Clay Pots & Wooden Spoons

I just wanted to share one of the things I do online when I don’t have anything to do. Its the site, FreeRice.com, which is a site that helps people test their vocabulary as well as introduce new words to them, while giving out rice for hunger and poverty stricken nations for your every correct answer.

I like the site a lot since not only do I learn new words and increase my knowledge, I also help out other people. Check it out when you have some free time to play some browser games.

I recently heard on the news that any passenger of flights overseas , especially to the US, who is caught carrying counterfeit and pirated goods in their baggages, will be sent back home and deported with no questions asked.

According to the Los Angeles Criminal Defense Blog | California Criminal Attorneys Law Blog, when counterfeit or pirated copies of products, especially high-end ones are made, the companies that manufacture these products lose millions in dollars in sales. No wonder the airlines has issued the warning to all the travelers. It would help crack down counterfeit goods if people coming inside the US don’t carry pirated items. It would be no use to try and track down piracy inside if they didn’t implement a stricter rule on the incoming goods brought by the travelers.

I’m now back home after the weekend community service-slash-advocacy program we were required by the university to finish. We all have 4 required community services for each religion subject we have to take to be able to graduate, and that was the last community service for me (hopefully if I do pass the subject hehe which I pray I will). I wasn’t expecting that I’d enjoy it actually since I went there alone. All my friends have graduated as some of you might remember, so I felt quite sad and alone. However, I seriously had a great time. I wasn’t expecting to find and meet new friends but I did and that is one of the reasons why CELL will always be a memorable place for me aside from the things I saw and learned there.

There I met Jackie, Betsy, Kath, Madz, Mikee and JB who became my groupmates. It was a seriously fun group. Although most of us just became groupmates at the center itself, one would think we were friends even before we went there. The tasks we were asked to do became easy because each of us helped and made the experience fun in each of our own quirky ways.

I will always remember Jackie as “Mayora”, the leader of our group who never ceases to amaze people when she talks about everything (especially the ghost in speedbytes), next she pretty much knows everyone (say their name and she probably knows them) and you wont forget her cute Spongebob bandaids. Betsy who is Jackie’s best friend will be remembered as “Chicken”. xD She’s afraid of living chickens and I think that was the reason why I became part of their group. We were on the tour and while we were at zone 2, we were all laughing when Betsy said she was afraid of chickens and that was when I got to know them both. Madz and Kath are usually together, you’d rarely see them apart. I first saw them during the orientation three days before we left for Silang but I didn’t knew them then. They were with us during the tour and they were also in Jackie’s group so I got to know them more during the groupwork periods. I’d remember Madz for the dining table laughter, especially the inside joke about cauldrons and such and zone 5. Kath on the other hand would be remembered for being a good friend. I was feeling quite sick yesterday and she was really nice offering to go with me to the washroom and even fan me when I was feeling lightheaded. Mikee and JB, the lovebirds, would be remembered for their gameness in everything we did.

JB along with Madz were the stars in our first groupwork. Our group was assigned the water element, and we thought about water crisis as our photo-topic. So pictures of pail and “tabo” armed JB, Madz and the rest lined up at the pozo negro. Eating time would not be the same without the group. We had fun talking and chatting as we ate together sharing the most random stories we can think of (a lot of times though the stories went to the zone 5 direction where the unknown and wildlife existed). We came with a scrapbook and a website for our advocacy project.

I’ll be including a link to the website as soon as I finish tweaking it. There’s still tons of improvements that must be done in terms of the content. Image-wise we’ve got lots of it. xD I’d also be sharing the experience I’ve had of the center on another post. That one would be more descriptive of the center and the environmental advocacies they have.

Most of the pics we took were to be used for our advocacy project so this is our only group picture:

[Image taken at Brennan Hall]

(From left to right: Kath, Mikee, JB, (our scrapbook!), Betsy, Jackie, Madz and Me)

Meet Mr. Frodo (Kuya Ef’s dog)

He won’t keep still so this is the only decent picture I was able to take.

This is part of our water issue presentation. I was taking the pictures so I wasn’t in line.

Lookie! I’ve got a worm on my hand!

This is one of the blue worms which helps in the vermiculture. It felt gummy on my hands and it tickled when it moved. Kuya Leo calls it the “gummy worms”. Haha.

Earlier today I was barely listening to my Prodman(Production Management) professor’s lecture. My mind was somewhere else as he continued to speak in front. My daydreaming was halted when snippets of what he was saying caught my wandering attention. He was sharing a story (in relation to the outsourcing topic we were covering) regarding factories that were being built near residential areas. He talked about some factories which were in the Bel-Air area (I’m not sure how its spelled so correct me if I’m wrong) before, and these factories emitted soot which stuck to the residents vehicles. After some time, no matter how much polishing they did the soot just wont budge off. The residents complained and thus the Lopez’ changed it into a shopping mall.

It wasn’t the mention of malls that caught my attention. It was the degradation of the environment, as well as its people, which industrialization has caused. I am not against industrialization, because it does generate employment for many of our fellow Filipinos here in the country. However, I am very much against the way industrialization is destroying the once clean environment we enjoyed.

Looking at developed nations, you can see that they are very much aware of these issues and are actively supporting campaigns on finding ways to conserve, preserve and restore the natural resources which have been neglected and abused. On the other hand, once these transnational companies leave their homeland and start expanding on developing nations they seem to not care at all about the pollution they create.

These big companies will not act unless we start criticizing and asking them to start changing their ways. They must learn to give back to the community and to the environment. I took a class called Cosores (Corporate Social Response) and I learned a lot from it. Its something really basic yet companies (especially when fighting over profits and market share) tend to forget.

Don’t tell me we can’t do anything because we can. If you’ve already tried talking to them about the cause and effects of their actions and practices and still didn’t receive a positive response, take another jab at it and go hit them where it hurts. Then they’ll surely start to notice. If we want these companies to change we must talk to them in terms they understand. Boycott their products and buy from their competitors who practice their corporate social responsibilities. Once they see those balance sheets turning red, market shares declining and products not leaving the shelves, they’d start listening.

Each of us has an obligation to the environment. We must replenish what we take to ensure that the next generations can still enjoy and benefit from our surroundings just as we do today.

Celebrate the environment. Join the “Blog Action Day”

Yesterday our CONADEV (Contemporary National Development) professor informed us about this contest where all Filipino citizens aged 18-25 years old who are enrolled in any Higher Education Institution are invited to participate.

The Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) works with several civil society organizations to empower the poor and marginalized communities in the Philippines. The contest is part of its campaigns to create awareness and educate the Filipino youth on the real poverty situation of their fellowmen. The submitted entries will be used by the organization to generate people’s interest in the PEF poverty reduction programs. The entries would be used in the 2007 Social Development week celebrations in December at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati.

“Mga Kulay ng Kahirapan, Hamon ng Kinabukasan” is the contest’s theme which aims to show the different faces of poverty in the Philippines.

You can find more information regarding the Creative Writing and Photo Essay Contest at www.pef.ph