Von Hernandez, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, talks about Crizel Jane Valencia who died of leukemia, which she acquired after living in a toxic site left by the US air force in Mabalacat, Pampanga.
Watch out for Von Hernandez’s full interview, only here on Greater Good Philippines.
A San Francisco-based foundation plans to donate more than 300,000 children’s books to eight Asian countries. Books for Asia, established in 1954 by The Asia Foundation, will distribute the books to schools, community libraries, and child care centers in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The books, donated by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, were procured by Brother’s Brother Foundation.
Eight shipping containers have departed the United States and are scheduled to arrive at Asian ports next month with two more containers to follow. There, teams of Books for Asia staff will sort each shipment and work with local partners to ensure that the books are delivered to the schools, reading centers, and libraries with the greatest need. (more…)
By Sunita Karir, The Times — Minden, Ontario
The first holiday weekend of the season is always a time to celebrate, and this past one was no exception at the Goofy Moose in Minden. Owner Walter VanderWindt decided to have a “we survived the winter” celebration after his first season at his new location on Bobcaygeon Road.
VanderWindt owns the Carving Gallery in Moore Falls but this past winter he decided to open up a charity bookstore right in Minden. The location had space for the bookstore and then some, so he also displays and sells some of his carvings and other items in the front of the shop.
VanderWindt and his wife, Alma, hope to collect books to send to schools in the Philippines. Books that are not appropriate for school age children are sold in the store to pay for the shipping of the ones that do go overseas. Their goal is to send 6,000 books to four different schools in the Philippines over the course of the year. Extra money will go towards paying tuition, and they hope that their efforts will send at least 40 students to school.
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This write-up is originally a post I made on my Multiply a couple of months back. For your leisurely reading.
"See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold" - Sting, Fields of Gold
…but we were too tired to run really…so we walked..and took our time trekking on this what I would now claim my heaven.
We left Manila at 2am of March 19, Wednesday to embark on a tiresome but fulfilling 16-hour journey to Sagada in Mountain Province, 395 kilometers north of our nation’s capital.
Arriving in Baguio at 8am, we stopped by Starbucks at the Baguio Country Club to regenerate, stretch our muscles, and cool our warmed butts from the hours on hold inside the AUV from Manila to this city.
Kuya, who is generally a people person, once again demonstrated his extroversion by befriending a man who would map our route. He wanted to know how to get to Halsema highway, which would get us to Mountain Province, and the person posed as a suitable candidate being a local. In their short conversation, he told my brother of his harrowing experience with a native tribe, which because of his ignorance of their customs, almost killed him.
Fast-tracking a couple of hours later (including a 30-minute stop over at a Shell depot to re-grease our vehicles ball joints), we stopped by the viewing deck of Halsema Highway at the highest point of the Philippine national highway system, 7400 feet. From here all one can see is the vast mountainous landscape with patches of farm terraces extending all the way to the horizon. The green mountains and blue sky dominated this mise en scene. (more…)
from abs-cbnnews.com, photo from yehey.com
Malacañang on Sunday announced that the country will send a 30-man medical team, as well as relief supplies and cash to disaster victims of cyclone-hit Myanmar on Monday.
In a text message to ABS-CBN News, Anthony Golez, the Palace Deputy Spokesperson, "The Philippine Airforce will fly a C130 [plane] to transport the Philippine medical team and relief goods tomorrow [Monday], May 26 at 7 a.m." President Arroyo will witness the send-off.
The mission will be in the country for two weeks, Golez added.
On Sunday, the United Nations, the Myanmar military government, and around 500 delegates from 50 countries attended a pledging conference in Yangon. The conference came after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon convinced the military junta on Friday to agree to accept foreign disaster experts.
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