Happy Christmas!
Its the season of giving again. Every year, for 20 years, I was still a kid then, my Mom would organize a simple Christmas Party in our community. As we grow older, we slowly had our own roles in organizing this simple event to celebrate Christmas. From planning, marketing, facilitating, hosting and cleaning up after the event. Here are some raw photos I found:
(Last year, we were able to afford a tarpauline already. HAHA)
The community has been used to this every Christmas that more and more people contributes in any way they can so we can have this little get together every 25th day of December.
The kids who were once playing the parlor games are now helping out in organizing and facilitating this event. Soon, they will become adults and do their part in the community, and this simple tradition will become sustained even if we will no longer be here.
Since, I am confident that some have already pledged for the Christmas Party in our village. I decided to redirect the fund that was supposedly allocated for them. I've been thinking of a new beneficiary for this year's gift giving.
Last month, I attended a tree planting acitivity organized by a group of physicians. During the program, the Indigenous People called the Mamanwa were invited to present their tribal dance.
After the dance, they interviewed the current chieftain of the tribe.
Then they handed some food packs and gifts to them.
After the event, I got a chance to talk to some of the members of their tribe. As we were on our way home, I kept thinking about this whole experience, and told myself I'm definitely going to meet them again.
I went home and did some research about the Mamanwa Tribe, and I found this documentary on Youtube:
It was very informative. Please spare some time to watch the video.
Here are some of the screenshots of the most remarkable part of that documentary:
(Credits to the owner of the video)
Rice is a luxury to them. Mostly, they only have root crops to help them survive the day. They depend on farming, hunting, and making some things out of indigenous materials. They probably earn about $40 to $60 in a month, and that covers more or less 5 people. But before they could earn that amount, they need to spend days in the forest to hunt or look for the materials they needed. They have to walk and walk for hours just to get to a place where they could sell their products. There are nights where they have to share few pieces of cassava just to fill their empty stomachs because they can't afford to buy rice. Tough life.
This Christmas, we can make their day different. A day where they can take a break from all those hardwork, enjoy a nice meal and receive some simple gifts.
I was able to get a masterlist from the wife of the chieftain. There are 15 kids who are less than 10 years old, 10 of them are between 11-20, and 13 are 21 years old and above. Total of 38 members of the Mamanwa Tribe who are residing in Brgy. Kagbana.
If we would budget a $2 worth of meal per head, its gonna be $76 (3,800Php). We will also distribute a $3 worth of food packs to each of them and that would be $114 (5,700 Php), that makes it a total of $190 or about 9,500 Php. If we could collect more fund this would mean that we will have extra budget for candies, school supplies, toys and clothes perhaps.
For now, I am looking for 38 people who can pledge for a $2 worth meal. And 38 people who can pledge for $3 worth food packs. I know this is not the best time to raise fund here in Steemit as crypto prices is really low but there's really no harm in trying.
There are so many ways you can help this project. If you have spare clothes that you no longer use, I'm sure the tribe would be very happy to accept them. You may also donate some old toys, or anything that could just be in your storage for a long time now, that you think are still useable gifts. You may contact me on how we can arrange the shipment.
Few weeks ago, I received @bluesapphire06's donation which contains watches and crayons for the kids.
I was also able to receive donations and support for the Charity Lottery Game in my @randomkindness account. Thank you for backing up this project.
No amount is big or small. Each of your help contributes to turning this plan into a reality. I believe, together we can make things happen.
Tentative date for the activity would be on the last week of December or as soon as we gather all the fund needed.
We are looking for 76 generous people who would pledge for the meals and food packs. Help me tag those that you think would be glad to be a part of this project. For Steem or SBD, please send it to @randomkindness account and write in the Memo: Mamanwa Tribe. Again, your resteem helps a lot.
Thank you for your support and let's keep making a difference. =)
Project No. 1 : Baktas Oplan Tsinelas ( Intro Post )