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Anticipation!
Our house helper has been cooking bangus since about 8 o’clock this morning. It’s now 7:10 pm. She’s still frying and mom has now began wrapping all the yummy milkfish in cling wrap, ready to be given away with the rest of our presents for the kids.
The fair is tomorrow, and while I am still busy getting all the last details together, my heart is bursting with excitement and love for the 100 children we will spend time with tomorrow.
We are far from ready to retire to bed. Things must yet be packed, wrapped, printed and cut. My head aches a little from all the second-hand cooking heat that fills the dining and kitchen area here at home (where I too have set up my workspace since the morning), but I keep daydreaming into tomorrow.
Another Buhay Makulay fair, not just another Saturday in my summer. Happy happy sigh.
Now enjoy this throwback from the fair in 2008, when I came as the clown! Hahaha!
Less Stuff, More Stillness
100 pieces of bangus (milkfish) are happily chilling in our freezer. They’ve been cleaned and marinated, now awaiting their Friday frying before they are given out to 100 children at our fifth annual Buhay Makulay Children’s Fair at San Lazaro Hospital!
I spent most of my first week back in Manila getting things ready for the fair. A LOT of shopping was in order. Though shopping in general gives me quite a helping of happiness, shopping for the fairs is never, never, never just a single, comfortable shopping trip. There is much haggling, sweating, walking, waiting and discomfort involved. Mom and I do this together every year (she does most of the haggling).
One of my favorite parts of the shopping trips is buying the toys that we give away as prizes. Every year we’ve found a better place to shop for these toys. This year, my mom brought me to a shop in Divisoria that she discovered while shopping for toys for a program she is running for the children at church. Each toy only cost P7.50!!! (P.7.50 is equal to maybe about 14 US cents.) The more expensive toys were P15. We bought about 800 toys or more to give away as prizes at the fishing and catapult booths at the upcoming fairs. Though they may be really simple toys, we are sure they will bring the kids much joy.
I think it was two year ago, during the PJM fair in 2009 that we felt we were giving away too many prizes. It was not that we wanted to stop giving away things, because we’ve increased our gifts since then, but it was the feeling that the kids were beginning to leave the fair with so much stuff, when what truly mattered more to them was the joy they carried home with them to share. Almost every booth that year gave a new toy or gift, which was great, but that wasn’t what our children’s fairs are about. We’re not about giving away stuff, we’re about giving love.
So last year we pared down the fair a bit, aiming to have each activity be more meaningful to the children. We hoped for each child to walk away with more than just physical presents, but to leave with a little more love, a little more light in their lives. We introduced more activities that would allow the children to interact with each other and with our volunteers. Still, at the end of the PJM fair in 2010, we left feeling that the kids still needed more of our time, our attention and time to be still, even in the middle of the busy morning. Many of these children have needed to take on adult challenges, so it is a gift to allow them to be themselves, granting them the freedom to be at peace, to play, and to be loved.
At this upcoming PJM fair this Saturday, we’ve shaved off even more booths. We’re only having five stations at the fair and increasing each group’s size to twenty kids. This will allow us to work within the same time frame (one short morning!!), but with more time for each station - almost forty minutes! (Year’s ago, I think we alloted only twenty minutes for each station.) Hopefully this will allow the kids not to feel rushed, as they often do, and instead enjoy each activity to the fullest. There are quite a few additions to this year’s PJM fair, in response to last year’s feedback and we hope that they will prove to be good developments. I’m excited to see!
The kids we encounter at the fair don’t have much, they don’t come from households like yours or mine, households filled with clutter that we think we need. So it is wonderful to be able to gift them with luxuries, like toys! But it gives them even greater happiness, when they get to take home with them things they need, things we take for granted - such as rice, fish, real spoons and forks, pails, cups, a box of crayons, a fish ready to be shared at the dinner table (a development from last year, and my dad’s lovely idea), and even a pair of socks and sneakers! How far a little bit of money goes when we are shopping for the children of our fairs!
In Just a Couple of Weeks
I’ve barely had a chance to get my bearings after arriving back home, and we are deep into the preparations for the Buhay Makulay Childrens Fairs of 2011! What a great thing to come home to! I’m still stunned with the fact that this is the FIFTH year we are hosting the fairs. The FIFTH!
We are still looking for volunteers and sponsors for this year’s fairs. Our fifth annual fair will be held on the 23rd of July at the San Lazaro Hospital, with the children of the Precious Jewels Ministry. Our second fair will be held at Nayon ng Kabataan on July 30th. The orientation for both fairs will be held this Saturday, July 17th. Come volunteer if you love kids, and even if you don’t! There are so many ways you can help! If you’re interested in sponsoring a child, it only costs P500!
Tomorrow, my mom and I are going on the annual shopping trip to Divisoria and its surrounding shopping destinations, to get lots of prizes and toys, among other things. Exciting! :)
<3 Tanya
What exactly are the 12 Gifts of Christmas this year?
Here are the 12 Gifts, described in more detail:
1. Booster Fund
For nutritional enhancement and therapeutic benefits; infection treatment and prophylaxis for HIV/AIDS patients.
2. Research Fund
To support ongoing research about HIV/AIDS.
3. Livelihood Fund
To help provide means for skill building and/or capital for a small business.
4. Laboratory Assistance
To provide assistance for families needing tests for AIDS- related conditions.
5. Transportation Assistance
To assist families living with HIV/AIDS as they travel to and from the hospital.
6. Burial Assistance
For families who lost a member to HIV/AIDS.
7. Ang Tulay
A journey with children in grief. Funds will help provide materials, supplies, food and transportation for this program.
8. Library on Wheels
A library for the Children’s Ward Book carts, children’s books and magazines.
9. Arts & Crafts
For materials and supplies to provide creative outlets and learning opportunities for children
10. Educational Toys & Tools
Puzzles and toys for the children at the Pediatric Ward of Sentrong Musmos.
11. Children’s Fair & Youth Workshop
To help fund these Buhay Makulay programs that provide channels of hope and love.
12. Support Fund
For the caregivers of the Precious Jewels Ministry that work closely with the families and communities.
The 12 Gifts of Christmas 2010
Though Christmas day has come and gone, the spirit of giving has not yet come to rest!
The Buhay Makulay Children’s Project Inc. is still in the middle of its yuletide fundraiser - the 12 Gifts of Christmas! This year, all proceeds will benefit families living with HIV/AIDS in the Philippines.
It’s not too late to make a contribution! For a minimum donation of P300, you receive a commemorative 12 Gifts t-shirt! We also need donations of children’s books, educational tools and toys.
If you are in the Philippines, monetary donations may be given via direct deposit:
Checking a/c no. 0041-0339-24; Account name: Buhay Makulay Children’s Project, Inc. BPI Greenbelt Cinema Branch
Checks and other donations may also be dropped off at the Union Church of Manila on the corner of Legaspi & Rada Sts. Legaspi Village, Makati. Checks should be addressed to, and donations labeled: Buhay Makulay Children’s Project Inc.
If you are outside the Philippines, all monetary donations may be processed through paypal via our website: www.buhaymakulay.org
Kicking Off the 12 Gifts of Christmas 2010!
The Buhay Makulay Children’s Project Inc. began the 12 Gifts of Christmas tradition in 2009, responding to the needs of Ondoy flood victims.
This year, Buhay Makulay would like to invite you to come alongside families living with HIV/AIDS. We are gathering funds for various forms of help to meet specific and pressing needs.
During this Christmas season and in the year to follow, your donation will bring hope, love and care to a family or community affected by HIV/AIDS.
Stay tuned for more information and updates!
Seasons Such as These
Ever since we started the Buhay Makulay Children’s Fair, the months of July and August have always been highlights of my year. Being home and with family is a big part of this, but what really makes this time special for me is the work that I am able to do with Buhay Makulay. Though these months are part of my summer break from school, every summer has been filled to the brim with Buhay Makulay.
This year’s season of Children’s Fairs was certainly a standout year for me. It was a season of blessing after blessing, provision after provision. Where we had nothing, God poured out everything. I have so many anecdotes I would love to share about how God breathed life, love and grace into all our plans and problems. Though I may never get around to sharing all of them with you, it is through these encounters of God’s blessing that I am drawn ever closer to His spirit and His love for the children.
My spirit thrives in the weeks leading to the Children’s Fairs (or any Buhay Makulay event for that matter) because I become consumed by the cause, in both active and passive moments. And in being consumed, I find myself right at the feet of Jesus; for I am nothing, my plans are nothing, my hopes are nothing without Him. Every day and every task requires prayer, dependence on God and belief in miracles.
It is when I am working my hardest with Buhay Makulay that I feel closest to the heart of God Himself. And when that season of work is over, though I have been worn out physically or mentally, my soul is renewed and longs for nothing more than to be working on what’s next. At the end of each project, God leaves me overwhelmed, breathless and so deeply touched by His hand.
(The first, third and fourth photos were all taken by me (Tanya) at the fair on July 31, 2010. The second photo was taken by my sister, Janina, at the fair on July 24, 2010.)
I do not know yet where and how to beginning reflecting on our two recent Children’s Fairs. I have been overwhelmed by the experience, and have yet to find the time to sit and tell you about all the different and beautiful pieces that made it the experience it was. So I will start with a photograph.
This is a photograph of a new friend named Ben and a boy, after our Children’s Fair at Nayon ng Kabataan. July 24, 2010.
