When some middle aged adults begin to experience that their lives are not the way they wanted it to be and they have little time to change it, when they are on the verge of perhaps a midlife crisis, how does one gets his biggest break at 40 years old?

And when he does get it, how does one process fame, (fortune!) and glory coming from very humble beginnings, from surviving as a struggling musician singing covers of other people’s hits and now to becoming a bona fide international rock star performing beside legendary and iconic band as a front man?! How? Try being Arnel Pineda!

His is a story that could have been taken out of a Charles Dickens novel and as Arnel Pineda himself admits in a GQ interview: “My life is a fairy tale. But I’m awake, and I’m dreaming it.” His is a story of perseverance, hope and never stop believing in yourself! His is a true inspirational story of the 21st century not only for aspiring musicians but for everyone who dreams of making it.
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I’ve been seeing the campaign for weeks, calling all bloggers to unite for acts of kindness to do offline and blogging about it thru words, pictures or videos. Today, December 17th is the day to tell the world about the good deed done.

I wanted to be a part of it but I wasn’t sure until late last week that I was joining because I didn’t know what to do. For sure I wanted it to be something meaningful yet something I’ve never done before. I attended a Christmas party last weekend and I met someone who belonged to a Filipino non-profit organization here in Massachusetts, Bagong Kulturang Pinoy, Inc. whose main mission is to spread children literacy through books in poverty-stricken areas in the Philippines. Their slogan is: Helping Filipino children read their way out of poverty. The history of the organization is inspiring. It spurred from a simple idea of one person wanting to give something back to her community in the Philippines. From putting up one mini-library, now 10 years later it is supporting 100 libraries (still says 90 on the website) and counting- with 80,000 books sent out each year benefiting thousands of kids who eventually become habitual readers.

I got into real good talking with her and showed my interest about the program. We exchanged contact information and told her that I’m willing to volunteer anytime they need a hand. I got an email on Monday asking me if I wanted to come for Saturday, December 15 to help out. I didn’t think twice and said yes right away! I drove for an hour to get to the place, in the cold Saturday and with snow from the days before. I get to the place and spent a very good afternoon with very nice people whom I was meeting for the first time. They took me like a friend and I helped stamping out each book (labeling that it came from here), sorting them out and placing them in the famous, distinctly Filipino Balikbayan boxes (care package).

Having had ‘training’ in stuffing just about anything to put in my own Balikbayan boxes I sent out each year for my family back home, they commented how good my packing was making sure every inch of space is utilized and not an air left to breathe inside the boxes. They said I was able to put the books that could have gone in three boxes to fit into one! That was an exaggeration I think but I was pleased they were happy with my work.

We finished packing 8 huge boxes containing hundreds of books by the time we were done! The books are going to 6 different mini-libraries in the Philippines and I can imagine how excited the kids will be once they see the various selections we’ve included on the boxes. This is the kind of thing one would find fulfilling because you can actually see the work in action. You know that every book you donate and ship, kids back home will read and treasure the opportunity because having books in depressed areas in the Philippines is a luxury. It doesn’t come by very often.

I went home with an utterly light feeling and with a smile on my face! It feels so good when you’re doing an act of kindness especially if it’s something not planned and sort of just happened. I never knew such a Filipino organization existed here in Massachusetts. Now, I am hooked! I am going to continue volunteering for this great mission and I promised to visit one of their mini-libraries in the Philippines on my vacation in early 2008 so I could report on its progress. This has truly been an opener. I have been helping in my own little way to give something back to my home country and I just added another one that truly is making a difference in the lives of children in the Philippines. What a way to start my holiday, volunteering and spreading the good cheers around!

Note: I encourage you to visit the Bagong Kulturang Pinoy website to learn more about the organization. Just reading through the different programs and how they’re impacting the lives of poor kids in the Philippines is amazing. Perhaps you may even find it uplifting to share some books or make financial contributions. Help is always needed in whatever form. © 2007

HAVE YOU GOOGLED “FILIPINA” LATELY? The internet over the years has become the most powerful source of information- more than books, other print media, tv and library. It gives limitless knowledge to the point of overloading one with too much data. As such, it gives access to any unimaginable topic, issue, news, anything at your fingertips. It can also mar reputations, make you want to throw up on the sick sites you accidentally come across, ruin companies, destroy lives.

Anybody can go to any search engines to search for anything one can possibly think of. Type a word, phrase, even a question and though won’t guarantee you will find what you’re looking for, it will supply however countless websites (by the hundreds of thousands of links) more than enough to divert your attention and focus on the searches found instead.

Imagine my surprise when I typed Filipina and or Pinay in google! I found some objectionable listings there. Go see for yourselves. Even this paid google ads in adsense on Filipinas is quite annoying! But BIG Thanks to the aggressive and massive campaign of concerned Filipinas, they were able to bring their own websites and other relevant, informative, responsible, refined sites on page one of google, yahoo, msn, ask jeeves among others. It wasn’t the case 2 years ago as I further probed, when the very word Filipina or Pinay would give out totally shameless views of what a Filipina is based on the websites available at that time. Filipinas were merely porn material, flirts, sexy, horny, and mail-order-brides- just for fun, dating and amusement!

I’m joining the concerned netizens and I would like to declare, assert, proclaim that I am a Filipina and proud to be one. If you are a proud Filipina, I urge you to make some noise in the internet. If you are a Filipina wherever part of the world you are, you can do something by being responsible with your actions online. Portray a decent image of yourself because what you do affects the entire Filipinas! True, the world wide web has no barriers, freedom of speech is highly tolerated here hence you can’t censor a website. This is not an issue of censorship or morality, it is providing a balanced look of certain issues- in this case being a Filipina.

Imagine you met someone who never met a Filipina before and doesn’t know anything about our country. He/she finds you interesting and would like to know more, goes online to see what’s out there. Heck, he/she won’t search for Philippines- won’t probably even remember the word let alone spell it. He’d/she’d search for Filipina; types it on google and the first 20 results links him/her to Filipina porn sites, Filipina mail-order brides, Filipina singles, Filipina flirts, hot and sexy Filipina. What do you think that person would conclude about you and Filipinas in general?!

It’s sad enough that we had to deal and we’re still dealing with Filipina representation in the world as domestic helpers, lazy bums and thieves. Being pictured as merely for fun and pleasure is unacceptable! Let opportunistic people who prey on helpless Filipinas by operating porn and Filipina trafficking come, we can’t stop them. BUT you can do something about it. By reading this blog, you already are. Step a little further by clicking on the links I’ve provided here, join forums, make comments, start your own blog (and link them to other Philippine websites such as this) talking not necessarily just about the Philippines and being a Filipina but by speaking your mind on personal issues that matter to you. In so doing, we project a Filipina definition that we are not only beautiful people but are decent, thinking individuals as well!

By having as many websites written by Filipinas and spreading it around, making as many hits or clicks as possible to the websites- we make sure that the search engines are unprejudiced in presenting all available websites about Filipinas and that the internet does not only belong to those who can pay to advertise their (monkey) business! Be proud of your heritage. Spread the word.

Updated on November 2007:

GABRIELA

The Filipina Writing Project

Filipina Images

Filipna Women’s Network

Macalua.com

Filipinos on Wikepedia

Filipina: Isa ring Ina (A mother too)

Duyan

Filipino Librarian

Filipina is a Filipino Woman

Filipina Pride

Ang Mga Filipina ng Buhay ko

The Filipina in the Eyes of the World

Three Things You Probably Do Not Know About a Filipina

What is a Filipina?

If you know any other “clean” Filipina websites or about the Philippines/Pinays in general, kindly post them here so we can continue passing the word out!©