Amazing Women: Teresita L. Silva

It’s in the Genes – the Legacy Lives on

Teresita L. Silva - Keeping Children Off the Streets

Ma’am Silva, as she is fondly called by her staff, has been exposed to social work since she was that high! Her mother, Felicidad Alvarez of the Alvarez clan of Roxas City, Capiz, was the first professional social worker with a master’s degree in the Philippines. The degree is from the Catholic University in the United States. Ms. Silva herself took advanced post graduate pre-doctoral courses at the Columbia University School of Social Work. Her master’s degree in social work is from the National Catholic School of Social Work.

Tagging along with her mom to the various church-based social work commitments, Ms. Silva developed an affinity for working with the less privileged sector of society. Seeing how her mom’s work helped the communities where she devoted time and effort, Ms. Silva observed how community organizing alleviated family economic conditions and imbibed the humanitarian and compassionate nature of her mom. Seeing the need for income opportunities for developing communities, Ms. Silva, in her own time, and through her own foundations, developed programs and services to help families keep their children off the streets.

Ms. Silva has three foundations, interrelated and held together by the belief that children should be kept safe and protected at all times. These are all non-stock service foundations that bring together government agencies, NGOs and community volunteers to promote social and economic development in depressed areas of Districts 5 & 6 of Manila through community-based services. The family, especially the mothers, are given opportunities to augment the family income so they will not need to send the children to beg in the streets.

Child Hope Asia Philippines Foundation focuses on street children. These children are taught skills for life, values and through the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System Program with its accredited modules and programs reaches out to street children and teaches them basic education. At present, Child Hope is in 20 areas in Districts 5 & 6 of Manila and has more than 300 street children in attendance. There are success stories here and Ms. Silva is proud to introduce her children who have become teachers and coordinators themselves.

The Tahanan Sta. Luisa Crisis Intervention Center Foundation concerns itself with street girls and sexually abused girls. The programs are geared towards psycho-social activities which help these girls.

The Families and Children for Empowerment and Development Foundation, Inc. (FCED) ties together the three programs held dear by Ms. Silva who believes that when the family is strong and is economically stable, the children grow in an atmosphere conducive to learning and becoming a useful and responsible member of society.

The Foundations’ main mission is to provide opportunities for the education, skills training & increased income of children, youth and their families. In this endeavor, Gifts and Graces is a major help in bringing the products of the mothers to a bigger market and a wider clientele base.

These Foundations are close to Ms. Silva’s heart and has been her life project. Her staff and many volunteers look up to her for guidance and inspiration. As one volunteer, a former streetchild who benefited from the Foundation and now a Doctor of Medicine says, “Ms. Silva inspires us with her passion and dedication to the welfare of the children and their family”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Families_and_Children_for_Empowerment_and_Development

Amazing Women: Celerina Zabala

 From Nomads to Community – the Quest of the Holy Spirit

Sister Celerina Zabala - Missionary Sister of the Servants of the Holy Spirit

35 years ago, in 1974, the Missionary Sisters of the Servants of the Holy Spirit arrived in Sitio Paitan, Naujan, (a town very near Calapan), Oriental, Mindoro, to spread the Good News and the love of Jesus Christ to the Alangan Mangyans of the sitio.

Sister Magdalena Laykamm pioneered the evangelization and community building. She stayed and lived with the Mangyan community, learned their language, their culture, their way of life. She planted the seed which encouraged the natives to stay and build a community. The sisters were assisted in their missionary work by the SVD priests, particularly Father Edwald Dinter.

Other sisters came and left their mark in the process of community building. Sister Victricia Pascasio was a main player in their struggle for the registration of their land as their ancestral domain.

Little by little, the community grew – from a few families coming to the mission to now more than a hundred families coming together as one community. The Mission has established a school which teaches academic subjects from the Mangayan perspective.

Sister Celerina reminisces :“Hindi naman kaagad agad kami welcome ng Alangan Mangyans. Many of them ran away when we first came, went further up the mountain and refused to have anything to do with us. But the sisters persevered and now, much improvement can be seen in health, sanitation, economic endeavors, especially in education. The death rate caused by ignorance and dirty surroundings has gone down”

Sister Celerina observes “the Mangyans have stopped the kaingin and have learned to harness their culture to produce the distinctive black and white woven products. Unfortunately, they do not have a written language and when the elders pass away, there will be no one to remember. Maybe that will be the next project of the Mission”.

“The wives/mothers will be tapped to spearhead this project. The women of Alangan Mangyan are strong and serve as partners in any family endeavor. They are the bearers of tradition and culture. They teach the crafts, bring in extra income for the family through the products they derive from the farm, forests and the environment around them and, most important, the women keep the family intact. They are the homemakers”.

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Sister Celerina visits the mission twice a month – to ensure that the women continue their homemaking duties and responsibilities. To facilitate the marketing of the Alangan Mangyan products, the Mission links with agencies such as Gifts and Graces which bring their products to the attention of the market. “Gifts and Graces is a big help to the Mission because not only does it market our products but also assists us in product quality control”.

These days, Sister Celerina is kept busy by her mission work with the women of Alangan Mangyan and by the “little” store the Mission has set up at 48 Valley Road, Q. C. (02 7270324) where the products of their communities are proudly displayed and sold. Sister Celerina truly is on a mission for her beloved Alangan Mangyans.

Amazing Women: Haydee Panhilason

Sharing Knowledge and Skills to Generate Wealth

Haydee Panhilason – “Gusto ko pag umangat, sama-sama”

“I come from a poor family where everyone had to do his/her share of work to ensure that the family survives. With this background, I endeavored to learn what I could, when I could and where I could”.

"I come from Negros (Occidental) where the main source of livelihood is to be a sacada worker. I am lucky because the owners of the hacienda where my family served are good and had the welfare of their workers at heart. They sent me to school”. So reveals Haydee Panhilason about her youth.

Given this background, Haydee took advantage of opportunities to learn, learn, learn. She attended seminars, training programs, asked people how things are done – she was not afraid to let people know she hungered for knowledge. What she learned, she shared - her knowledge and her skills. Soon, she was tapped to be a trainor’s trainer. Haydee underwent training to be a trainor and at present, she is on call at the Technology Learning and Resource Center as a professional trainor. On her own, Haydee has trained a group of women who could take her place when the need arises.

Haydee enjoys what she does – bringing opportunities to people, especially mothers, to earn and augment the family income. She has taught mothers in her neighborhood the art of sewing and the discipline of good work. “Kailangan maayos ang trabajo kasi pagpaulit-ulit, waste yon ng time and resources. When I first approached the mothers here, they were not doing anything productive so I told them I will teach them skills so they will earn something. They were willing to do that because I provide the raw materials and their finished product, I buy. Every group I approach, I give at least one month to show me that they are serious about what they are doing. If after a month and I see that they do not have the interest, I go to another group”. Haydee proudly shows off the products of her seminars and training of the mothers in the neighborhood. She has a display store in Payatas, Quezon City where people can buy products of her small communities.

Haydee has gone beyond training of communities. While she still does training, she has also formed a group of trained trainors. Her group of trainors go around the country giving seminars, training sessions during the times that Haydee cannot go herself. She is quite happy that on their own, these women trainors are earning incomes which augment their family income. While she has nothing against men trainors, she finds women trainors more receptive to the needs of the communities and more patient in dealing with them.

When first linked with Gifts and Graces, she told her communities to do their best because they are linked with G & G which will bring their products to SM. “Imagine sa Kultura idedisplay ang work ninyo, kaya pag-igihan ninyo. Hindi lahat ng communities may pagkakataong madiplay ang produkto sa Kultura. For that, I am grateful to Gifts and Graces”.

As Haydee looks back to her experiences and life as a trainor, Haydee looks forward to going back to her roots in Victorias, Negros Occidental where she believes her skills and knowledge are needed. As her way of giving back to the community where she was nurtured as a child, she will bring the opportunity for a better life to her community. She no longer has pressing concerns in Manila since she has fulfilled her obligations to her family – her children being of age and have now stable jobs; her husband readily supportive of her plans. Her success in bringing livelihood opportunities to others has brought fulfillment to her heart. As she says, “What makes my job worthwhile is being a major part of their (the communities she has trained) overall success”.

“Gusto ko kasi, pag umangat, sama-sama (ang lahat)”.

- Gifts & Graces is proud to bring you the first of five inspiring stories showcasing our women leaders. 

National Women's Month: Amazing Women Exhibit

As part of National Women's Month, Gifts & Graces in conjuction with SM Supermalls' SM Cares program is holding a month long exhibit celebrating the stories of 5 women leaders from our community partners. The women include Cielo Bueno of the Kaakbay Entre-workers Cooperative, Sr. Celerina of The Holy Spirit, Haydee Panhilason of Heidie's Crafts, Mel Nuqui of DAWN and FCED President Ms. Teresita Silva; all highly inspirational women that are helping to change lives through their organisations.

The exhibit entitled, "Amazing Women: Women On a Mission to Empower and Nurture," launched yesterday at SM Southmall (to coincide with International Women's Day) and will run until Friday March 16. On 19 March the exhibit will move to SM Megamall for one week until 23 March. Finally the exhibit will be at SM Mall of Asia from 26 March until 31 March.

Highlights of the exhibit include inspirational talks given by the women leaders, demonstrations of fabric weaving and bag making, craft activities as well as an Expression Wall where you can leave your special message for the important women in your life. Do come and support G&G at this special event, you can even purchase your favorite G&G products at the exhibit's bazaar.

We will also be posting the stories of our women leaders right here on our blog throughout the month.

V-day awww inspiring cheesy lines

For this season of hearts, G&G put up a special window display.

On our other window we wrote cheesy pick up lines and our neighbors in Mile Long joined in on the fun. The best ones win a special prize.

Here are a few of the ones we like:

Dalawang beses lang kita mamahalin: now and forever -tim 118

Hindi ka naman camera pero sa tuwing nakikita kita napapangiti ako -marlyn

Sabi nila what you see is what you get. Eh paano ba yan nakita na kita e d akin ka na -niki
 
Here are some from our friends on Facebook

Bagyo ka ba? kasi the moment you left my heart was in a state of calamity - Danie

Aren’t you tired? cos you’ve been running through my head all day. :) - Ponce

and from Vincent - “Pwede mo ba akong samahan?” “Saan?” “..habambuhay..” ;)

Finally, not an entry but from a photo in SUBTLEtumbles: If you were ice cream you would be my favorite flavor. 

And from the sea of love blog: By the way, I'm wearing the smile you gave me.


Sweet stuff! Give your loved one a special G&G gift and maybe one of these cheesy lines!

Happy V-day!