Learning for Living

As part of the work I do for my family's foundation I took a trip recently to visit two of the projects that we have been funding. One of them I've taken a personal interest in and it's one that we have been giving money too for the last five years. In fact, for my birthday about 3 years ago I actually spent it there with the kids and had friends and colleagues donate what they wanted to the kids and a clown act donated their services to entertain the kids for the day. There was food and some toys and of course money that was given that day and since then I've been getting regular reports of the progress and status of the Living for Learning Foundation. Last week when I went I was happy to see that the overall environment was still very clean and that the children were all very well-groomed, clean and eating a healthy diet. Patricia MacAuliffe, a Canadian lady who has been in charge of the foundation for many years makes sure that their diets consist mainly of vegetables and fish while meat and fast food are kept to a strict minimum-which is rare for most filipino diets.

She reported that they have been increasing their enrollment and are getting more and more children by the year and now the foundation is sadly lacking in funds. They do get donations but because of the growth in their classrooms they are going to have to make a hard choice of turning away kids, or even parents ( who attend vocational seminars to have a sustainable livelihood) or even worse, cut down their much needed staff (teachers, caretakers etc) When I asked her for a breakdown she said that they need a minimum of Php 2M a year in order to just stay afloat. If they could get more than that in a year then they could add more vocational programs for the parents ( mostly the mothers) and perhaps have more food for the feeding program or even teachers. This broke my heart because they currently have Nursery, Kindergarten and Prep classes, plus they try and have a sustainable 'Alumni Kids Program' for the older kids who can no longer participate in the classes-and without additional funds they will have to pare down many things. Living Learning doesn't make any profit for itself it just stays afloat from year to year. Right now they are taking care of about 200 children, and are hoping to still be able to maintain that or increase it ( with more funding in the coming years).

To give a quick breakdown, to keep ONE kid in school costs Php 10,000 a YEAR which is Php 833 a month! So this blog is a quick shout out to anyone and everyone who would like to make slight difference in a kid's ( and his or her parent's) life. Plus, you can be sure that you will get regular reports of where your money is going ( I have decided to donate a minimum amount on a monthly basis) as Learning for Living can issue receipts and you can always go and visit the facility in San Jose, Rodriguez in Rizal.

Donations can be made via their peso account: Living for Learning Foundation Inc. BPI Family Bank, acct # 5843-1609-31 or through their dollar account BPI Family Bank # 687-400-5191. I know everyone must have their own charities of choice but this is a chance to also contribute to the growth of a small community month after month so giving is a consistent regular thing, rather than just giving and forgetting. I do hope that even spreading the word about this program to other interested parties will help, as money is something that they are in dire need of for the near and far off future.

Learning for Living Foundation is located at the Tipanan Hose, Camia St. San Jose, Rodriguez, Rizal, Philippines. their email is learningforlivingph@yahoo.ca and tel. 948-4415.

A Road with A View

(published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer Nov. 17, 2007)

Text and photos by Katrina A. Holigores


It was almost like a rite of passage. An escapade up north that started in the dead of night. The end point was Baguio, one day before the end of February three years ago. My professional career had hit a speed bump and I was dating a guy who could best be described as a dead end. Going nowhere it seemed, I was then asked by an indie-hero to come along to shoot a “roadtrip” travelshow. The invitation was like a kiss from an angel, and at a red-eyed hour we set off for the NLEX and up, up and away we drove to the city of Pines. The plan was to cover the floral festival known as Panagbenga, but before that, indie-hero intimated, he wanted to show me a road he had discovered. It looked deserted and abandoned at ungodly hours but was traffic jammed virtually impassable as soon as the sun came up. “You have to see it right before the sun rises, it’s magnificent.” Having been nursed on National Geographic fodder I held my breath and kept my cynicism inside my camera bag. Four, five, six hours passed and I was amazed that the darkness did not intimidate our driver as I couldn’t even make out a single street sign. It was an endless black snake of asphalt but eventually we came to a clearing and all traces of sleepiness left me in a single breath-which was just as quickly taken away by what I saw. It was as if the skies were smoldering, rich with the colors of rising flames and framed against thick white smoke. For the next ten minutes all we could do was watch in silent awe as the sun slowly waded through the clouds as if coming out of a rich foamy bath. Once sunlight streamed in from all directions, the glamour of the surroundings disappeared and the road was revealed as nothing extraordinary, just a means to get from one end to the other and so we continued on our journey. I look back on that trip as a turning point in my life. Soon after, my career shifted gears and I found a detour out of Mr. Dead End. Funny, all this from an unremarkable road with an unforgettable view.