This is where it all began

Back in November of 2009, I wrote about our office's annual Christmas outreach program called Lights for Hope. The 2010 event did not have as many children; we were a few tens shy of a thousand. Mr. Octopus the inflatable bouncer wasn't inflated on time—which is why he's still lopsided here—and soon after I took this picture, it started raining, which forced everyone to move to the alternate venue. But I have to hand it to the college kids who spent time with the public school children and the local child actors who came to spread some Christmas joy: they adjusted to their sheltered but cramped space, everyone gamely continued with the program, and I saw nothing but smiles on the young children's faces.

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I would like to apologize for disappearing without a word for two whole months. Even early in November, my schedule and work load were getting progressively worse and it was soon after this event that I had to decide to let go of something, and it just had to be my blog. I don't want to bother anyone with the details since it isn't what My Manila is for; suffice it to say that it was the first time in a decade that I had to go to work during the Christmas break and that I hardly felt the past two months go by. To everyone who worried, visited, and left messages and sent me email: thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish I could give each one of you a real hug.

Let me say one final thing: I'm baaaaack! :)

No room…

to run,

Tiger (Panthera tigris)

Lion (Panthera leo)

Double-wattled Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius)

to crawl,

Albino Burmese Python (Python molurus bivittatus)

or to fly

Kalaw or Rufous Hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax)

at the Malabon Zoo. :'(

There will be darkness

SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City is currently the Philippines' second and the world's fourth largest shopping mall, with a floor area of 390,000 square meters (4.2 million square feet) in 42 hectares of land reclaimed from Manila Bay. Tonight, this whole area will be plunged in darkness, at least for an  hour, for Earth Hour 2010.

8:30 P.M. • SATURDAY • 27 MARCH 2010

See what's reflecting what at James' Weekend Reflections.

1,500

THEME DAY: WAITING • Goodie bags filled with biscuits, candy, noodles, slippers (flip-flops) and a rubber ball waiting to be distributed to children who live in poor communities and whose homes were flooded because of the heavy rains of typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) during the 2009 Lights for Hope Christmas outreach party.



It will be interesting to see how City Daily Photo bloggers interpret this month's theme. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

An early Christmas

Like last year, and the eight years before that, our office organized the Lights for Hope Christmas outreach party for young children in the poor communities and public schools that various organizations in the Ateneo de Manila University are involved with. This year, though, we also opened the event to the children of university employees who suffered from typhoon Ketsana (known as Ondoy locally). Last Saturday, about one thousand children spent the afternoon in a large field in the university. There was a program with games and prizes, and Jollibee himself (his fastfood chain provided the kids' afternoon snack) dancing for the kids. He is probably the most famous and best-loved animal mascot in the country and up close, it's easy to understand why—he has the cutest shy smile! He's a pretty good dancer too.



For those who didn't care for dancing or parlor games, there were two large inflatable slides. The college students who volunteered to help did a fantastic job of keeping the waiting lines orderly.



Canon Philippines provided a photo booth. Pose with the Canon snowman and get a free print, a souvenir of the afternoon. Filipinos are usually shy about asking strangers anything and people probably thought this was just a display booth, so two officemates and I got things going by being the first to get our picture taken. We posed together but we each got a copy. And, no, I'm not posting that photo here. No way.



Instead of just our regular one goody bag, all the children went home with four bags. Our blue tote bag had biscuits and other snack foods, a rubber ball and slippers. The Ateneo High School Class of 1967 provided a knapsack full of school supplies, including a Tagalog-English pocket dictionary. And ABS-CBN, one of the largest media companies in the Philippines which was also one of the largest relief operations centers during the typhoon, provided two bags of relief goods: rice and canned goods, and clothes. The Ateneo High School and Grade School basketball teams helped us distribute all the bags, help that was much appreciated because just before distribution I thought we didn't have enough hands. The high school boys even helped the smaller ones carry all their 'loot' back to their picnic area.



None of these would have been possible without the generosity and hard work of so many people, so indulge me as I thank others not mentioned above: all the alumni who gave donations to pay for the afternoon's expenses; Culinary Exchange for its free-flowing coffee to keep the volunteers going; Blue Christmas, the college group that organized all the kids and their facilitators; and, of course, the entire Office of University Development and Alumni Relations, especially Marijo and her team. Thank you, everyone, and may God bless you all.

Hope

THEME DAY: CONTRAST • First of all, I would like to thank everyone who came by these past few days to ask about my family's safety. Seeing all those messages of concern was truly heartwarming. Secondly, I apologize for not visiting much this week, but I think most of you know and understand why. Those of us who were lucky enough to have escaped the wrath of tropical storm Ondoy (Ketsana) are trying to help its hundreds of thousands of victims in our own little way, whether by donating food and clothes, volunteering time and physical labor, or spreading useful information. You have probably seen many images of Ondoy's devastation already, so as a contrast to those, I offer you images of a relief operations center located in the Ateneo de Manila University. It is only one of many around Metro Manila and though not the biggest, "Ateneo Task Force Ondoy" is probably one of the most organized and orderly. Traffic marshals guide vehicles bearing donations inside the courts where volunteers unload, sort and pack them into plastic bags.



More volunteers form human chains to load the bags into trucks, vans and SUVs, which are also volunteered by their owners. Between the Philippine Jesuits' social apostolates and the university's social involvement organizations, areas that need relief goods are readily identified and contact persons in the area help ensure that distribution is orderly.



While immediate relief assistance (food, water, clothes) continues, Ateneo Task Force Ondoy has begun the next two phases of its operations: health and clean-up. Recovery will be slow and this will be a sad Christmas for many, but as long as there are people who are willing to help and people who can make sure that attention will not waver several months down the road, our people will recover.


The first of the month is always Theme Day for City Daily Photo bloggers around the world. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.