Children in the Philippines Risk Their Lives in Underwater Gold Mines, Report Says

Study by a rights group says children are working "absolutely terrifying conditions"

“Thousands” of children in the Philippines are working in dangerous underwater gold mines that could collapse without notice, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The organization released a report on Wednesday documenting the stories of 65 of these child miners, some as young as 9 years old, who have suffered adverse health effects from their work in the mines. HRW said that it had also interviewed local officials, health workers, mining experts and community leaders.

Many of the children HRW spoke to said they descended into deep, watery pits to find gold, then later processed the precious metal with mercury, a poisonous metal that causes muscle spasms, back pain and skin irritation.

“Filipino children are working in absolutely terrifying conditions in small-scale gold mines,” Juliane Kippenberg, associate children’s-rights director at HRW and author of the report, says in a statement to TIME. “The Philippine government prohibits dangerous child labor, but has done very little to enforce the law.”

While children can work underwater for long periods, receiving air from a tube hooked up to an air compressor above the surface, fears of drowning are rampant.

In 2014 a 17-year-old miner and his adult brother died of asphyxiation deep in a mining pit.

“Sometimes you have to make it up fast, especially if you have no air in your hose,” a 16-year-old miner told HRW, explaining that if miners come up too fast they get the bends. “It’s a normal thing. It’s happened to me,” he said.

The practice happens because many gold deposits in the Philippine are found under the water table, requiring the sinking of submerged pits, some 10 m deep, for their extraction.

According to HRW, roughly 200,000 to 300,000 miners work in gold mines in the Philippines, which is the world’s 20th largest gold producer. In 2014 the country’s mines produced 18 tons of gold at a value of more than $700 million.

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Source: http://time.com/

NumberWorks’nWords Tutorial with Little Lights 9 of 12

On our 9th session, let us welcome some volunteers from Morocco, Indonesia, and Malaysia through AIESEC (a non-political, independent, not-for-profit organization run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher education. Its members are interested in world issues, leadership, and management.). All of our volunteer Ates and Kuya were very excited to become tutors of Math and English lessons to 16 kids of The Little Lights Ministry!

While waiting for the children to arrive, I asked the volunteers to prepare a lesson plan for English so they can actively participate in the learning experience of the children that day. At first, the volunteers were very quiet but as soon as the kids entered the room, the Ates and Kuya were all happy greeting the them “Hi! Hello! I’m Ate.. I’m Kuya.. Are you excited to learn?”

The 16 kiddos on the other hand were so attentive to their new tutors! Although the volunteers can’t speak in Filipino, it was still an engaging session beacause the kids can understand and speak basic English. Having English conversations with their Ates and Kuya also practiced their mastery of the language!

What did the children learned this day?
During our earlier sessions, all of the kids were answering the same Math problems, just different in difficulty level. But on our 9th tutorial, new lessons were introduced like Decimals and Partitioning. Some of them were still mastering their Multiplication Table, others were learning about the new lessons, and few were advanced to Problem Solving already!

To keep the children interested and motivated to learn, the volunteers prepared games while teaching English for the second part. They played Hangman, a paper and pencil guessing game! There was a mini contest too: Name as many countries they know in English! It was indeed a super fun learning experience for the kids!

Tutoring has meaning beyond the act of tutoring. Seeing the look on children’s faces when they can correctly answer the different problems through your help is priceless. Along with the help you will provide for the kids, you will also provide them with many smiles, as they for you.

Collect many smiles with us at U! Happy Events! You can join our last session on Sept. 30 at NumberWorks ’N Words, 2nd floor, Fox Square Building, Connecticut Street, Greenhills, San Juan City. :)

Wing Walk for Children with Cancer UK - 12 September 2015

Carmel Lucas, who lives near to me in Wroxham, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia last year at the age of 4.  She spent a month at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge undergoing intense chemotherapy and is still coping with a two year course of the treatment.  Despite this, she has decided to help others with the disease and is making and selling loom bands to raise money for Children with Cancer UK.  She also helps to look after her 3 younger siblings and never fails to amaze her parents with her courage and determination.  Even when she’s in pain, she has a smile that can light up the room. She is truly inspirational and I would like to donate money to Children with Cancer UK on her behalf.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving Page.  Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

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Source: https://www.justgiving.com/

NumberWorks’nWords Tutorial with Little Lights 8 of 12

Math and English skills learned at an early age can serve as the stepping stone for future education. Super thanks to our partner, Number Works ‘N Words for offering fun-filled Math and English activities to 16 kids of The Little Lights Ministry! :)

On our 8th happy session, the children have practiced the following concepts:

Multiplication and Division – Learning multiplication facts up to 10 x 10
Fractions – Change an improper fraction to a mixed number and vice versa
Spelling – Familiarizing with “Letter Patterns” such as “sh”, “-tion”, etc.
Reading Skills – Learning about the Phonics lessons

As one of their tutors that day, I have observed that some kids who were struggling in English were great in Math, while others were better in Spelling/Reading compared to Numbers, but there were those kids who were excellent in both! As the sessions progress, the tutors are then able to continually assess the children’s ability based upon their development in each lesson. As a result, the kids will get the right lessons at the right time, with extra attention in their weaker topics. NumberWorksN’Words and U! Happy Events are working together to identify their unique learning needs and ensure that these needs are addressed.

Help the children of Little Lights reach their true potential and prepare them for success in school by joining us at NumberWorksN’Words, 2nd floor, Fox Square Building, Connecticut Street, Greenhills, San Juan City. :)

Uruguay’s Humble President Offers to House 100 Syrian Refugee Children

Since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, over 2 million Syrians have been displaced from their homes and forced to migrate to other areas.

Most refugees fled to Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. Others flocked to cities like Germany and Hungary, hoping to find a safe haven and a new lease on life.

President José “Pepe” Mujica is somewhat of a celebrity to those efforting towards peace. He is well-known as the VW Beetle driving, sandal-wearing, farm-living “poorest president in the world,” as he donates money to charity.

He also lives in a one-bedroom home – even though a recent report indicates his assets to be well into the six-figure range.

At present, both Germany and Brazil have granted immigration visas to Syrian refugees, 10,000 from the former and 2,000 from the latter. Surely more nations will follow suit in the future, as these people have no home to return to.

The United States Pales in Comparison

As World Mic reports, out of the estimated 2.3 million Syrian refugees displaced, the United States has only admitted 31 into the country – and that was in 2013. Perhaps even worse, although 135,000 Syrians had applied for asylum by January 2015, most applications were rejected because of strict immigration laws instituted to prevent terrorists from entering the country.

The Obama administration did announce in February 2014 it would ease up some of the immigration restrictions, and will exempt Syrian refugees “on a case-by-case basis to the ‘material support’ bar in U.S. immigration law,” reported Reuters.

Either way, there are millions of opinions on the issue and no one easy solution. At least President Mujica is exampling to the world the type of leaders we – individually and collective – can attract and vote into office.

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Source: http://www.thecollectiveint.com/

JCI Princess Urduja’s Musicare

JCI Princess Urduja spearheaded Short Hair, We Care campaign. It’s worthwhile advocacy of gathering hair and raising awareness on Alopecia culminated last August 29 in an event dubbed Musicare. It was an afternoon to evening acoustic session paired with quiz night. Six artists participated and performed their best songs for a cause. These were Rita Martinez, Sabu, Ramiru Mataro, Adi Sebastian, Jam Pestano and Alopecia founder, Abby Asistio.

There was also a Cut to Care, Hair to Share: Mass Hair Cutting Session at Greenfield Showroom accross Splice where Musicare was held. JCI Princess Urduja and U! Happy Events gathered even more people to have free haircut as long as they give at least 10 inches of their hair. This happened from 3 to 7pm.

Splice Resto Bar was packed with avid supporters mostly from other JCI clubs in Metro Manila. Some of the core team members and guests of U! Happy Events were also present.

Other partners for Short Hair, We Care include Nuvohair, Lynelle Salon, Reyes Haircutters, Technoholics and Props. The proceeds goes to patients battling Alopecia. It is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system attack’s the person’s hair follicles.

A Kid and His Fairy Godfather — Discovering World Vision Philippines

Hitting 30 years old they say is a gift — as society no longer considers you a kid, neither do they treat you as an “adult” adult. The gift is in finding yourself partially “in between”: growing up and coming into terms with maturity.

While most of my friends are getting married and/or are having babies, at this age, I feel I have to do something that is more appropriate, or if I must say — more satisfying, fulfilling and worthwhile.

I consider myself different in many ways, which loosely translates to the fact that I won’t have a kid of my own. I choose not to. It’s true and I’m not sad about it. They always say I can adopt, but I have personally decided to not be obliged. As Jennifer Lopez puts it in American Idol, “It’s a no for me.”

It’s not that I hate kids — in fact, I am in love with them. I love being surrounded by children. And it’s always good to feel and act like a nurturing kuya (big brother).

I’ll be turning 30 in September and have been mentally jotting down my new adult goals/bucket list which includes: traveling to an off-the-beaten path like Istanbul and Cappadocia, learning a new sport, speaking a new language, reading 30 books in a year, and organizing a charity event for children.

I just wanted to do something out-of-the-box as I turn another year older.

And then this happened…

I woke up one day with a sudden great urge to help a kid. And so I did a quick web search how I can possibly join local organizations, how to volunteer for a weekend or how to come up with a mini-event/party to give gifts or feed children in a province of some sort.

While Googling, my eyes stumbled upon World Vision, the world largest institutional children’s charity, and got struck by their catchphrase — “Sponsor a Child Now.” Like winning the jackpot in a lottery, I excitedly mumbled to myself: this is what I’m looking for.

I’ve heard about this program and their Philippine arm before but paid little attention. Maybe I wasn’t ready then yet.

With the objective of helping children (and consequently his/her family and community) through education scholarships, World Vision’s child sponsorships have been around for many years now. Their list of child sponsors even include celebrities and famous personalities which is a testament that — 1) World Vision is a reliable institution; 2) your “investments” really go to the children and their communities; 3) there are still thousands of people with generous hearts.

What’s interesting is that you only get to spend PHP600.00 (SGD18.00) per month. That’s like skipping just a single restaurant brunch on a weekend while your “investments” on the child’s future on the other hand go a long, long way!

The Process

In their website, you have the option to choose a specific town you can help. Every page refresh, you’ll see different profiles of kids you can potentially sponsor.

I knew I wanted to help a little girl.

As a daughter, sister, mother and a leader, I see the big potential girls can contribute to the society (not that I’m undermining the capabilities of boys as they have their own strengths too).

Meet six-year-old Jillian Karylle

I adore her smile and innocent, sweet-looking face. When I saw Jillian’s photo, I jumped from my chair and exclaimed, I want to help this kid — she looks like someone I can be proud of one day!

I immediately clicked the “Sponsor Now” button and keyed in the payment for the sponsorship fees. It was great that I also had the option whether to pay via bank transfers or credit cards.

What Happens After

I immediately received a confirmation email from World Vision right after I made the first payment. The payments will continue until you personally decide to stop your sponsorship and may also take a halt due to other reasons concerning the child.

Within a week, I also received the profile of my sponsored child, a sponsorship handbook which details the path I will take until my kid graduates from high school or college. I was also given a chance to write my first letter to her. As I’m overseas, I wasn’t able to write a handwritten one and relied on email instead. I wrote my letter in very casual Filipino so that she can easily understand it and won’t feel intimidated. I also attached a smiling photo of myself so she can picture who I was.

Praises for the World Vision staff as well (special mention to Berna Sotero – Online Marketing Associate) as they were very proactive in replying back and emailing me regarding the status of my sponsorship.

Life Journey with Jillian

As I write this blog post, I still haven’t yet received any feedback from Jillian’s family. They say it takes about a month or so before I’ll be able to receive a reply letter from them. I hope she’s happy with her new Kuya.

I’ve read in the sponsorship handbook that I can also personally visit Jillian and her family if I want to. I might actually do that in December in time for Christmas.

Like an excited parent, I also look forward to receiving her annual school reports to see where she is at with her studies.

It’s scary to think that somewhere in Batangas, a kid’s life is partially dependent on you.

What will happen if I suddenly quit my ties from her? And if I stop my monthly sponsorship? I may not care at all.

But just thinking that, maybe, a kid and her family already looks up to you as their main source of inspiration for a sense of future. This shakes me back to my senses. I have already started this — and anything I started, I should finish.

As I turn older, maybe it’s just wise to own up to another responsibility in life — with the promise of creating a beautiful vision and future for a little child.

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Source: http://www.randomrepublika.com/