No child should be poor

Yesterday morning, hurrying to get a ride to a meeting, I came across a little girl about to enter our village gate. She was clad in dirty t-shirt and shorts, and was barefoot. I am one who can never accept that a child should be in such condition. I stopped her and asked why she had no slippers, as if i didn't know why. She told me she was eight and didn't go to school. Knowing that we kept some small slippers at home for such kids, I told her to go to our house, a few blocks away, to look for my mom or my brother who can give her a pair. I scribbled on a piece of paper our home address and a note to my brother about the slippers. I asked the little girl if she could read or remember the number i wrote. She said yes. But she didn't go to our home, I learned later. 

For how long still should children be poor in clothes, food, shelter, and education? For how long still should children--and their present and future--be victims of poverty? I hope not for long. 

So long, Rustan's Superstore Cubao!!!

Rustan's Superstore Cubao (Quezon City, PH) was the in-store way back when, with its huge supermarket, modern interiors, stylish stores, accessible location, and everything else. With the various developments (read: new buildings) ongoing now at the Araneta Center, Rustan's big white structure is a mere fraction of its old self, and its imposing signage has been long gone. Rustan's building has been halved as a start to putting up another of the condos in the area. Short video shows the space (behind the trees) once occupied by Rustan's other half of its building. The remaining half still standing will probably be gone soon, too, as soon as the banks and other small establishments now on site are transferred. I'll miss Rustan's. The same way I'm missing Fiesta Carnival and COD with its animated Christmas display (not the same even if it's in Greenhills now) :) Just have to look back to the memories :)

Kitten cats meow milk :)

These two mother cats (gray and triple color) gave birth at almost the same time. They've been transferring each other's kittens here and there (as in mixing up their kittens). I guess to settle the matter and after getting tired of all that transferring, they finally decided to share a nursery area (a.k.a. our home's doorway), so their combined kittens now have bottomless milk and comfy body beds :)

Happy Women's Month 2013

I wish that all women will be able to exercise their rights, and enjoy all benefits and opportunities on equal footing with men. While many world conferences on women have been held, a number of covenants and agreements on gender equality and promotion have been signed by different nations, and many countries have made great strides in gender equality advocacy and promotion,  sexism still occurs in various levels in society. In some cases, sexism (especially discrimination against women) occurs in small scale (such as in the household level--e.g., delegating housework only to girls and women because it's supposed to be "women's work") that sometimes we tend to dismiss it as nothing else. But when such sexism occurs everyday in many places in different situations and nothing is done about it, eventually all these "little incidents" merge to become large cases and hard-to-reverse sexist and gender-insensitive situations. 

Here's hoping more women and more men will be enlightened enough to end discrimination because of sex. So that every year, the celebration of International Women's Day (March 8) and Women's Month every March will become more and more meaningful and joyous.