Femme Power

Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

For my late grandma Felisa, who loved us all dearly.  She was our guide, our strength, our shelter.  I love you, Lola!

Better Days by Dianne Reeves

Still reeling from the wounds left by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng last year, here comes another threat to us as announced by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) - a series of strong typhoons to hit us in the coming months.

Some of our neighbors stranded on the roof of a 1-story house during the onslaught of Typhoon Ondoy last year. (Marikina City, Philippines)

Yesterday, classes in pre-school and kindergarten were suspended here in Metro Manila as Super-Typhoon Juan was expected to make a landfall within the day. However, the elementary school nearby decided to send the kids home when only a few teachers and students showed up.  After all, this entire neighborhood has learned so much from the Ondoy tragedy last year when murky flood water submerged houses and families were painfully separated from each other as they scampered away to safety.   There was this kid who sought refuge in our apartment while his mom waddled off to a nearby school, his dad was at work, and his sister’s whereabouts were unsure.  They were all separated by a torrent of murky water that rose so fast, it engulfed their 1-story house across the street in so little time. Looking out from our roof deck, we couldn’t anymore see the roof of the kid’s house. What else could be more frightening to a 10-year old boy than this?

Last night while I was at work, I could clearly hear the roaring thunder and the incessant pounding of the heavy rain.  It’s been raining for more than 14 hours now since last night.  But thank God, until now as I write, the streets are clear of flood water, at least not the type that I’ve seen last Sept. 26, 2009 during the onslaught of Ondoy.

News reports now say that Super-Typhoon Juan is weakening and is on its way out to the South China Sea.  Be that as it may, reports say that it damaged more than P1 billion worth of properties especially agricultural products in Northern Luzon and claimed at least four lives.  It may be a far cry from Ondoy which claimed more than 300 lives and damaged as much as P11 billion in agriculture and infrastructure. But it’s just one of the five typhoons that PAGASA warned us about until December of this year.  Four more to go. Please, not another Ondoy tragedy.

Not all nursing scrubs are created equal.  Yes, others are simply far more comfortable, pretty, and more flattering than some of their kind.  After all, gone are the days when nurse uniforms were dull and stiff.

Nurses, being busy professionals, can’t afford to jeopardize comfort to survive the daily grind and it doubles the challenge to remain lovely in uniform.  Not that they have to, but feeling good about oneself does a million wonders.  A happy nurse infects a happy patient.  Wearing a scrub that makes you feel confident about your shape begets more self-esteem and a happy feeling.  Plus the pretty colors would now hide ugly stains that are easily spotted in white uniforms, so that’s one less worry on the side.  So where to find these scrubs?

Whether you’re a nurse or simply the type who fancies nursing scrubs due to their comfortable fit and attractive colors, check out Blue Sky Scrubs online.  There you’ll find scrub clothing that will compliment your shape and color.  It’s a one-stop shop for nursing uniforms, scrub hats and accessories with dainty prints, and medical coats plus they offer free shipping on orders worth $155.  See their website (click above links) for more information.

They toil for many hours making fish hooks only to earn as little as P80-P300 a week.  Yet they don’t complain.  In fact, small projects like that put food on their table to which they’re grateful about.  After all, in a society where there are hardly any job opportunities for people like them who “walk” around in wheelchairs, it’s far better to grab any decent task that come along.  They are Persons with Disabilities (PWD), sheltered in Tahanang Walang Hagdanan in Cainta, Rizal.

Aditya Birla Minacs (the company I’m proud to work for), in its effort to reach out to these people in need, visited the charitable institution last Sept. 25 to hand over two brand

One of the two wheelchairs we donated. Received by the recipient, Ronelyn Calumpiano (center), together with ate Mely Tapiru, OIC on welfare.

new wheelchairs donated by its two accounts, Multiplan and Onstar.  Recipients of the donations were a 21-year old young woman who is new to Tahanan and a 55-year old man, the oldest resident in the center.  Spearheaded by Minacs’ HR Department, representatives from the two accounts took time to see the shelter sprawled in a well maintained 4-hectare property leased for free by the Archdiocese of Manila and Antipolo. Tahanan has several work shops for various crafts, classrooms, a wide laundry room, a display shop for their handicrafts, and clean quarters housing 5-6 residents in each room.

Holistic programs

Tahanang Walang Hagdanan not only provides shelter and employment opportunities to physically handicapped individuals but they also have programs and services for holistic development of their physical, mental, economic, social and spiritual well-being. Among these are medical assistance, rehabilitation, vocational training and employment, educational program, mobility aid assistance, small loan program and many others.

Products

Along the long corridors of the shelter, some of their products were neatly stacked up like armchairs and wood products like novelty items, educational toys, and kitchen ware. There were also silk screens for printing of T-shirt and bag designs. Inside one of their work shops were two long tables where handicapped workers assembled export-quality fish hooks which they sell for only P1.30 per pack to a contractor. Each pack contains 10 fish hooks, each meticulously crafted by expert hands.  They’re also sub-contracting in garments and packaging services.

Work opportunities

According to Mely Tapiru, the shelter’s OIC in welfare, they have 270 workers with physical disabilities and over 100 workers without disabilities. That means that the shelter knows no boundaries in providing equal work opportunities to skilled individuals, be they handicapped or not.

Tahanan’s plight

With so many mouths to feed and so many needs to attend to, the shelter is struggling to keep its head above water.  Sometimes, the shelter’s expenses are bigger than the income.  But among the things they mostly need are toiletries and food to get by on days when they get hardly any projects.

Having taken a walk down Tahanan’s corridors and witnessing the residents’ lives there was probably one of the longest walk I ever had. Long in a sense that I realized a lot of things in the few minutes that I was there.  Those few minutes were long enough for me to realize that I have so much to be thankful for and to appreciate the things that I have. Most importantly, to realize that I have so much more to give.

You must have heard it or seen the show itself but I couldn’t help but echo what millions of people around the world are now talking about — the American Idol Season Finale 2010 which proclaimed Lee Dewyze, a former paint salesman from Illinois, as the winner over early favorite Crystal Bowersox.

But honestly it wasn’t the contestants that glued me to the finale but the bevy of music legends that performed especially the BeeGees.  I was lying in bed, ready to sleep because I was dead tired from that night’s shift when I heard  Siobhan Magnus and Aaron Kelly singing “How Deep Is Your Love.”  I didn’t bother to move a muscle but then I started hearing familiar voices — the BeeGees!  Could it really be them?  I turned around to see the TV which was over my head and all I could mutter was “Whoah!”

You might think I’m that old, LOL, but I’m a huge fan of great artists from the past and that includes the BeeGees.  If you happened to miss that part of the show, here’s the video courtesy of YouTube:

You’ve surely heard it a gazillion times over that men are from Mars, women are from Venus.  They just can’t think along the same wavelength sometimes and that often results to misunderstanding and friction in the relationship.  I myself, in my desperate effort to understand men’s psyche, end up throwing this cosmic question out into the void: “Can we ever fully understand why men behave the way they do and why women detest a lot of it?”

In my persistent quest for a believable answer, I found this very engaging, very funny yet sensible video on YouTube by Mark Gungor.  This video is part of a 4 DVD seminar called “Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage.”  Gungor, a Sr. Pastor of Celebration Church, infuses both truth and humor in conducting his marriage seminars.

Watch this hilarious video and laugh your heart out but in the end, you’ll be surprised you’re enlightened.

Saturdays and Sundays are my favorite days of the week. It’s when I get to chill out and listen to my favorite tunes in YouTube like this one from Chris Rice - When Did You Fall. Enjoy your weekend, peeps!