot of capital since the materials are junk. Rejected and unused syringes, for instance, cost less than P 100.
“It’s a self-empowering skill,” added Wizer who admitted that the organization still needs funding to hire more experts and staff.
“The next step for the Invisible Institute is to get some design expertise. I love to see more designers and artists involved. We also need funding because we have to make this a real, legal entity and a real cooperative and later run by Filipinos so that they can feel the benefits,” explained Wizer.

A Japinoy’s journey home

By Lella Santiago

INQUIRER.net and PROUDLY FILIPINA.com

Her name was Elsa. She was a showgirl. Or to be more precise, she was a Filipina entertainer in Japan. A Japayuki.

His name was Reizo. He was a patron at the bar where she worked. He was a Yakuza. He fell in love with her. Alone and far from home, Elsa succumbed to his persistent wooing. The liaison produced a son they named Kenji.

Trouble began when Elsa ended their relationship. The violent man that he was, he threatened to kill her. Afraid for her life and not wanting to leave her son behind, Elsa went into hiding. Life on the run became unbearable. There were times she had to scavenge for food. She decided to bring Kenji to the Philippines.

Because of the trouble she was in, Elsa failed to get a Japanese birth certificate for Kenji. The only record of his birth was with the hospital where he was born. The Philippine Consulate in Tokyo issued an affidavit of birth based on hospital records. With this document, Elsa was able to bring her infant son home.

Back home, Elsa realized the money she saved will not sustain them for long. With a heavy heart, she decided to return to Japan. Kenji was left in the care of her mother and brother.

In Japan, she met Toshiro, a cab driver. He was a good man and this time, Elsa reciprocated the love he offered. They lived together and eventually had a daughter. Life became better for Elsa but it was not complete. She missed her son.

For years, Elsa tried to bring Kenji to Japan. But without a Japanese birth certificate, he couldn’t get a Japanese passport. When Kenji was 7 years old, Elsa and her new family went back to the Philippines. Toshiro wanted to adopt Kenji to facilitate his return. Elsa and Toshiro even got married in the Philippines to enable him to adopt Kenji legally. But legal technicalities prevented the adoption. In cases of foreign adoption, the two countries involved have to make a case study. This proved to be too difficult to obtain that Elsa and Toshiro returned to Japan without Kenji.

As Kenji turned 16, Elsa thought of consulting a different lawyer. She was advised that Kenji had automatic Philippine citizenship being the son of a Filipina who was unmarried at the time of his birth. This entitles him to get a Philippine passport. The issue of his birth certificate was solved by the lawyer with a request for this document from the National Statistics Office (NSO). As his birth was documented by the Philippine Consulate in Tokyo, it was automatically recorded with the NSO. Armed with a birth certificate, Kenji was able to get a Philippine passport.

With his Philippine passport, Kenji applied for a Japanese visa. This was easily granted because he was born in Japan. Although his Japanese father was not recorded in his birth certificate, it was not critical to prove his parentage. The place of his birth was enough to grant him an entry permit.

Today Kenji is in Tokyo with his mother and her family. To cement Kenji’s place in his new home, Toshiro is still filing for adoption.

The names of the people involved have been changed to protect their identities.

Adding WOW to Your Website

Reprinted from PROUDLY FILIPINA.com

The world is changing at a dizzying pace. There are so many new-fangled things today that a mere quarter of a century ago would have been considered science fiction.
For the Filipina to get ahead, she must know the advancements that she can use to be at the top of her game, whether she is an entrepreneur or employed by a big company. In this age of the internet, having a website can spell the difference between a dynamic enterprise and one with a lackluster performance.

Here are guidelines from Macromedia on how to design an interesting website.

Creating a site is simple. Everyone has access to tools that make authoring HTML pages easy. The trick is no longer getting the page built. It’s getting it built right.

The key to Good Website Design

1. Get to know your audience and design for them
It is a common desire to want your website to look leading-edge. In reality, it might not be the right approach for your target audience. Rather than enhance design style and incorporate new technologies, tailor the usability of the site to your audience’s needs.
Here are some demographic considerations to take into account when designing your site:
• If your customers are all middle aged or older, think about type size. Make sure your text isn’t too small or difficult to read.
• If you have a primarily male audience, you have to think about color-blindness.
• If your audience is younger, maybe you should have less text and more graphics.
• If your audience is likely to spend money easily, put a special offer on the front page of the site.

2. Test your site with inexperienced web users
When you have your site mocked up, test the design and the flow of your navigation with someone who knows nothing about the web. Test early and test often. Fixing things at the beginning of the design process will save you precious time later on.
3. Make the content on your first page rich and explanatory
The first page of your site should address the user needs straight away. Avoid having a company graphic all by itself or an animated logo spinning around. Your CEO may like it, but your user is unlikely to be interested.
Consider doing the following:
• Create a very simple, easy-to-understand navigation system that doesn’t take up too much space.
• Ensure your user has a way to search the site.
• At the top of the first page, add a tag line that summarizes what the user will find in the site.
• Provide a way of contacting the company on the first page. Often people come to the website just to get a phone number or address
• If you are selling directly from the web page, highlight some of the profiled products or services on the front page.
4. Provide contact information on every page.
The web is frequently used nowadays as a big telephone directory so consider putting your contact information on every page to make it easy for you customers to contact you.
5. Set up your navigation system to help users find what they are looking for
Whether comprised of Javascript rollovers, Flash files or text links, a navigation system must be easy to find and simple to understand. If you decide that your navigation and links need to differ visually from the standards, take time early on to test the interface.
6. Provide search options
Search engines are very complex these days and the cost ranges from free services to expensive ones. But whatever the cost, you do want a search engine.
7. Sound and animation
Avoid anything that does not contribute directly to the usability of the site. If you need to create a movie describing how to use a product or to illustrate a technique, ensure that the content will improve the site. The same caution goes for music, whistles and beeps. Unless you are doing an audio tour on-line or teaching a language, avoid this altogether.
8. Provide printer-friendly pages
If your information is really useful, it is likely that users will want to have it printed. Consider setting up a PDF file that opens from a link. This usually makes the printing process so much easier.

Ultimately, creating a website is easy. The challenge is getting it looked at – again and again.

The above guidelines were originally published in the newsletter of Macromedia.

Fish n’ Chips Meets Dinuguan at Puto

By Anna Urquiola-Green
INQUIRER.net and PROUDLY FILIPINA.com

WHEN I was invited to write an article about a Filipina’s life in the United Kingdom, I jumped at the opportunity. Mainly because I want to share the experiences I had in this country and quite a lot of these were eye-openers for me.

Moving here three years ago, I learned to adapt quickly especially with the climate. My family and I spent the previous 10 years in the Middle East and from a place where there is only one season — summer, and here in England when they have 4 seasons, it is a total shock to the system. After all, out here one can sometimes experience 4 seasons in one day! I did enjoy shopping for clothes and acquiring a few pairs of boots and not realising that after winter, you have to store the bulky clothes you’ve collected which has taken space in the closet. This is one of the few instances a Filipino’s inborn talent of maximizing the space of a cardboard box when sending pasalubong (presents) back home to the Philippines comes in handy.

Although we Filipinos have English as a second language in the Philippines, here in the UK, I have realized that I still have a lot to learn too, not with the accent but the ordinary words we know. When somebody offers you a fag, it doesn’t mean they’re fixing you up on a same sex blind date, it is an offer for a cigarette! I must have heard this line before I just can’t remember where but it does show that a single word can mean two different things and could land you in hot water.

There are no eggplants in England, they have aubergines. And no, it’s not a color, that’s what they call it here. When someone says chips, it’s not the chips you see at the casinos or the chips we eat as merienda/snack. Chips means French fries and crisps are chips i.e. potato chips or in England they call it potato crisps, are you confused yet?

Shop means the place where you go and buy things and store is a verb. For example, you store your shoes in the box. It’s no wonder that most Filipino nurses when they come to work here have to relearn English. After all, if his/her patient complains of a hammering headache, she might write down in the patient’s medical records that a hammer is responsible for the patient’s migraine! These are a few of the many English words one has to reprogram inside a Pinoy’s brain when coming to England. And most important too is the way you spell the words as you who’s reading this article might have noticed already.

What’s the food on my table? As a Filipina married to a British, I have incorporated Filipino foods in our menu but with a British twist. Such as when cooking nilaga or pochero, I don’t include saba (cooking banana) as my family considers it strange to include a fruit in cooking stew or in a casserole dish. I would substitute instead potatoes and/or cabbages instead of other ingredients that my family would find acceptable. Bagoong or shrimp paste (which one can buy in Chinese speciality shops) I have learned to forego in this household as the smell might offend my husband’s sensitive nose and the neighbors too!

Most important of all is when hosting parties. Filipino culture back in the Philippines dictates that when one hosts a party it’s always best to prepare more food than necessary as the host loses face if one runs out of food, Here in England, when you host a party, the number one rule is to never run out of drinks. It doesn’t matter if your guests starve a little as long as you keep the drinks flowing. After all, when your guests are inebriated, they would not probably remember that you didn’t serve enough food for the party!

Living here in the UK has made me appreciate more the life I had back in the Philippines. Doing household chores in this country makes me think of the household helpers we sometimes take for granted back home. When painting the interior of our house, I look back and wish I could beam up, as in Star Trek, that handyman we regularly hired to paint our bedrooms. But living here in England made me also become more self- sufficient and assertive. After all, that’s what life is about no matter where you live. To quote my favorite saying: If life deals you lemons, make lemonade, if tomatoes, make Bloody Marys. And that’s how I live my life here, some days are lemons, some days are tomatoes.

(About the author: Anna Green our ka-pinay correspondent from UK, is married to a british national and currently working part time in a primary school, with one child. They lived for a decade in the middle east till they finally decided to move to Chelmsford, England permanently).

Filipinos abroad learning business smarts

By Ria Mendoza

INQUIRER.net

(Photo: From left to right: UP Professor Ilano, Philippine Consul General Benito Valeriano, PBC President Lucille Ong and UP Professor Florendo awards the sixth ‘Managing for Business Success’ seminar participants the certificate of completion).

On the other hand, others have no solid idea where to start realizing their dreams.

This is the reason why 19 Filipinos working across all sectors made a beeline for the “Managing for Business Success” seminar organized by the Philippine Business Council (PBC) in association with the University of the Philippines (UP). The three-day seminar, held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel from September 23 to 25, is the only seminar certified by UP outside of the country.

Choosing the right business to get into is always tricky, but the discussion of UP Marketing and Strategic Management Professor Art Ilano gave the basics of not only finding the right fit for a person, from franchising to starting an all new enterprise, to branding, expansion and effective marketing.

Complemented by the lectures of Joselito Florendo, UP Professor of Finance and Accounting, the participants learned the intricacies of income statements, cash flows and balance sheets. However, Florendo emphasized that though the work can be done by accountants and bookkeepers, it is important for business owners to know how to interpret this data to know how their business is faring.

Philippine Consul General Benito Valeriano attended the closing ceremony and awarded the participants their certificate of completion together with PBC President Lucille Ong, Professor Ilano and Professor Florendo. The “Managing for Business Success” seminar is the sixth in the PBC-UP seminar series to be held in Dubai and was sponsored by the Western Union Foundation.

Kababayan

By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

When you are on a foreign soil, you will need a map to guide you to where you’re going. But when the map is useless, the next thing you will do is to ask directions from the locals of the area. But what if no one understands a thing you’re saying. Sign language may help you a bit. But talking with someone who understands you is better.

My mom and I found ourselves lost in Macau after we took a wrong route going to Fisherman’s wharf for dinner. We should have walked but we took a bus with the thought that our destination is far from the Macau Ferry Terminal.

Our problem started when asked the driver if the bus was going to the Fisherman’s wharf. He did not answer, and I presumed that it was because he didn’t understand a single word I said. So from that point, we did not know where we were heading. Luckily, a woman who looked like a Filipino boarded the bus. When we asked her, she just said, “Naku, malayo na kayo. Bumaba na lang kayo diyan sa susunod na stop.”

During the bus ride, I wondered at how bus drivers were told stop. In the Philippines, we say, “Para” for the jeepney or bus to stop. But since I was not in my country, I wondered how they said it. Then I realized not a word was said. I only needed to press a button located in front of the seat. I then pressed it and the bus stopped. When we went out of the bus, another woman behind us spoke in Filipino. Thank God. We found another Filipino.

Her name is Vangie Soriano, a domestic helper in Macau. She was on her way to the flat where she and other Filipinos were staying. But she noticed that we were lost. She was on her way home but instead she assisted us to the bus stop, where she told us to ride another bus to our destination.

As we were passing by the European architectural façade of the establishments in the Senado Square, she started telling her story on how she wanted to stay home in the Philippines with her family but the odds in life pushed her to work abroad for her family’s future. If there’s one thing Ate Vangie learned in her six years of working as a domestic helper, it was the value of pakikisama.

Watch my video interview with Ate Vangie.

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As we parted ways, I said, “Salamat Ate Vangie!” I don’t know if a word of gratitude was enough to express how much grateful we were. But it was so touching when she said, “Wala ‘yun. Siyempre, kababayan.”

To extend a hand to a stranger is a kind act. Though simple it may seem, a help given to a kababayan can be considered the modern bayanihan.

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Atoy Co opens summer tournament in Dubai

Inquirer.net

ONE of the all-time greats of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), former professional basketball player Fortunato “Atoy” Co, was the special guest at the annual summer basketball tournament of the Filipino community in Dubai and the Northern Emirates which opened on April 11.

Here’s a photo of Co addressing the participating teams.

The opening ceremonies held at the Al Nasr Gymnasium in Oud Metha, Dubai saw the Intercontinental Hotel team win the best in uniform award, while Nina Cascades of the Fairmont Hotel team was named Ms. FBC-Chikka Grill at Marco Polo Hotel Cup.

The marching band of the United International Private School provided the fanfare. For his part, Philippine Consul Vicente Bandillo commended the participating teams and the organizers for the good turnout.

Co is a member of the PBA Hall of Fame. He was the first player to score 5,000 and 10,000 points at the time when the three-point shot was not yet introduced. He was part of the fabled Crispa Redmanizers ballclub that won two Grand Slams, in 1976 and 1983. He won the Most Valuable Player award in 1979, and is a 9-time Mythical First Team Member.

In a press statement, Ramon Pizarras, chairman of the Filipino Basketball Center (FBC), said the tournament dubbed as “Chikka Grill at Marco Polo Hotel Cup” will see the participation of 40 teams representing the hotel and corporate sectors in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, as well as teams with former professional basketball players from the Philippines. The tournament will be held every Friday and will end in September.

“This year’s event will see a new division being introduced. We have opened up the tournament for basketball enthusiasts who are 40 and above. It will be a good opportunity for these individuals to continue playing in a competitive environment,” Pizarras said.

The FBC is a duly-licensed entity in the United Arab Emirates established to promote sports and entertainment activities among the Filipinos and other nationalities. It was responsible for bringing the first Middle East game of the PBA when Ginebra and Purefoods played against each other on April 13, 2007 in Dubai.

Editor’s note: Photos by Darwin Reyes of MEsnipers.

Wency in the UAE (Habang May Dubai redux)

By Quay Evano, Contributor
INQUIRER.net

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates–During the press conference of award-winning composer and rock balladeer (l-r) Wency Cornejo, sexy actress-turned-singer Ara Mina and saxophone player John Ray for their show in Dubai called “Rock Ballad, Soul and All That Jazz,” one of the members of the Filipino Press Club-UAE asked the three artists how they want to be remembered by people when they are no longer famous.

Wency quickly answered: “More than anything else, I think I will be remembered for my songs. I believe I have composed many songs that have touched the hearts of many Filipinos. For an artist, I believe that is what is important — to have a legacy in the lives of people. Even if I pass away, my songs will live on and in some sense, so will I.”

Yes, for millions of his Filipino fans, Wency Cornejo, the unique and soulful voice behind beautiful ballads such as “Habang May Buhay,” “Hanggang” and “Only You” and generation-defining rock anthems like “Next in Line,” “Mangarap Ka,” “Pagtawid” and “Panahon,” he will surely be remembered for his songs. His immortality is clearly defined in his music. But for most of his closest friends, it is his true friendship, more than his music that he will be remembered for… because that’s what he really is aside from being a true musician — he is a true friend.

It is what I always remember about Wency, being one of his closest friends back home and in Dubai. Without a doubt, I am one of his biggest fans not just because I am his friend, but because his music is obviously the work of a true musical artist and genius. His songs are true works of art — simply melodic, with lyrics that are profound and meaningful, and envelope you with their truthfulness every time you listen to them. But just like his music that has never ceased to touch me, it is his almost twenty-year-old friendship with me that has continually enveloped me with truthfulness. Our friendship perhaps is the biggest hit of our lives and the favorite song we like to listen to.

Here’s a photo of Wency and the author.

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Honest OFW returns misplaced S$16,000 in Singapore

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net

MARITES PEREZ GALAM, 33, head waitress at Imperial Herbal Restaurant in Singapore, found “gold” in a rest room, fought the temptation to keep it, and helped return it to its owner.

The owner, an Indonesian mother who was accompanying her deaf son to Singapore for a surgery, couldn’t thank her enough.

In a long-distance phone interview with INQUIRER.net, Galam said this was how it happened:

At about 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, during her second shift, she stepped out of her work area to go to the common rest room of the VivoCity shopping mall. In the cubicle she used, she saw the raggedy gold wallet on top of the tissue box.

“Pero di mo talaga pag-iinteresan kasi lumang-luma na, naagnas na, at sira na. Flat din sya (You won’t really take any interest in it because it was very old, worn to shreds, and scruffy. It was also flat),” she said.

When she inspected the wallet, it contained S$16,600 (P485,085) wrapped in a white sheet of paper. Even then, she wasn’t blinded by the money.

“Hindi kasi akin (It wasn’t mine),” she told the Chinese Singaporean mall manager to whom she surrendered her find.

An hour and a half later, the owner of the money, accompanied by her son and the mall manager, came to her and hugged her.

While Galam couldn’t completely understand what the Indonesian mother was saying, she could feel the gratitude in her tears and her embrace.

“I think she tried to say thank you and God bless you,” she said in Filipino.

Philippine Ambassador to the city-state Belen Fule-Anota later met with Galam and commended her for the deed.

The envoy said Galam is a model for the thousands of Filipinos who work and live in Singapore: hardworking, self-sacrificing, and honest.

Her story also saw its way to a Chinese magazine in Singapore.

Galam’s husband, who is also in Singapore, is still trying to find work. The Galam couple, originally of Nueva Vizcaya province, left their four children — ages ranging from 4 to 15 years old — October last year to earn more money so that they would lead a decent life.

With her deed, she already showed them how.

(1 Singapore Dollar = 30.31778 Philippine Peso)

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