Heroes of Dynamic Teen Company

What better way to celebrate Christmas than to give? So, when Cris Bonoan of the Maraming Bayani Foundation said she will be delivering school books to children in Cavite, I volunteered to help and organized a book drive by collecting books and school supplies from friends and colleagues.

The Cavite-site is the Dyanmic Teen Company (DTC) of push-cart educator Efren Penaflorida who was recently bestowed the title of CNN Hero of the Year in November 2009. DTC was founded in 1997 and aims to educate children of the slums as an alternative to gang membership. There are four push-cart kariton classrooms (right photo) which volunteers use to teach literacy, values formation, hygine and first aid.

Efren was being interviewed online by international media and thus, we were met by surprisingly very young heroes - - 17-year Emmanuel Bagual, fondly referred to as Kuya Em is the incumbent president of DTC, a Biblical Servant Leader, a United Nations Advocate for Human Rights and one of the five finalists of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for Children in Europe for his project “Mind Your Rights,” a campaign to educate children and parents on child’s rights.

The second young hero is bright and cheerful, 10-year old Chris Kesz. He is the youngest kariton volunteer and teaches hygiene and first aid. He was apparently found lying on the street, gravely ill abandoned by his mother at a young age.

After talking to the kids and helping out in their preparation for their annual Christmas party, Efren finally came down to meet us. He is very humble and unassuming despite his now celeb status. He still takes public transportation to meetings and events and is always on time. His zeal is infectious as evidenced by his effervescent, passionate volunteers. At the CNN Heroes award he says: "Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, rich and poor, man, woman of different colors, shapes and sizes. We are one great tapestry...Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need...Serve, serve well, serve others above yourself and be happy to serve. As I always tell to my co-volunteers: you are the change that you dream, as I am the change that I dream, and collectively we are the change that this world needs to be."

Reef Forestation Volunteer @ Anvaya Cove

Last Saturday, we trekked down to Morong, Bataan to volunteer in the Reef Forestation project of Anvaya Cove (with Jiggy and Bettina in left photo).
The project involved seeding or transplanting 79 tridachna giga in the resort's house reef at a depth of 10 to 30 feet in the hope of increasing the marine biodiversity in the area.
There were 24 of us who volunteered including WWF-chief Lory Tan, Ayala Land's Jim Ayala, a mix of professionals, a college student and two Grade 10 students.
Tridachna giga is the largest of all the clam species, measuring over 4 feet and weighing 500 lbs. It has a smooth shell, and usually a lime green mantle, with small blue spots. This highly edible and some believe aphrodisiac bivalve mollusk (think - clam chowder!!) almost became extinct in the mid-1980s due to over harvesting. The UP Marine Institute saved the tridacna giga species by establishing a hatchery and culture station in Bolinao, Pangasinan back then and now, it is the home of some 37,000 clams.
The clams were transported at night in iced sea water containers from Bolinao and arrived in the morning where they were left for a few hours, two to three feet underwater to acclimatize. The clams were tagged with the name of the place "ANV" and a number for recording purposes.
We, the volunteers were divided into three groups of eight divers each representing the three micro reef sites. We were tasked to handle the young ones - these are ten 4-5 year old clams, measuring 31-35 centimeters and I swear, weighed a ton underwater! While the husband and wife team, Louie and Chen Mencias of the Bluewater Consultancy handled the ready-to-spawn, mature size, 10-year old breeders.
Louie said during the pre-dive briefing that that having the giant clams together will facilitate reproduction as they are known as “free spawners.” This means,the breeders simultaneously secrete eggs and sperm (gametes) after which “chance encounter” will occur in open water. The breeders can release around 500 million eggs at one time.
I can't wait to go back and check my clams. I guess the success of this project can only be determined only after a year or two.
Here's a clip of Louie explaining our task:


And an underwater music video by Jayvee:

Yoga Body Temple Retreat

I haven't been practicing yoga for quite some time - six months to be exact from bikram and more than a year's break from ashtanga yoga. The best way to ease this tight body back into a daily practice is to take a weekend retreat and the best one so far, is Teresa Herera's Yoga Body Temple Retreat at The Farm in San Benito, Lipa, Batangas.
It was not the usual hectic yoga retreat sked and the venue was just perfect! We had two yoga sessions a day in the 'shala' located right smack in the garden, providing a breathtaking view of the grounds, the man-made lake and Malarayat mountain.
CNNTraveller voted The Farm as one of 6 Environmentally Friendly Hotels in the world. There were birds walking freely around - peacocks and ducks, and birds chirping along with Teresa's playlist. In between the yoga sessions, I was able to squeez- in medical and spa treatments - alternating days of colema and colonics and afternoon massages. And of course, enjoy their surprisingly filling, three-course vegan menu which is 85% raw, 15% cooked and 100% organic. We ordered French organic wine with our dinner and believe it or not, the Alive! restaurant has a range of interesting coconut nectar (tuba) brews such as pina coladas, margaritas, ginger beer or tuba-on-the-rocks.
Our meals were served in conducive settings - breakfast under the 200-400 year old magical mango tree in the garden (right photo shows Teresa enjoying breakfast) and lunch by the south pool. Everything in the farm is organic and homegrown from the food served and the soaps and massage oils used. The Farm has its own organic garden for its herbs and vegetables and since the whole area is surrounded with hectares and hectares of coconuts, they harvest the coconuts to make their own, you name it - butter, milk, juice, water, infused coconut oils, crackers, soap and cold-processed virgin coconut oil (bottled as Oil of Life).
As usual, I didn't finish my reading list. How could I with the relaxing treatments in-between the yoga sessions plus the long three-five course meals. I brought Adbobo Magazine's year ender issue and two books - Yehuda Berg's latest The Power to Change Everything which was launched last November 9 in Los Angeles and George Friedmans' latest The Next 100 Years. I thought I would finish Yehuda and then start Freidman... but ended finishing Chiqui's book insteadThe Man Who Ate the World by brit-Top Chef Masters Jay Rayner.

Here's our Yoga Retreat sked:
Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
12:00nn Check in @ The Farm
1:00-2:00pm LUNCH
5:00-7:30pm Opening / Prana Vinyasa Flow (lunar)
7:30-9:30pm DINNER
Friday, Nov 27, 2009
6:30-7:00am Sunrise Meditation
7:00-8:30am Prana Vinyasa Flow (solar)
9:00 BREAKFAST
12:00-1:00pm LUNCH
4:00pm-5:30pm Lunar practice: Meditation / Satsang / Journal Writing
7:30pm-9:30pm DINNER
Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009
6:30-7:00am Sunrise Meditation
7:00-8:30am Prana Vinyasa Flow (lunar)
9:00 BREAKFAST
12:00-1:00pm LUNCH
5:30-7:00pm Yoga Trance Dance (solar/high energy)
7:30-9:30pm DINNER
Sunday, Nov 29, 2009
6:30-7:00am Sunrise Meditation
7:00-8:30am Prana Vinyasa Flow (lunar) / Closing Ceremony
9:00 am BREAKFAST
12:00nn Check Out
This is indeed the best way to start the holidays and the new year, going inward through yoga and nature and cleansing the body. For the next yoga retreat and other wellness packages, check out Travel Club Philippines.

Comic artist James Jean in Manila

I confess! I admit I am an anime fan since the Japanese-manga series Akira came out and fan of DC comic manga-like seriesFables. So, when I heard that James Jean, the cover artist of "Fables" was in Manila, I trekked to Fully Booked to catch him. And man, was I lucky (you can see the smile on my face, left photo). I got the last Fables:Covers hardbound book featuring a collection of all his covers - 75 single issues and 11 wraparounds. The book is published by DC Comics in 2008.
James Jean is one of those rare few as Fables-creator Bill Willingham described him in the afterword as an "overnight successes". He got his first job illustrating the Fables cover right out of Art School in October 2001, a month after 9-11. He is a Taiwanese-american who graduated from New York City's School of Visual Arts in 2001 and has since then won seven Eisner Awards (the Oscars equivalent for the comics industry). He is a sought after designer, illustrator and his clients include , Rolling Stone, ESPN, Atlantic Records.. and would you believe Prada. Yup, Prada. He designed Prada's spring line collection in 2008 - including the Fairies bag collection.
Check out James Jeans' blog for his latest products and here's James Jean signing my book: