Hands On Manila (HOM) launched its new flagship project, Hands On Volunteer Vacations (HOVV), which will provide service-and-learning travel experience for vacationers who also want to spend their holidays doing community work.
Pilot HOVV projects are categorized in three main areas: environment, heritage, and livelihood. Initial project sites include Mt. Halcon Forest Museum in Oriental Mindoro; Baclayon and Pamalican in Bohol; Boracay and the mangrove plantation in Aklan; as well as heritage and environment sites in Laguna and Batangas.
Volunteers can elect to get involved in activities as diverse as tree planting and biodiversity studies in Mt. Halcon; organic farming at Alaminos, Laguna; or do trail mapping and evaluation of the marine biodiversity in Bohol. In Aklan, volunteers may help in the process of extracting Piña fiber, or do environmental cleanups in one of the seven basins of Jawili Falls. These are just a few of the flexible volunteer opportunities for travelers who are seeking a more socially relevant or meaningful holiday.
HOM worked closely with the Department of Tourism (DOT) for this project and is partnering with the Philippine Tour Operators Association (PHILTOA), and the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS), both of whom will provide logistical support for the vacation aspect of the program.
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“The Jeepney Magazine” is a Filipino publication produced by the Urban Opportunities for Change, Foundation Inc.
The Jeepney Magazine has two main goals:
The first is the presentation of the stories and hearts of the Filipino poor. It is our intent to communicate the needs, struggles and more importantly, the victories in the midst of those struggles, of homeless people, to an audience that can make change happen.
The second is the provision of jobs, with dignity, meeting or exceeding the Philippine minimum wage. The provision of jobs, is modeled by the over two hundred autonomous street papers in the world today. The vendors of these papers receive fifty to ninety percent of the papers cover price.
Visit The Jeepney website to know more about the publication.
“A new strain of swine flu has this metropolis of 20 million people increasingly fearful as suspected flu deaths grow, and world health officials warn that Mexico City could be at the epicenter of a global epidemic,” the Associated Press and Agence France Press reported.
WHO Director General Margaret Chan said the outbreak of the never-before-seen virus has “pandemic potential.” But she said it is still too early to tell if it would become a pandemic.
WHO guidance calls for isolating the sick and blanketing everyone around them with antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu. Too many patients have been identified in Mexico’s teeming capital for such a solution now. But some pandemic flu experts say it’s also too late to contain the disease to Mexico and the United States.
It may only be a matter of time until the virus reaches Philippine shores. But the government has reassured the public that it has taken and is taking steps to counter contagion in the country.
The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers basic guidelines to protect the public from this deadly virus.
There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy.
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
- Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people. If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
Know more about the swine flu (H1N1) at the CDC website.
With reports from Inquirer.net. Image from johnfenzel.typepad.com.
Watch the WhyNot? Forum 6.0 video recap here.
Floy Quintos, award-winning television and cinema writer and director, talks at Why Not? Forum 6.0 held at the Alchemy, April 25. The acclaimed culturati shares his thoughts on Philippine media and the need for action in the mainstream to effectuate societal change.
WhyNot? Forum is “a smorgasboard of great, brave ideas, an open-source innovation soup that will hopefully inspire other Filipinos to connect adjunct thoughts, take impactful action, and weave together new breakthrough ideas — redefining and challenging the inertia of the status quo…all in the spirit of positive change for the Philippines.”
Click here to view photos of the event.
