Malaban East Elementary needs your help!

A few days after KaEskwela decided to wrap up its relief operations for the year, we got another urgent plea for help from Binan, Laguna. This time, the request came from Malaban East Elementary School, a smaller school situated near our previous beneficiary, Malaban Elementary School.

Here is an excerpt from their letter to us (translated from Filipino):photos by Principal Rowena Ramos

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Due to floods brought about by the typhoon, the residents of Dulong Ilaya in Malaban had to leave their homes and temporarily take shelter at the Malaban East Elementary School.

This forced us to find a place where we can hold classes. By the grace of God, the Lakeview Baptist Church opened their doors to our students.

We started holding classes there on Oct. 12.

Even though the place is too crowded and hot, the children continue to attend school. They come, even though most of them have to go barefoot and have no schoolbags, pencils or paper. Most have few clothes left to wear, and are in dire need of hygiene items such as toothbrushes, face towels, soaps and other necessities.

Since their parents cannot provide them with school supplies, most of our students scavenge in garbage dumps for things they can sell, or carry heavy goods in the local market. They also use the small amount they earn to buy additional food every day. These working children frequently miss their classes.

Most of the parents of our students are tricycle drivers. Their livelihood is on hold as the streets are still flooded. Even small fishpens were destroyed by strong winds.

We are just starting to rebuild our lives. We hope to find people with kind hearts who can help address our students' needs.

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KaEskwela and Malaban East Elementary School need your help. Donations in cash or in kind will go a long way for these people who have lost almost everything they have.

If you wish to help, please email kaeskwelavolunteers @yahoo.com or text 0917-5363224. We hope to be able to bring donations to these children by Dec. 6.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends, or repost in your blogs or FaceBook/ Multiply accounts.

Let's Vote for Efren!

There are only a few days left before the poll closes on November 19! Let's all vote to show our support for our hero, Efren Peñaflorida :)

"Efren Peñaflorida, 28, was bullied by gangs in high school. Today, he offers Filipino youth an alternative to gang membership through education. Vote now for the CNN Hero of the Year"

-CNN website

Two Weekends in Tagaytay (part 1)

I accompanied my mom on a client call to Tagaytay a couple of months ago. We were there to deliver and install paintings. It's really amazing how artworks can change the look of your home :)

We headed to the T House right after for more installations and of course lunch! It was my first time to visit this lovely bed and breakfast and I was not disappointed. The place looks really nice and peaceful. Just perfect if you need to relax and recharge! Lunch was great too. We had the tuna citrus salad, clam & anchovy pasta and vegetable lasagna. Yum :)

Support Dementia and win $15

Let's all support Dementia by joining her birthday contest :) The rules are very simple - all you have to do is blog/tweet/follow! More details at her blog. Yay! Join na :)

Orange Chair

"There are approximately 60,000 hairs per square inch on the back of a cat and about 120,000 per square inch on its underside." - taken from The Cat's Meow

I am really thankful that I have no Asthma or allergy to fur because our chair has been officially "Nuggefied!" I was a bit surprised to see this much fur... I mean, the seat is almost orange! I had to peel the lint roller 8 times to remove all the fur :)

look at that fur! I didn't notice it until I pulled "nugget's chair" out. They are usually tucked under the dining table.It was me!please don't clean my chair yetand I'm out of here.

Meow is tired.

This has got to be the longest and most tiring week of the year for me. Aside from juggling 4 online jobs that have rush projects (but I am very thankful!), I am also busy helping the KaEskwela team prepare for our mission to Malaban Elementary school tomorrow. Actually, I don't think I will be sleeping tonight because meet up is at 6am and I still have a lot of work to finish. I'm not complaining though. I mean, physically I am very tired right now but I am too happy thinking about all the wonderful acts of kindness that we have been receiving to concentrate on that. I just hope that things go well tomorrow! *fingers crossed*

Happy Halloween!

No candies and costumes this year for us but here is a Halloween photo of Nugget (he was still thin here!) taken 3 years ago. We decided that he was going to be our pumpkin so we stuck black felt paper on his back. He wasn't too pleased with the idea so the whole pumpkin look only lasted for a few minutes :) haha!