Monday, August 22, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Ifugao sculptor wins 2 prizes in Switzerland
Ifugao sculptor wins 2 prizes in Switzerland
by Brady Eviota, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau
Posted at 06/22/2011 9:07 AM | Updated as of 06/22/2011 9:07 AM
BERN, Switzerland- A Filipino sculptor from Ifugao won the top two prizes in an international sculpture symposium which ended Sunday in Switzerland.
Gilbert Bergano Alberto won the Silver Award and the Prix du Public (Audience Choice Award) at the 10th International Sculpture Symposium held this year in Morges in Geneva.
The 45-year old Gilbert, a native of Hapao, Hungduan, Ifugao province, was one of the 30 artists from around 20 countries invited to showcase their talents at the annual stone sculpture competition.
The participants worked on a uniform-sized block of limestone weighing around 300 kilos for eight days at the gardens of Morges Castle along the Geneva lake.
Gilbert won the Silver Award for his sculpture entitled: "A sitting old Igorot Man playing a Gong."
"Everyone is a seed with much potential for greatness in it. Still, that potential, like a seed, needs elements to trigger its sprout and coax it to mature and bloom to its fullest. My sculpture may reflect such growth. It may inspire or communicate, or touch one's life," said Gilbert in explaining his works to the public.
Gilbert also won the public's choice, the Audience Choice Award.
Anny Misa Hefti, one of the numerous Filipinas who viewed the symposium, said one of Gilbert’s winning attributes which endeared him to the audience and judges was his unassuming personality.
"Gilbert is an epitome of humility. He mingles well without being boisterous. He is friendly in a shy way and he won the public in this manner," said Hefti.
Gilbert meanwhile, commented that he was amazed at the tools used by many of the artists at the competition, saying he only used four sculpting tools.
He also gave thanks to the support of the Filipino community, including many members of the Bibak-Switzerland, a women’s group with roots from the Bontoc-Ifugao-Benguet and Kalinga-Apayao provinces in the northern Philippines.
Gilbert’s works can be seen in his website: www.igorotgallery.com.
by Brady Eviota, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau
Posted at 06/22/2011 9:07 AM | Updated as of 06/22/2011 9:07 AM
BERN, Switzerland- A Filipino sculptor from Ifugao won the top two prizes in an international sculpture symposium which ended Sunday in Switzerland.
Gilbert Bergano Alberto won the Silver Award and the Prix du Public (Audience Choice Award) at the 10th International Sculpture Symposium held this year in Morges in Geneva.
The 45-year old Gilbert, a native of Hapao, Hungduan, Ifugao province, was one of the 30 artists from around 20 countries invited to showcase their talents at the annual stone sculpture competition.
The participants worked on a uniform-sized block of limestone weighing around 300 kilos for eight days at the gardens of Morges Castle along the Geneva lake.
Gilbert won the Silver Award for his sculpture entitled: "A sitting old Igorot Man playing a Gong."
"Everyone is a seed with much potential for greatness in it. Still, that potential, like a seed, needs elements to trigger its sprout and coax it to mature and bloom to its fullest. My sculpture may reflect such growth. It may inspire or communicate, or touch one's life," said Gilbert in explaining his works to the public.
Gilbert also won the public's choice, the Audience Choice Award.
Anny Misa Hefti, one of the numerous Filipinas who viewed the symposium, said one of Gilbert’s winning attributes which endeared him to the audience and judges was his unassuming personality.
"Gilbert is an epitome of humility. He mingles well without being boisterous. He is friendly in a shy way and he won the public in this manner," said Hefti.
Gilbert meanwhile, commented that he was amazed at the tools used by many of the artists at the competition, saying he only used four sculpting tools.
He also gave thanks to the support of the Filipino community, including many members of the Bibak-Switzerland, a women’s group with roots from the Bontoc-Ifugao-Benguet and Kalinga-Apayao provinces in the northern Philippines.
Gilbert’s works can be seen in his website: www.igorotgallery.com.
Friday, June 17, 2011
AMD
AMD is a condition that affects the macula within the eye, the most sensitive portion of the retina which is responsible for central and fine vision. The cause of AMD is unknown. There are two types of AMD: non-neovascular and neovascular. Although it produces visible abnormalities in the retina, non-neovascular AMD rarely leads to symptoms or loss of vision. By contrast, neovascular AMD is the leading cause of severe and irreversible loss of central vision in people over the age of 40 in the United States, with an estimated 1.2 million people affected. Let's look at this condition and see how it can be prevented and treated.
Symptoms of AMD
People with neovascular AMD can rather rapidly develop a hazy grayness or blank spot in their central vision. Reading becomes difficult or impossible due to blurring of words on paper and color vision may be dimmed or lost.
Prevention of AMD
Research presented about 10 years ago showed that high doses of a mixture of zinc and the antioxidants vitamins C and E and beta-carotene slowed the progression of AMD by 25 percent, but only in those who already had intermediate AMD or advanced disease in only one eye. This cocktail is still used in such people unless they are smokers. Beta-carotene supplements are avoided in smokers because they may increase the risk of lung cancer.
Promising ongoing studies are examining the possible preventive benefits of supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids or the antioxidant carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, which are both present in the macula.
In addition, some studies suggest that AMD may be prevented by not smoking, controlling blood pressure and cholesterol levels, limiting intake of saturated fats, and avoiding exposure to sunlight.
Treatment of AMD
Photocoagulation of blood vessels with a laser decreases the risk of vision loss when new blood vessels can be identified growing in the area surrounding the macula. People must be followed closely following this procedure because there is a high rate of recurrence. But the procedure is risky because photocoagulation of vessels too close to the macula can damage the macula and result in a permanent blind spot in the central vision.
Because of this, photodynamic therapy has largely replaced photocoagulation for new blood vessel growth directly under the fovea, the most light-sensitive portion of the macula at its center. The undesirable new blood vessels are closed in a two step procedure: injection of a light sensitive drug which selectively binds to cells on new vessels is followed by delivery of a beam of low powered laser to the eye in order to activate the drug bound to the abnormal blood vessels.
Drugs that block new blood vessel growth
Three drugs for the treatment of AMD act by inhibiting the action of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The first medication approved by the FDA in 2004 is pegaptanib (Macugen); it is a nucleic acid that binds specifically to VEGF in the eye. In 2006 the FDA approved an antibody, ranibizumab (Lucentis), that binds to VEGF and blocks its action. Another antibody bevacizumab (Avastin), approved for treatment of colon and rectal cancer, has been used successfully off-label to treat AMD. All three of these drugs are injected directly into the eye and have been used for two years or longer. Lucentis and Avastin are now the most effective and standard treatments for AMD. A recent study showed they were equally effective when injected on a regular monthly schedule or as needed based on a monthly examination. However, costs may be a problem--each dose of Lucentis along with the procedure costs between $2,300 and $3,500.
Symptoms of AMD
People with neovascular AMD can rather rapidly develop a hazy grayness or blank spot in their central vision. Reading becomes difficult or impossible due to blurring of words on paper and color vision may be dimmed or lost.
Prevention of AMD
Research presented about 10 years ago showed that high doses of a mixture of zinc and the antioxidants vitamins C and E and beta-carotene slowed the progression of AMD by 25 percent, but only in those who already had intermediate AMD or advanced disease in only one eye. This cocktail is still used in such people unless they are smokers. Beta-carotene supplements are avoided in smokers because they may increase the risk of lung cancer.
Promising ongoing studies are examining the possible preventive benefits of supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids or the antioxidant carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, which are both present in the macula.
In addition, some studies suggest that AMD may be prevented by not smoking, controlling blood pressure and cholesterol levels, limiting intake of saturated fats, and avoiding exposure to sunlight.
Treatment of AMD
Photocoagulation of blood vessels with a laser decreases the risk of vision loss when new blood vessels can be identified growing in the area surrounding the macula. People must be followed closely following this procedure because there is a high rate of recurrence. But the procedure is risky because photocoagulation of vessels too close to the macula can damage the macula and result in a permanent blind spot in the central vision.
Because of this, photodynamic therapy has largely replaced photocoagulation for new blood vessel growth directly under the fovea, the most light-sensitive portion of the macula at its center. The undesirable new blood vessels are closed in a two step procedure: injection of a light sensitive drug which selectively binds to cells on new vessels is followed by delivery of a beam of low powered laser to the eye in order to activate the drug bound to the abnormal blood vessels.
Drugs that block new blood vessel growth
Three drugs for the treatment of AMD act by inhibiting the action of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The first medication approved by the FDA in 2004 is pegaptanib (Macugen); it is a nucleic acid that binds specifically to VEGF in the eye. In 2006 the FDA approved an antibody, ranibizumab (Lucentis), that binds to VEGF and blocks its action. Another antibody bevacizumab (Avastin), approved for treatment of colon and rectal cancer, has been used successfully off-label to treat AMD. All three of these drugs are injected directly into the eye and have been used for two years or longer. Lucentis and Avastin are now the most effective and standard treatments for AMD. A recent study showed they were equally effective when injected on a regular monthly schedule or as needed based on a monthly examination. However, costs may be a problem--each dose of Lucentis along with the procedure costs between $2,300 and $3,500.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Pacquiao to study in UP before Congress opens
Pacquiao to study in UP before Congress opens
abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 05/20/2010 11:48 PM | Updated as of 05/21/2010 12:43 AM
Manny Pacquiao posing with several legislators during his visit to the House of Representatives in 2008.
MANILA, Philippines - Newly-elected congressman of Sarangani province Manny Pacquiao seems bent on becoming successful in performing his legislative duties in a way that is no different from how he has won his championship bouts – by preparing hard.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News, Pacquiao disclosed that he will enroll in a 1-week crash course in the University of the Philippines to learn the protocols in Congress.
“Yes magi-study ako ng isang linggo para pag-aralan ang protocol sa Kongreso... Papasok ako sa UP College of Public Administration and Governance para magkaroon tayo ng kaalaman sa Congress,” said the congressman-elect.
The Filipino boxing icon also said that he will continue his course in business management before taking up law.
While he is serving in Sarangani, he also wanted to put up a school in his district.
“Una kong ipapasang batas siguro ay ‘yung creating a university in my district, in my province and also creating a provincial hospital,” he said.
Pacquiao, the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion, also promised to remain a simple man despite being a legislator.
“Sinabi ko sa mga kababayan ko, kelangan ‘wag tayong magpakain sa sistema. Kung p'wede nga'ng mag-sandals lang, gagawin ko. Bakit ka pa poporma? Ang importante, kung anong magawa mo,” he said.
This early, though, Pacquiao appears to have already learned some political skills.
Despite having allied his local party to the Nacionalista Party of Sen. Manny Villar, he paid a courtesy call to leading presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, in his home in Quezon City on Tuesday night.
Manny Pacquiao testing a seat in the House of Representatives in 2008.
Pacquiao expressed support for the incoming administration. He clarified, however, that he is not moving to the Liberal Party.
“Para sa akin, hindi importante kung anong partido, ang importante makadala ako ng mga project. Siyempre si Noynoy ang nanalo, dapat sinusuportahan ang administrasyon kasi pag ‘di tayo susuporta ‘di tayo uunlad,” he said.
He has already talked with Villar, consoling the senator for his loss in the presidential race.
“Nakausap ko siya ilang araw na ang lumipas... siyempre grabe ang effort niya sa pangangampanya. Ganun talaga, ‘di naman sa lahat ng pagkakataon may nananalo. May natatalo… bilog ang mundo,” said Pacquiao.
During the campaign, a television advertisement for Villar even featured Pacquiao alluding to Aquino's lackluster record as 3-term congressman and senator.
This caused some friction in his friendship with Noynoy’s sister, actress and television host Kris Aquino.
But Kris announced Tuesday night that she had made up with the pound-for-pound king. -
abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 05/20/2010 11:48 PM | Updated as of 05/21/2010 12:43 AM
Manny Pacquiao posing with several legislators during his visit to the House of Representatives in 2008.
MANILA, Philippines - Newly-elected congressman of Sarangani province Manny Pacquiao seems bent on becoming successful in performing his legislative duties in a way that is no different from how he has won his championship bouts – by preparing hard.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News, Pacquiao disclosed that he will enroll in a 1-week crash course in the University of the Philippines to learn the protocols in Congress.
“Yes magi-study ako ng isang linggo para pag-aralan ang protocol sa Kongreso... Papasok ako sa UP College of Public Administration and Governance para magkaroon tayo ng kaalaman sa Congress,” said the congressman-elect.
The Filipino boxing icon also said that he will continue his course in business management before taking up law.
While he is serving in Sarangani, he also wanted to put up a school in his district.
“Una kong ipapasang batas siguro ay ‘yung creating a university in my district, in my province and also creating a provincial hospital,” he said.
Pacquiao, the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion, also promised to remain a simple man despite being a legislator.
“Sinabi ko sa mga kababayan ko, kelangan ‘wag tayong magpakain sa sistema. Kung p'wede nga'ng mag-sandals lang, gagawin ko. Bakit ka pa poporma? Ang importante, kung anong magawa mo,” he said.
This early, though, Pacquiao appears to have already learned some political skills.
Despite having allied his local party to the Nacionalista Party of Sen. Manny Villar, he paid a courtesy call to leading presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, in his home in Quezon City on Tuesday night.
Manny Pacquiao testing a seat in the House of Representatives in 2008.
Pacquiao expressed support for the incoming administration. He clarified, however, that he is not moving to the Liberal Party.
“Para sa akin, hindi importante kung anong partido, ang importante makadala ako ng mga project. Siyempre si Noynoy ang nanalo, dapat sinusuportahan ang administrasyon kasi pag ‘di tayo susuporta ‘di tayo uunlad,” he said.
He has already talked with Villar, consoling the senator for his loss in the presidential race.
“Nakausap ko siya ilang araw na ang lumipas... siyempre grabe ang effort niya sa pangangampanya. Ganun talaga, ‘di naman sa lahat ng pagkakataon may nananalo. May natatalo… bilog ang mundo,” said Pacquiao.
During the campaign, a television advertisement for Villar even featured Pacquiao alluding to Aquino's lackluster record as 3-term congressman and senator.
This caused some friction in his friendship with Noynoy’s sister, actress and television host Kris Aquino.
But Kris announced Tuesday night that she had made up with the pound-for-pound king. -
Friday, January 1, 2010
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
How to Stop Hair Loss Naturally
How to Stop Hair Loss Naturally
from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
Using natural products to help prevent hair loss is cheaper than trying to replace lost hair once it's already gone. Consider the power of these natural ingredients to stave off thinning hair:
Steps
- Saw Palmetto: This herb is sometimes used to treat enlargement of the prostate. This is because Saw Palmetto blocks the production of DHT (a metabolite of testosterone), a contributing factor to enlarging of the prostate. Because DHT production also causes hair loss, Saw Palmetto has been shown in some small studies to be effective for preventing hair loss in some men. It was first used by the American Indians to treat and maintain healthy hair and skin.
- Nettle root: Those little plants with the big sting are good for something after all. Nettle root is another treatment which blocks the production of chemicals which enlarge the prostrate.
- They are the same ones that can cause hair loss. Evidence suggests that nettle root may not only stave off baldness, but may actually regenerate hair growth.
- Vitamins: Your mother told you they were good for you, but you may not know they're good for your hair too. Vitamin A is an anti-oxidant which promotes healthy production of sebum in the scalp.
- Vitamin E stimulates circulation. Good blood circulation in the scalp is important in keeping hair follicles productive. The 'B' vitamins contribute to melanin, which gives hair its healthy color and also stimulates blood circulation.
- In addition to these ingredients, which help stop hair loss naturally, massage is also beneficial. Massage stimulates circulation. As already noted, good circulation in the scalp keeps hair follicles active. Experts suggest a few minutes of daily head massage by hand. Circulation through massage may be improved by using a few drops of lavender or bay essential oil in an almond or sesame oil base with massage.
- Try rubbing your scalp with garlic juice, Onion Juice or Ginger Juice(you can either of one out of three, Do not mix any of two or three).( but if your head gets wet you will be able to smell it )
Related wikiHows
- How to Maintain a Healthy Hair With Hypothyroidism
- How to Choose the Right Hair Loss Option
- How to Treat Male Pattern Hair Loss
- How to Reduce Hair Loss
Sources and Citations
Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Stop Hair Loss Naturally. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
P4-B microfinance started with P20, typewriter
Inquirer Headlines / Nation
http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/thegoodnews/view.php?db=1&article=20080905-158764
RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARDS
RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARDS : P4-B microfinance started with P20, typewriter By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 05, 2008
MANILA, Philippines—A venture that was started with P20 and an old Remington typewriter is now a one-stop shop offering loans, banking services and life insurance. And, because of it, hundreds of thousands of poor clients have become richer.
For the past 20 years, the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) has been extending all forms of credit to landless peasants to help them rise out of poverty.
From its base in San Pablo City, Laguna, it has quietly reached out to the women of landless families, even in conflict areas in Mindanao, to help them set up small livelihood projects, save extra income, and get insured in case of death.
Small wonder then that CARD MRI—an organization comprising an NGO, a rural bank, a micro-insurance company and a training institute—has been named one of two Ramon Magsaysay awardees for public service this year.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation cited CARD MRI for its “successful adaptation of microfinance in the Philippines, providing self-sustaining and comprehensive services for half a million poor women and their families.”
Named after President Ramon Magsaysay who died in a plane crash in 1957, the awards are given out every year to individuals and organizations in Asia that have shown the late leader’s sense of selfless service.
The foundation conferred the award on the new laureates in a ceremony at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on Aug. 31. The winners each received a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of Magsaysay and a $50,000 cash prize.
Came as a shock
“It came as a shock that we’re being awarded the Ramon Magsaysay. We thought this was reserved only for high-profile companies,” said Dr. Jaime Aristotle Alip, founding chair and managing director of CARD MRI.
Alip and 14 rural developers established CARD Inc. as an NGO for the landless rural folk in Laguna in 1986 in the aftermath of Edsa I people power revolution that toppled Ferdinand Marcos.
The following year, they quit the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) to focus on CARD and ended up revolutionizing the microfinance industry.
“PBSP had a project here concentrating on rice farmers, but I felt these landless rural workers needed more help,” Alip, 51, said in an interview at the CARD MRI’s main office in San Pablo.
These are the seasonal farmers who don’t own land, get hired by tenant farmers to plant and harvest crops, and work odd jobs in between, he said.
Starting from scratch
CARD started out literally from scratch, with a measly capital of P20—according to Alip—or just enough to buy bond paper on which to write applications for foreign grants.
It initially occupied a classroom in the Alip family-owned vocational school that had spartan provisions—an old Remington typewriter, a desk and three chairs.
Thanks to a $20,000 grant from two Japanese micro-funding agencies, including the Asian Community Trust (ACT), it launched its economic assistance program for landless peasants in San Pablo and Bay, Laguna, in 1988.
“I think my friend (from ACT) pitied me, that’s why he gave us the grant,” said Alip, who flew to Japan to meet the funders carrying one suit, spent his nights at the airport and typed his proposals on the Remington.
Shift to women
With the grant, CARD trained some 200 “landless rural workers” on project management and organizational development, organized them into groups, and provided them with loans ranging from P500 to P5,000.
The initial batch was a mix of men and women but the NGO eventually shifted to women—the mothers—because they were better at managing finances.
“They would meet each week. There was a collection of savings, payments of loans. After that, there was an exchange of experiences, and then training on education,” Alip said.
A graduate of Agricultural Economics at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna (UPLB), Alip holds a master’s degree in Agricultural Marketing and a doctorate in Organizational Development.
Poor beginnings
The loans, payable in one year, were used to set up a variety store, handicraft store, poultry and piggery, among other “backyard projects.”
After a poor start that was marked by poor repayment, CARD picked up steam and expanded its membership from its base in Laguna to the provinces of Quezon, Marinduque, Mindoro and Masbate, and elsewhere.
In 1996, CARD applied for a license to operate a microfinance-oriented rural bank, the main goal of Alip and his colleagues for conceiving the NGO. And in September 1997, it opened the CARD Rural Bank in San Pablo.
Many of the CARD members eventually became part owners of the bank.
Secret of success
“That’s my thesis: Give them the ownership. Because for me the issue in microfinance is no longer access to credit. The issue is control of resource, and the best control of resources is by owning the equity of the bank,” Alip said.
He added: “The moment they have ownership, they’re able to get control and access in the capital. Then they can convert this into income. With income they can buy education, house for their family, food and the land that they need.”
With the bank, the members got bigger loans and, more important, opened savings and checking accounts, among others.
Alip said: “Now there are countless mothers who have their own land, own their own house, have their own business, and to me that is really bringing them out of poverty.”
In 1999, CARD formed another institution, the Mutual Benefit Association (MBA), to serve as a micro-insurance facility that would help members cope with deaths in the family and other unexpected events.
A mother’s idea
It was borne out of a mother’s proposal that CARD collect P1 each as a standby fund in case a mother or her next of kin dies. The pot reached a whopping P4.2 million, necessitating the establishment of a mutual insurance facility.
Again, the mothers were enrolled as part owners. As of June this year, MBA has insured some 2.9 million individuals around the country, more than those of many commercial insurance players.
MBA now operates in at least 47 provinces in the country, as well as in Cambodia and Vietnam.
The facility offered mortuary benefits, and loan redemption in case of the death of a mother, or any of her family members, under a “1-3-5” scheme.
This means that if a member dies, a life insurance ranging from P50,000 to P100,000 would be released to a beneficiary in one, three or five days at the most if there are any hitches, such as a delay in the release of the death certificate.
“At first, they played a prank on us. One claimed death in the family, but after three days the dead rose again. We found out about the false claim and made them repay,” Alip said, chuckling.
P4-B assets
Through this facility, CARD also offered pension to members, hospitalization and accident loans, as well as emergency loans during inclement weather.
CARD also relaunched its training center in 2004 and named it CARD MRI Development Institute, offering degree and non-degree courses for its staff. A year later, it established the Business Development Service (BDS) to help the mothers expand their micro-enterprises.
So, from the original NGO, four other institutions have been born—the bank, the micro-insurance company, the learning institute and the BDS, hence the name Mutually Reinforcing Institutions.
In 47 provinces
From a fledgling NGO 20 years ago, CARD MRI is now serving over 700,000 poor women clients in 47 provinces, including Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, with P2.3 billion outstanding loans. It boasts of P4 billion in assets.
“Microfinance is not a panacea or the answer to all poverty,” Alip admitted. “But certainly it’s a powerful tool in helping the poor rise out of poverty.”
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http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/thegoodnews/view.php?db=1&article=20080905-158764
RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARDS
RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARDS : P4-B microfinance started with P20, typewriter By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 05, 2008
MANILA, Philippines—A venture that was started with P20 and an old Remington typewriter is now a one-stop shop offering loans, banking services and life insurance. And, because of it, hundreds of thousands of poor clients have become richer.
For the past 20 years, the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) has been extending all forms of credit to landless peasants to help them rise out of poverty.
From its base in San Pablo City, Laguna, it has quietly reached out to the women of landless families, even in conflict areas in Mindanao, to help them set up small livelihood projects, save extra income, and get insured in case of death.
Small wonder then that CARD MRI—an organization comprising an NGO, a rural bank, a micro-insurance company and a training institute—has been named one of two Ramon Magsaysay awardees for public service this year.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation cited CARD MRI for its “successful adaptation of microfinance in the Philippines, providing self-sustaining and comprehensive services for half a million poor women and their families.”
Named after President Ramon Magsaysay who died in a plane crash in 1957, the awards are given out every year to individuals and organizations in Asia that have shown the late leader’s sense of selfless service.
The foundation conferred the award on the new laureates in a ceremony at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on Aug. 31. The winners each received a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of Magsaysay and a $50,000 cash prize.
Came as a shock
“It came as a shock that we’re being awarded the Ramon Magsaysay. We thought this was reserved only for high-profile companies,” said Dr. Jaime Aristotle Alip, founding chair and managing director of CARD MRI.
Alip and 14 rural developers established CARD Inc. as an NGO for the landless rural folk in Laguna in 1986 in the aftermath of Edsa I people power revolution that toppled Ferdinand Marcos.
The following year, they quit the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) to focus on CARD and ended up revolutionizing the microfinance industry.
“PBSP had a project here concentrating on rice farmers, but I felt these landless rural workers needed more help,” Alip, 51, said in an interview at the CARD MRI’s main office in San Pablo.
These are the seasonal farmers who don’t own land, get hired by tenant farmers to plant and harvest crops, and work odd jobs in between, he said.
Starting from scratch
CARD started out literally from scratch, with a measly capital of P20—according to Alip—or just enough to buy bond paper on which to write applications for foreign grants.
It initially occupied a classroom in the Alip family-owned vocational school that had spartan provisions—an old Remington typewriter, a desk and three chairs.
Thanks to a $20,000 grant from two Japanese micro-funding agencies, including the Asian Community Trust (ACT), it launched its economic assistance program for landless peasants in San Pablo and Bay, Laguna, in 1988.
“I think my friend (from ACT) pitied me, that’s why he gave us the grant,” said Alip, who flew to Japan to meet the funders carrying one suit, spent his nights at the airport and typed his proposals on the Remington.
Shift to women
With the grant, CARD trained some 200 “landless rural workers” on project management and organizational development, organized them into groups, and provided them with loans ranging from P500 to P5,000.
The initial batch was a mix of men and women but the NGO eventually shifted to women—the mothers—because they were better at managing finances.
“They would meet each week. There was a collection of savings, payments of loans. After that, there was an exchange of experiences, and then training on education,” Alip said.
A graduate of Agricultural Economics at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna (UPLB), Alip holds a master’s degree in Agricultural Marketing and a doctorate in Organizational Development.
Poor beginnings
The loans, payable in one year, were used to set up a variety store, handicraft store, poultry and piggery, among other “backyard projects.”
After a poor start that was marked by poor repayment, CARD picked up steam and expanded its membership from its base in Laguna to the provinces of Quezon, Marinduque, Mindoro and Masbate, and elsewhere.
In 1996, CARD applied for a license to operate a microfinance-oriented rural bank, the main goal of Alip and his colleagues for conceiving the NGO. And in September 1997, it opened the CARD Rural Bank in San Pablo.
Many of the CARD members eventually became part owners of the bank.
Secret of success
“That’s my thesis: Give them the ownership. Because for me the issue in microfinance is no longer access to credit. The issue is control of resource, and the best control of resources is by owning the equity of the bank,” Alip said.
He added: “The moment they have ownership, they’re able to get control and access in the capital. Then they can convert this into income. With income they can buy education, house for their family, food and the land that they need.”
With the bank, the members got bigger loans and, more important, opened savings and checking accounts, among others.
Alip said: “Now there are countless mothers who have their own land, own their own house, have their own business, and to me that is really bringing them out of poverty.”
In 1999, CARD formed another institution, the Mutual Benefit Association (MBA), to serve as a micro-insurance facility that would help members cope with deaths in the family and other unexpected events.
A mother’s idea
It was borne out of a mother’s proposal that CARD collect P1 each as a standby fund in case a mother or her next of kin dies. The pot reached a whopping P4.2 million, necessitating the establishment of a mutual insurance facility.
Again, the mothers were enrolled as part owners. As of June this year, MBA has insured some 2.9 million individuals around the country, more than those of many commercial insurance players.
MBA now operates in at least 47 provinces in the country, as well as in Cambodia and Vietnam.
The facility offered mortuary benefits, and loan redemption in case of the death of a mother, or any of her family members, under a “1-3-5” scheme.
This means that if a member dies, a life insurance ranging from P50,000 to P100,000 would be released to a beneficiary in one, three or five days at the most if there are any hitches, such as a delay in the release of the death certificate.
“At first, they played a prank on us. One claimed death in the family, but after three days the dead rose again. We found out about the false claim and made them repay,” Alip said, chuckling.
P4-B assets
Through this facility, CARD also offered pension to members, hospitalization and accident loans, as well as emergency loans during inclement weather.
CARD also relaunched its training center in 2004 and named it CARD MRI Development Institute, offering degree and non-degree courses for its staff. A year later, it established the Business Development Service (BDS) to help the mothers expand their micro-enterprises.
So, from the original NGO, four other institutions have been born—the bank, the micro-insurance company, the learning institute and the BDS, hence the name Mutually Reinforcing Institutions.
In 47 provinces
From a fledgling NGO 20 years ago, CARD MRI is now serving over 700,000 poor women clients in 47 provinces, including Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, with P2.3 billion outstanding loans. It boasts of P4 billion in assets.
“Microfinance is not a panacea or the answer to all poverty,” Alip admitted. “But certainly it’s a powerful tool in helping the poor rise out of poverty.”
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©Copyright 2001-2008 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
Honest tricycle driver lands job in City Hall
Inquirer Headlines / Metro
http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/thegoodnews/view.php?db=1&article=20080920-161789
Honest tricycle driver lands job in City Hall
By Allison Lopez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 20, 2008
MANILA, Philippines – Despite the hard times, a tricycle driver in Quiapo resisted the temptation to keep for himself more than P50,000 in cash left behind by a passenger.
For not keeping the money, Abraham Cariño, 44, was cited for honesty Friday by the Manila city government.
Cariño received P5,500 plus a job at City Hall from Mayor Alfredo Lim as reward for turning over an envelope containing documents and P55,350 in cash.
Rep. Naida Angpin also gave P5,000 to Cariño for his commendable act.
The mayor, who presided at the People’s Day forum Friday, hired Cariño on the spot, saying his act of honesty proved “he was worth keeping at City Hall and will not steal money from it.”
“With your example, more and more people will realize that it pays to be honest,” said Lim.
Cariño said the envelope was left behind by a male passenger and a child who boarded his tricycle around 7 p.m. Thursday on Globo de Oro Street. However, he was unable to trace his passengers when he returned to where he dropped them off after he found the money.
Barangay chair Danny Aquino presented Cariño, a father of four, to Lim after the driver handed over the envelope to him.
The cash and documents are at the mayor’s office for safekeeping until these are claimed.
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©Copyright 2001-2008 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/thegoodnews/view.php?db=1&article=20080920-161789
Honest tricycle driver lands job in City Hall
By Allison Lopez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 20, 2008
MANILA, Philippines – Despite the hard times, a tricycle driver in Quiapo resisted the temptation to keep for himself more than P50,000 in cash left behind by a passenger.
For not keeping the money, Abraham Cariño, 44, was cited for honesty Friday by the Manila city government.
Cariño received P5,500 plus a job at City Hall from Mayor Alfredo Lim as reward for turning over an envelope containing documents and P55,350 in cash.
Rep. Naida Angpin also gave P5,000 to Cariño for his commendable act.
The mayor, who presided at the People’s Day forum Friday, hired Cariño on the spot, saying his act of honesty proved “he was worth keeping at City Hall and will not steal money from it.”
“With your example, more and more people will realize that it pays to be honest,” said Lim.
Cariño said the envelope was left behind by a male passenger and a child who boarded his tricycle around 7 p.m. Thursday on Globo de Oro Street. However, he was unable to trace his passengers when he returned to where he dropped them off after he found the money.
Barangay chair Danny Aquino presented Cariño, a father of four, to Lim after the driver handed over the envelope to him.
The cash and documents are at the mayor’s office for safekeeping until these are claimed.
^ Back to top
©Copyright 2001-2008 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
Village school goes high tech
Inquirer Headlines / Regions
http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/thegoodnews/view.php?db=1&article=20080927-163231
INQUIRER VISAYAS
Inquirer Visayas : Village school goes high tech
By Vicente Labro
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 27, 2008
CALBAYOG CITY – Every Monday morning, 10-year-old Feviane G. Ale is eager to attend her computer class at the Gadgaran Elementary School in Calbayog City to get a chance to play “Xbox” and other educational PC games.
Ale’s school in Barangay Gadgaran has its own computer laboratory – with 13 computers having Internet access. Its 250 pupils and all the teachers are taught basic computer literacy. Its “modern” facility is now the envy of other city schools in Calbayog and the source of pride of its teachers, pupils and community.
“I like computers because it helps me in my study,” Ale, a Grade V pupil, says.
Gadgaran is a depressed village about five kilometers from the city proper, which is 180 km north of Tacloban City, the regional center of Eastern Visayas.
The computer laboratory is unique in its design. The ground layout resembles an Xbox video console of Microsoft, with an “x” raised walkway. Another “x” suspended from the ceiling illuminates the whole room with bright-green light.
The four triangular ground areas are divided into the Mathematics, Science, Arts, and Entertainment and Communications sections, which were all painted in orange, green, blue and yellow – the four colors of the Microsoft logo.
The computers are equipped with the latest educational software donated by Microsoft Corp.
American donor
David Dunleavy, an American who works with the US computer giant, designed and supervised the construction of the computer laboratory in August 2007. He also donated educational software materials, two TV sets, an LCD projector and an electric guitar and drum set, as well as the latest computer program.
The laboratory is using Microsoft Vista, but Dunleavy promised the school that when he visits the village again next year, he would bring along a Microsoft Version 7, which has not even come out of the global market yet, Teresa Villa, the school principal, said in an interview.
What was then a small school in a depressed village began to change in 2005 when it shared a vision of a “Modern and High Performing School” with the city school division. The community and the school worked together to achieve the goal.
In one of the meetings of the teachers and parents, Villa was told by a parent that an alumnus, Arvin Ofamen, was a friend of Microsoft’s Dunleavy, according to the campus publication “Kawit.”
Villa immediately contacted Ofamen and requested him to ask his friend to possibly donate a computer set. She also wrote a letter to Dunleavy.
Scholarship grants
In September 2005, Dunleavy and Ofamen visited the village, bringing along the donation. During his 10-day stay, the American discussed with Villa the situation not only of the school but also of the entire community.
“We asked him to provide the school with a scholarship program. He gave us fund for school supplies, school uniforms and for the contributions so that the parents won’t be spending anymore,” Villa said in a recent interview.
At first, Dunleavy provided 160 scholarship grants, but this has now increased to 200. He extended the program to high school students who are alumni, Villa said.
He also provided financial support to address the malnutrition problem in Gadgaran.
Since Dunleavy started helping, the school’s dropout rate went down to zero, the academic performance of the pupils greatly improved, and there were no cutting of classes and unnecessary absences among the pupils, Villa said.
“He is a philanthropist. His heart is really with the poor,” she said. Thankful for his generosity, the school and community declared Dunleavy an “adopted son of Gadgaran.”
Thanks to Gates, too
The school is also grateful to Microsoft founder Bill Gates. In fact, it has been “doubly lucky” because for every amount that Dunleavy donates, Microsoft, as a policy to its donor employees, matches this.
Arthur Basbas, an Information and Communication Technology teacher, says pupils and teachers from Grade 1 to Grade 6 were being taught basic computer literacy.
The teachers attend computer class from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily during school days. The pupils have their own classes twice a week and a film showing every Friday afternoon. They also do computer-aided research work during their vacant period, lunch time or after classes.
The ABS-CBN Foundation also donated educational video shows on Science, Math and English, Basbas says.
Incentive
He, however, clarifies that the basic computer literacy course is not included in the school curriculum, and that the students do not earn grades from the computer lessons. They earn points in quizzes, assignments and exams, and when they accumulate a total of 50 points, they are allowed a one-hour free use of the computer lab as incentive, including playing Xboxes and PC games.
Gadgaran is just an obscure, poor village, but its children now have access to a bright future with the help of new technologies.
^ Back to top
©Copyright 2001-2008 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/thegoodnews/view.php?db=1&article=20080927-163231
INQUIRER VISAYAS
Inquirer Visayas : Village school goes high tech
By Vicente Labro
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 27, 2008
CALBAYOG CITY – Every Monday morning, 10-year-old Feviane G. Ale is eager to attend her computer class at the Gadgaran Elementary School in Calbayog City to get a chance to play “Xbox” and other educational PC games.
Ale’s school in Barangay Gadgaran has its own computer laboratory – with 13 computers having Internet access. Its 250 pupils and all the teachers are taught basic computer literacy. Its “modern” facility is now the envy of other city schools in Calbayog and the source of pride of its teachers, pupils and community.
“I like computers because it helps me in my study,” Ale, a Grade V pupil, says.
Gadgaran is a depressed village about five kilometers from the city proper, which is 180 km north of Tacloban City, the regional center of Eastern Visayas.
The computer laboratory is unique in its design. The ground layout resembles an Xbox video console of Microsoft, with an “x” raised walkway. Another “x” suspended from the ceiling illuminates the whole room with bright-green light.
The four triangular ground areas are divided into the Mathematics, Science, Arts, and Entertainment and Communications sections, which were all painted in orange, green, blue and yellow – the four colors of the Microsoft logo.
The computers are equipped with the latest educational software donated by Microsoft Corp.
American donor
David Dunleavy, an American who works with the US computer giant, designed and supervised the construction of the computer laboratory in August 2007. He also donated educational software materials, two TV sets, an LCD projector and an electric guitar and drum set, as well as the latest computer program.
The laboratory is using Microsoft Vista, but Dunleavy promised the school that when he visits the village again next year, he would bring along a Microsoft Version 7, which has not even come out of the global market yet, Teresa Villa, the school principal, said in an interview.
What was then a small school in a depressed village began to change in 2005 when it shared a vision of a “Modern and High Performing School” with the city school division. The community and the school worked together to achieve the goal.
In one of the meetings of the teachers and parents, Villa was told by a parent that an alumnus, Arvin Ofamen, was a friend of Microsoft’s Dunleavy, according to the campus publication “Kawit.”
Villa immediately contacted Ofamen and requested him to ask his friend to possibly donate a computer set. She also wrote a letter to Dunleavy.
Scholarship grants
In September 2005, Dunleavy and Ofamen visited the village, bringing along the donation. During his 10-day stay, the American discussed with Villa the situation not only of the school but also of the entire community.
“We asked him to provide the school with a scholarship program. He gave us fund for school supplies, school uniforms and for the contributions so that the parents won’t be spending anymore,” Villa said in a recent interview.
At first, Dunleavy provided 160 scholarship grants, but this has now increased to 200. He extended the program to high school students who are alumni, Villa said.
He also provided financial support to address the malnutrition problem in Gadgaran.
Since Dunleavy started helping, the school’s dropout rate went down to zero, the academic performance of the pupils greatly improved, and there were no cutting of classes and unnecessary absences among the pupils, Villa said.
“He is a philanthropist. His heart is really with the poor,” she said. Thankful for his generosity, the school and community declared Dunleavy an “adopted son of Gadgaran.”
Thanks to Gates, too
The school is also grateful to Microsoft founder Bill Gates. In fact, it has been “doubly lucky” because for every amount that Dunleavy donates, Microsoft, as a policy to its donor employees, matches this.
Arthur Basbas, an Information and Communication Technology teacher, says pupils and teachers from Grade 1 to Grade 6 were being taught basic computer literacy.
The teachers attend computer class from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily during school days. The pupils have their own classes twice a week and a film showing every Friday afternoon. They also do computer-aided research work during their vacant period, lunch time or after classes.
The ABS-CBN Foundation also donated educational video shows on Science, Math and English, Basbas says.
Incentive
He, however, clarifies that the basic computer literacy course is not included in the school curriculum, and that the students do not earn grades from the computer lessons. They earn points in quizzes, assignments and exams, and when they accumulate a total of 50 points, they are allowed a one-hour free use of the computer lab as incentive, including playing Xboxes and PC games.
Gadgaran is just an obscure, poor village, but its children now have access to a bright future with the help of new technologies.
^ Back to top
©Copyright 2001-2008 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
Greatness of spirit runs in this family from India
Inquirer Headlines / Nation
http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/thegoodnews/view.php?db=1&article=20080902-158145
RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARD
RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARD : Greatness of spirit runs in this family from India
By Ma. Ceres P. Doyo
Columnist / Writer
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 02, 2008
MANILA, Philippines—Greatness of spirit could run in the family. And whoever said that seedlings cannot thrive in the shadow of the huge parent tree could be proven wrong.
Husband and wife Prakash and Mandakini Amte of India, both doctors, are proof that the greatness of one’s parents could live on, not necessarily by some wonder of genetics, but because noble examples set by one generation can flourish and bear fruit in the next.
The couple earned this year’s Ramon Magsaysay award for Community Leadership, the latest of many honors received in their home country and abroad. Their portraits, for example, have appeared on a Red Cross postage stamp issued by Monaco.
Prakash’s late father, Murlidhar Amte, was also an “RM” awardee (Public Service, 1985). A humanitarian and follower of Mahatma Gandhi, “Baba” (father), died early this year at the age of 96. Books have been written and a film has been made on Murlidhar’s work caring for lepers.
Along with brother Vikas, Prakash grew up in Anandwan in the Indian state of Maharashtra, in an ashram (a spiritual commune) and a rehabilitation center for leprosy patients founded by his father. “We went to school and played with the children of the (leper) community,” Prakash recalls.
After becoming a doctor, Prakash could have chosen a life of ease and plenty. But with his young bride Mandakini by his side, he followed a demanding path similar to what his old man had chosen.
Sense of mission
His sense of mission led him to the remote jungles of Hemalsaka in eastern Maharashtra, home to a gentle tribe known as the Madia Gonds.
When the couple arrived there 34 years ago, literacy among the Madia Gonds was zero and their contact with the outside world was limited. There were no modern services and little government presence in the 150 square meter of dense forest that sheltered the tribe.
The tribesmen coexisted with wild animals and survived by hunting, gathering and shifting cultivation, but they were considered a people forgotten by civilization. They had no written language, their dialect related neither to Hindi, India’s national language, nor to Marathi, which is spoken in Maharashtra.
But what exactly drew Prakash to the place? He was doing postgraduate studies in surgery in Nagpur when he volunteered to run his father’s new project among the Madia Gonds. This was a turning point for him, and Prakash knew it was also a homecoming of sorts.
Prakash told his then girlfriend Mandakini about his plans. Would she come with him to work in the jungle? Mandakini remembers how Prakash popped the question. “If not, he said, it would be okay,” recalls the former beauty queen-turned-doctor. She said yes, she will go with him.
Leap of faith
In 1974, Prakash and Mandakini made a leap in the dark, a leap of faith, and left their medical practice in the city to settle in Hemalsaka.
And once there, they had to start from scratch. There were no creature comforts to speak of. They lived in a doorless hut that offered no privacy. During the cold season they warmed themselves by the fireside. “We minimized our needs,” Prakash says.
Shy and suspicious of outsiders, the Madia Gonds did not warm up to the Amtes instantly. “When we arrived we right away felt the cultural barrier,” Mandakini says.
There were problems of malnutrition, blind faith in false healers and even in the practice of making a human sacrifice. Food production was through “zoom agriculture,” or slash-and-burn.
Prakash and Mandakini began their mission by setting up shop by the roadside. They learned the local dialect. Prakash shed the doctor’s standard white outfit and wore only short pants and an undershirt.
Little by little the couple earned the people’s trust. They nursed to health a badly burned epileptic boy and a man dying of cerebral malaria. The “miracle cures” resulted in more patients coming.
Against abuse
In 1975, the development agency SwissAid gave funds for the construction of a small hospital in Hemalkasa, on a land donated by government. “We did everything (since),” Prakash recalls with laughter. “Cataract operations, fractures, gynecological problems, bear bites. For 30 years we didn’t have a break.”
But health and nutrition were not the only problems. The Amtes discovered how the Madia Gonds could also be vulnerable to exploitation by corrupt forest officers and other outsiders. Hence, the couple had to intervene and mediate in the tribe’s disputes with abusive government officials.
In 1976, a school was built on the same land donated for the hospital. At first the people were reluctant to send their children to school, but it did not take long for them to get convinced.
The couple eventually raised their two sons in Hemalsaka and sent them to the same school with Madia Gond youths, just like how it was when Prakash was growing up with the children of his father’s leprosy patients.
The school did not just offer the basics but also provided training in organic farming. The people were taught how to conserve forest resources, including endangered fauna lest they be hunted to extinction. An animal orphanage was set up to stress the importance of wildlife in the balance of nature.
Electricity finally came to the Madia Gonds in 1995.
Alumni back to serve
Today, the hospital has a 50-bed capacity and treats more than 40,000 patients a year, free of charge. It also serves as a regional center for mother-child welfare and health education. Its “barefoot” volunteer doctors spread out to outlying villages.
The school, meanwhile, currently enrolls around 600 students, and some of its earliest students have become doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers and craftsmen.
Prakash reports that the school now counts “five doctors” among its alumni and that all five, along with 90 percent of the graduates, “have come back to serve in the community.”
Two of these young doctors are his own sons Digant and Aniket.
Digant and his wife Anagha, another doctor, have an adopted daughter named Arati, a Madia Gond whose mother died in childbirth. Arati is now a nurse.
Legacy
Now in their 60s, Prakash and Mandakini also have a grandson, whose pictures they proudly carry around in an album. Some of the photos show a wide-eyed boy frolicking among leopards, bears and snakes in the animal orphanage.
“Maybe it’s just the way we have led our lives,” Prakash says, summing up their works of compassion and the legacy they are leaving behind.
Their 34-year-old endeavor for the uplift of the Madia Gonds has since been known as Lok Biradari Prakalp (People’s Brotherhood Project) or LBP, a name given by Baba Amte.
With help from SwissAid, Oxfam and a Canadian development agency, LBP has forged on, although money and trained medical help are always in short supply. The couple’s cash award that goes with the “RM” will surely go a long way.
(The Amte couple are not the only second-generation RM awardees. Jon Ungphakorn of Thailand, the 2005 RM awardee for Government Service, is the son of 1965 awardee for Public Service Puey Ungphakorn.)
^ Back to top
©Copyright 2001-2008 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/thegoodnews/view.php?db=1&article=20080902-158145
RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARD
RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARD : Greatness of spirit runs in this family from India
By Ma. Ceres P. Doyo
Columnist / Writer
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 02, 2008
MANILA, Philippines—Greatness of spirit could run in the family. And whoever said that seedlings cannot thrive in the shadow of the huge parent tree could be proven wrong.
Husband and wife Prakash and Mandakini Amte of India, both doctors, are proof that the greatness of one’s parents could live on, not necessarily by some wonder of genetics, but because noble examples set by one generation can flourish and bear fruit in the next.
The couple earned this year’s Ramon Magsaysay award for Community Leadership, the latest of many honors received in their home country and abroad. Their portraits, for example, have appeared on a Red Cross postage stamp issued by Monaco.
Prakash’s late father, Murlidhar Amte, was also an “RM” awardee (Public Service, 1985). A humanitarian and follower of Mahatma Gandhi, “Baba” (father), died early this year at the age of 96. Books have been written and a film has been made on Murlidhar’s work caring for lepers.
Along with brother Vikas, Prakash grew up in Anandwan in the Indian state of Maharashtra, in an ashram (a spiritual commune) and a rehabilitation center for leprosy patients founded by his father. “We went to school and played with the children of the (leper) community,” Prakash recalls.
After becoming a doctor, Prakash could have chosen a life of ease and plenty. But with his young bride Mandakini by his side, he followed a demanding path similar to what his old man had chosen.
Sense of mission
His sense of mission led him to the remote jungles of Hemalsaka in eastern Maharashtra, home to a gentle tribe known as the Madia Gonds.
When the couple arrived there 34 years ago, literacy among the Madia Gonds was zero and their contact with the outside world was limited. There were no modern services and little government presence in the 150 square meter of dense forest that sheltered the tribe.
The tribesmen coexisted with wild animals and survived by hunting, gathering and shifting cultivation, but they were considered a people forgotten by civilization. They had no written language, their dialect related neither to Hindi, India’s national language, nor to Marathi, which is spoken in Maharashtra.
But what exactly drew Prakash to the place? He was doing postgraduate studies in surgery in Nagpur when he volunteered to run his father’s new project among the Madia Gonds. This was a turning point for him, and Prakash knew it was also a homecoming of sorts.
Prakash told his then girlfriend Mandakini about his plans. Would she come with him to work in the jungle? Mandakini remembers how Prakash popped the question. “If not, he said, it would be okay,” recalls the former beauty queen-turned-doctor. She said yes, she will go with him.
Leap of faith
In 1974, Prakash and Mandakini made a leap in the dark, a leap of faith, and left their medical practice in the city to settle in Hemalsaka.
And once there, they had to start from scratch. There were no creature comforts to speak of. They lived in a doorless hut that offered no privacy. During the cold season they warmed themselves by the fireside. “We minimized our needs,” Prakash says.
Shy and suspicious of outsiders, the Madia Gonds did not warm up to the Amtes instantly. “When we arrived we right away felt the cultural barrier,” Mandakini says.
There were problems of malnutrition, blind faith in false healers and even in the practice of making a human sacrifice. Food production was through “zoom agriculture,” or slash-and-burn.
Prakash and Mandakini began their mission by setting up shop by the roadside. They learned the local dialect. Prakash shed the doctor’s standard white outfit and wore only short pants and an undershirt.
Little by little the couple earned the people’s trust. They nursed to health a badly burned epileptic boy and a man dying of cerebral malaria. The “miracle cures” resulted in more patients coming.
Against abuse
In 1975, the development agency SwissAid gave funds for the construction of a small hospital in Hemalkasa, on a land donated by government. “We did everything (since),” Prakash recalls with laughter. “Cataract operations, fractures, gynecological problems, bear bites. For 30 years we didn’t have a break.”
But health and nutrition were not the only problems. The Amtes discovered how the Madia Gonds could also be vulnerable to exploitation by corrupt forest officers and other outsiders. Hence, the couple had to intervene and mediate in the tribe’s disputes with abusive government officials.
In 1976, a school was built on the same land donated for the hospital. At first the people were reluctant to send their children to school, but it did not take long for them to get convinced.
The couple eventually raised their two sons in Hemalsaka and sent them to the same school with Madia Gond youths, just like how it was when Prakash was growing up with the children of his father’s leprosy patients.
The school did not just offer the basics but also provided training in organic farming. The people were taught how to conserve forest resources, including endangered fauna lest they be hunted to extinction. An animal orphanage was set up to stress the importance of wildlife in the balance of nature.
Electricity finally came to the Madia Gonds in 1995.
Alumni back to serve
Today, the hospital has a 50-bed capacity and treats more than 40,000 patients a year, free of charge. It also serves as a regional center for mother-child welfare and health education. Its “barefoot” volunteer doctors spread out to outlying villages.
The school, meanwhile, currently enrolls around 600 students, and some of its earliest students have become doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers and craftsmen.
Prakash reports that the school now counts “five doctors” among its alumni and that all five, along with 90 percent of the graduates, “have come back to serve in the community.”
Two of these young doctors are his own sons Digant and Aniket.
Digant and his wife Anagha, another doctor, have an adopted daughter named Arati, a Madia Gond whose mother died in childbirth. Arati is now a nurse.
Legacy
Now in their 60s, Prakash and Mandakini also have a grandson, whose pictures they proudly carry around in an album. Some of the photos show a wide-eyed boy frolicking among leopards, bears and snakes in the animal orphanage.
“Maybe it’s just the way we have led our lives,” Prakash says, summing up their works of compassion and the legacy they are leaving behind.
Their 34-year-old endeavor for the uplift of the Madia Gonds has since been known as Lok Biradari Prakalp (People’s Brotherhood Project) or LBP, a name given by Baba Amte.
With help from SwissAid, Oxfam and a Canadian development agency, LBP has forged on, although money and trained medical help are always in short supply. The couple’s cash award that goes with the “RM” will surely go a long way.
(The Amte couple are not the only second-generation RM awardees. Jon Ungphakorn of Thailand, the 2005 RM awardee for Government Service, is the son of 1965 awardee for Public Service Puey Ungphakorn.)
^ Back to top
©Copyright 2001-2008 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Ifugao wooden Scooter
Published on Sun.Star Network Online (http://www.sunstar.com.ph)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ifugao wooden scooter: Pinoy ingenuity at centerstage
A TRIBUTE to Filipino ingenuity is the theme of the first wooden scooter race staged apart from other festivities in Banaue, Ifugao.
In the past it was an integral activity of the annual Banaue Imbayah, something that wowed and fascinated the crowd.
What's your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers [1]
In April of 2008 however, these group of men fabricating the wooden scooters and joining races decided to form a group and called it Banaue Rice Terraces Wooden Scooters Organization, headed by president Vicente Dinundon Jr., a 2006 graduate of BS Agriculture of the Benguet State University.
Now 25 years old, he is back home in Banaue to live and continue the tradition of home-based business and "scootering."
The story of the wooden scooter is a tale on its own, too.
These mobile contraptions were once created to serve a need. The men-folk were having a difficult time going to and from their homes to their muyongs up the mountains, often bringing home firewood and crops tended up there. It would often take them hours to walk the distance and carry the load.
This then gave birth to the first scooter. They would push it up the hills and work for the day. Firewood would be strapped along both sides of the scooter and other goods tied at the back.
The ride back home would then be a breeze.
These scooters are fashioned out of wood, minimizing the use of nails. Through time the simple device to ferry firewood and tubers soon became art, their designs and styles becoming more intricate and complicated.
Like the swirling horses on a carnival carousel, today's scooters come in a wonderful array of designs -- horses, tigers, Indian heads, eagles, bululs, anything which catches the fancy of its creator, and most often the birthing of one creation comes with a story.
That makes it the more interesting and valuable.
The forming of the Banaue Rice Terraces Wooden Scooters Organization (BRTWSO) was armed with a concept of showcasing their art. They made a proposition to have their club be registered with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which they may also use for livelihood.
With the help of Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), the first staging of the independent scooter race happened in a two-day activity, to boost the practice. The activity went well after two postponements and they hope it will survive the times.
For now what they need is a "viewdeck," to serve as a showroom of scooters where they can manufacture, assemble and show off their pieces. They are on the process of wooing good-hearted sponsors to help them on this cause, one of which is Gov. Mark Lapid, the incumbent governor of Pampanga.
Vincent Dinundon fashioned and extraordinary scooter out of hardwood, with a Mohawk head in front just above the handlebars. The scooter body is a horse, the mane flying in the wind, all this coated in handsome black and valued at more than P25,000. This was finished in two and a half months, based on a story and Ifugao culture. He named it "Bangkiki."
The story, Dinundon said, is a secret for now. This made it more valuable and harder to part with. But he must. This he humbly sold to Lapid for P8,000 with the hope of being granted the favor of having the viewdeck dream for the club.
The P8,000 he used to pay PTA for the registration fee of P300 for each of the 17 racers because with hard life, even this amount is hard to come by. With this they raced with will and hopes.
The just-concluded race showed the world the ingenuity of these simple people, an art borne out of tradition and necessity to continue and blossom as a valuable art and livelihood. Ifugao is living to its name as a land of wood carvers and sculptors, making masterpieces of imaginative and soulful arts.
For more Philippine news [2], visit Sun.Star Iloilo [2].
(October 2, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here. [3]
Baguio Feature
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source URL: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/ifugao-wooden-scooter-pinoy-ingenuity-centerstage
Links:
[1] http://www.sunstar.com.ph/specials/mincries/index.php
[2] http://www.sunstar.com.ph/iloilo
[3] http://www.sunstar.com.ph/feedback/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ifugao wooden scooter: Pinoy ingenuity at centerstage
A TRIBUTE to Filipino ingenuity is the theme of the first wooden scooter race staged apart from other festivities in Banaue, Ifugao.
In the past it was an integral activity of the annual Banaue Imbayah, something that wowed and fascinated the crowd.
What's your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers [1]
In April of 2008 however, these group of men fabricating the wooden scooters and joining races decided to form a group and called it Banaue Rice Terraces Wooden Scooters Organization, headed by president Vicente Dinundon Jr., a 2006 graduate of BS Agriculture of the Benguet State University.
Now 25 years old, he is back home in Banaue to live and continue the tradition of home-based business and "scootering."
The story of the wooden scooter is a tale on its own, too.
These mobile contraptions were once created to serve a need. The men-folk were having a difficult time going to and from their homes to their muyongs up the mountains, often bringing home firewood and crops tended up there. It would often take them hours to walk the distance and carry the load.
This then gave birth to the first scooter. They would push it up the hills and work for the day. Firewood would be strapped along both sides of the scooter and other goods tied at the back.
The ride back home would then be a breeze.
These scooters are fashioned out of wood, minimizing the use of nails. Through time the simple device to ferry firewood and tubers soon became art, their designs and styles becoming more intricate and complicated.
Like the swirling horses on a carnival carousel, today's scooters come in a wonderful array of designs -- horses, tigers, Indian heads, eagles, bululs, anything which catches the fancy of its creator, and most often the birthing of one creation comes with a story.
That makes it the more interesting and valuable.
The forming of the Banaue Rice Terraces Wooden Scooters Organization (BRTWSO) was armed with a concept of showcasing their art. They made a proposition to have their club be registered with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which they may also use for livelihood.
With the help of Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA), the first staging of the independent scooter race happened in a two-day activity, to boost the practice. The activity went well after two postponements and they hope it will survive the times.
For now what they need is a "viewdeck," to serve as a showroom of scooters where they can manufacture, assemble and show off their pieces. They are on the process of wooing good-hearted sponsors to help them on this cause, one of which is Gov. Mark Lapid, the incumbent governor of Pampanga.
Vincent Dinundon fashioned and extraordinary scooter out of hardwood, with a Mohawk head in front just above the handlebars. The scooter body is a horse, the mane flying in the wind, all this coated in handsome black and valued at more than P25,000. This was finished in two and a half months, based on a story and Ifugao culture. He named it "Bangkiki."
The story, Dinundon said, is a secret for now. This made it more valuable and harder to part with. But he must. This he humbly sold to Lapid for P8,000 with the hope of being granted the favor of having the viewdeck dream for the club.
The P8,000 he used to pay PTA for the registration fee of P300 for each of the 17 racers because with hard life, even this amount is hard to come by. With this they raced with will and hopes.
The just-concluded race showed the world the ingenuity of these simple people, an art borne out of tradition and necessity to continue and blossom as a valuable art and livelihood. Ifugao is living to its name as a land of wood carvers and sculptors, making masterpieces of imaginative and soulful arts.
For more Philippine news [2], visit Sun.Star Iloilo [2].
(October 2, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here. [3]
Baguio Feature
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source URL: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/ifugao-wooden-scooter-pinoy-ingenuity-centerstage
Links:
[1] http://www.sunstar.com.ph/specials/mincries/index.php
[2] http://www.sunstar.com.ph/iloilo
[3] http://www.sunstar.com.ph/feedback/
Sunday, November 2, 2008
rogel marzan2
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Farmers gear up for organic agri congress
"BE HEALTHY, Go Organic" goes the theme of the second Cordillera Organic Agriculture Congress slated this 15th and 16th of February at the Benguet State University (BSU).
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Farmers and entrepreneurs who will be participating in the congress will hear expert advises, researches, success stories as well as keynote speeches form invited guest speakers and lecturers.
Freda Gawisan, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Baguio-Benguet caretaker, expressed optimism that the second congress will entice more
farmers to go organic as more and more consumers are becoming health conscious.
As an added activity, congress participants will have a chance to observe and interact with farmers engaged in organic farming. The organic farms to be visited are the Cosmic Farm, Garden of Life and the BSU organic farm all located in nearby La Trinidad. The fourth organic farm to be visited is the Enca Farm in Tublay, Benguet.
BSU President Rogelio Colting will be giving a situationer on organic agriculture in the Cordillera on the first day of the congress and Rogel
Marzan of Cosmic Farm will give a talk on starting and managing an organic farm.
A topic on the harmful effects of pesticide will be given by Dr. Charles Cheng of the Filipino-Chinese Hospital and Professor Evangeline Cungihan and Dr. Ma. Klondy Dagupen of BSU will present a paper on the economics of organic farming cases.
The two-day congress, Gawisan said, will also present the programs of various government offices and a plenary session on waste management and
organic agriculture.
After the guided tour to the various organic farms on the second day, parallel sessions on organic vegetable production and marketing, a demonstration on rapid composting and preparation of organic fertilizers and pesticides will be discussed by various experts.
Herbal medicine specialist Precy Acoba will also show how to prepare herbs that are nutritious and medicinal to participants.
To cap the two-day congress, Gawisan added that a Cordillera agriculture road map will be presented to the participants to encourage and challenge them to venture into organic farming. Gawisan also noted that the congress is being supported by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Tourism, Department of Trade and Industry, the Benguet Chamber of Commerce, the Province of Benguet, municipality of La Trinidad, Organic Farmers Associations, Cooperative Bank of Benguet and the only organic university in the country, the BSU. (Art Tibaldo)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos.
Farmers gear up for organic agri congress
"BE HEALTHY, Go Organic" goes the theme of the second Cordillera Organic Agriculture Congress slated this 15th and 16th of February at the Benguet State University (BSU).
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Farmers and entrepreneurs who will be participating in the congress will hear expert advises, researches, success stories as well as keynote speeches form invited guest speakers and lecturers.
Freda Gawisan, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Baguio-Benguet caretaker, expressed optimism that the second congress will entice more
farmers to go organic as more and more consumers are becoming health conscious.
As an added activity, congress participants will have a chance to observe and interact with farmers engaged in organic farming. The organic farms to be visited are the Cosmic Farm, Garden of Life and the BSU organic farm all located in nearby La Trinidad. The fourth organic farm to be visited is the Enca Farm in Tublay, Benguet.
BSU President Rogelio Colting will be giving a situationer on organic agriculture in the Cordillera on the first day of the congress and Rogel
Marzan of Cosmic Farm will give a talk on starting and managing an organic farm.
A topic on the harmful effects of pesticide will be given by Dr. Charles Cheng of the Filipino-Chinese Hospital and Professor Evangeline Cungihan and Dr. Ma. Klondy Dagupen of BSU will present a paper on the economics of organic farming cases.
The two-day congress, Gawisan said, will also present the programs of various government offices and a plenary session on waste management and
organic agriculture.
After the guided tour to the various organic farms on the second day, parallel sessions on organic vegetable production and marketing, a demonstration on rapid composting and preparation of organic fertilizers and pesticides will be discussed by various experts.
Herbal medicine specialist Precy Acoba will also show how to prepare herbs that are nutritious and medicinal to participants.
To cap the two-day congress, Gawisan added that a Cordillera agriculture road map will be presented to the participants to encourage and challenge them to venture into organic farming. Gawisan also noted that the congress is being supported by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Tourism, Department of Trade and Industry, the Benguet Chamber of Commerce, the Province of Benguet, municipality of La Trinidad, Organic Farmers Associations, Cooperative Bank of Benguet and the only organic university in the country, the BSU. (Art Tibaldo)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos.
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