Pasabog before Christmas

We received a basket just before Christmas. It wasn’t a Christmas basket, although it certainly felt like Christmas when we opened it.

It was a basket given by a soon-to-be-married couple to my husband, who they had asked to be their ninong or principal sponsor.

I was floored by the contents: a kilo of grapes, a bunch of bananas, four apples, four oranges, one dozen of plain suman, one dozen of suman sa lihiya, two big round pieces of kalamay, two containers of leche flan and a bottle of wine. The basket was also accompanied by one big chocolate cake.

Fueling dreams in Iligan

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/12/28/fueling-dreams-in-iligan-/

So human

Quite recently, I was at Landmark in Makati, killing time while waiting for hubby to wrap up work at the office.

He was later than expected so I found my way to the food court where I thought I’d answer hunger pangs and rest my tired feet.

I chose a table beside the pathway and opposite a man who had one leg propped up on the chair across him. He had some packages on the table and soon enough, the wife comes and brings him some food. They must have been in their mid-50s.

Be a good volunteer at a repacking center

Some thoughts on how we can better maximize the time and effort we put into volunteering our services for the benefit of those affected by Typhoon Yolanda:

PLEASE don’t be a diva. A woman who had also signed up for the 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift became impatient at 7 a.m. when only a few of us had been called into the repacking center to start work. She assumed that we would be called according to registration. She drew some looks when in an arrogant and loud manner, she asked a DSWD worker whether he was aware of what “number” it already was because she was aware that she and her companions were in the numbers 1-20. Kudos to the DSWD worker for dealing with her very patiently even if he looked like he had worked through the night.

A mom at a youth congress

Students today are so lucky. They have access to so many learning opportunities outside the classroom - virtually through the Web and via face-to-face academic gatherings like the 3rd Shell Sustainable Development (SD) Youth Congress last September 28.

The Shell SD Youth Congress is a one-day forum conducted by Shell companies in the Philippines in partnership with the Center for Research and Communication of the University of Asia and the Pacific (CRC-UA&P).