Blogging to Help Others: February 2008

Monday, February 11, 2008

Blogging for Bunso Francen

Francen Kane Tuazon needs therapy for her eyes. She was born cross-eyed. The therapy is 4k ($98.20) per month for five months. All she needs is a little help from some kind soul out there to get her past this disability so she can live a normal life. Talking about a gift that keeps giving! Help this girl out now and she will be forever grateful that somebody cared enough to really do something. We are talking about a $500 investment in someone who deserves the chance to see straight. Please help Bunso Francen out. Contact me at larriji@gmail.com for more details.

Seeking anyone to help us get this child eye therapy. Send a dollar to help!

Blogging for baby Ashley Nicole

When I recruited Jhen for WSU she was working online in the Cybersex sweatshops and she was only 15. She is now struggling to survive free of the sex industry. Two years later and Jhen is now a mother of beautfiful Ashley Nicole. Jhen's husband works in the construction business and as a welder but work is very sporadic. Baby will not take natural milk from the mother so formula is needed. This is a serious issue in the Philippines. Formula is exrememly costly and many babies will not take natural milk. (is this a trend? what's the reason for this one must wonder). We are trying to find a sponsor or one time donations to help baby Ashley Nicole get some formula. Please paypal to wsu_phi@yahoo.com and put Ashley Nicole Fund in the comments. Any questions email me at larriji@gmail.com many thanks and God bless. L

Pictured here is Bunso Jhen, proud new mother of Ashley Nicole and up and coming Director for World Sisters United in the Philippines.

Please give a dollar to help baby Ashley!

Blogging for Bunso Lita

Bunso Lita was one of the first World Sisters United recruits that I made. She hails from the Island of Samar in the Philippines. Lita was raised in a family of fishermen working the waters around Samar Island using a traditonal outrigger boat. Her father passed away a couple of years ago after a years of poor health. This led to hard times for Lita and her family. I paid for a Sari Sari shop for Lita's family and that has helped provide them with a steady income but it's not enough. Lita's older brother (pictured below by the boat) has been trying to raise the money to buy another boat after loosing the first one to hard times. So we are trying to raise the money here for a new boat. They found this boat (below) for sale for 10k php (US$245.70 @ 2/11/08 exchange rate). This boat will provide the family with all their income needs. This is not a lot of money to make such a difference. Please help out Lita and her family now. Even a dollar helps!

STILL NEED US$245.70 to help Bunso Lita buy this boat for her family!

Please give a dollar to help Bunso Lita!

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Bunso Jessa's family needs a house

Bunso Jessa is one of World Sisters United up and coming Directors. She lives in a squatters village in Manila. One that was hit very hard by the big typhoon a year ago where many lost their houses or roofs. This squatters village is very near and dear to my heart. We have three WSU directors from there and whenever I visit this place I get nothing but amazing hospitality and great times from the people living there. The picture above shows the WSU crew with tripods and camera cases all walking into this squatters incampment. Bunso Jessa is looking back waiting for me, because the cat walk you see goes on for half the length of a football field and I usually have near-death experiences when I traverse it because the boards are so rickety and the bog you have to walk over looks like it could easily contain toxic death waste water. Although I'm told it's just sewage run-off mixed with basic watershedding.

It's hard to believe this squatters village is in the middle of such a large urban area as Manila. When you get past the vast series of moats surrounding the village you could be on some removed island anywhere. Jessa's family lives in a house that is exremely small for ten people. I paid for them to build a small eatery that is next to their house. The eatery is typical construction for the Philippines, poured concrete floor, concrete cinder block walls and corrugated tin roof. The total cost of the construction for the small eatery (10' x 8') was us$750. But their house is in dire need of construction so we are trying to raise the funds to build one. Their current house is one very small room with a small sleeping space you climb up in to. The wall pictured below (behind where the family stands) is the only legitimate wall of the makeshift building and it's actually just the wall of the neighboring house. The rest of the house is just cobbled together with scrap material and bamboo. It has dirt floors and water runs through the floor when it rains. (which it does a lot in Manila). The last typhoon completely ripped off the roof leaving the family without housing for some time. (the eatery wasn't yet finished)

Bunso Jessa got her uncle and father to put together a list of the costs for building out their house to give it a proper floor, walls and roof. The total with labor and all came to us$1500. So we are setting up a fund to raise that money. So join with us in some international barn raising and give what you can. Email me at larriji@gmail.com or you can paypal directly to wsu_phi@yahoo.com - please put Jessa House Fund in the comments for paypal. Any amount will help and 100% of any gifts go directly to Jessa to build their house. We will be following the progress with this and documenting the results of gifts so all can see the results. Many thanks to all for your support and kind words. Please give even a dollar! God bless L

Bunso Jessa, WSU Director, in one of WSU's Sari Sari shops, picture taken in 2007

Seeking donations for the Jessa House Fund - us$1500 needed to build her family a house.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Short-term loan sought for Bunso Vangie

SEEKING $1260 short term loan for small farming business in Malasqui, Philippines.

Shown here is an estimate and spreadsheet on costs for a loan we are seeking for Bunso Vangie. This loan is needed only for 9 months. Its a loan of 51K PHP (US$1260) to prepare the present corn field for an ampalaya crop. Pictured at the top here to the left is a picture of an ampalaya vine. As you can see its a raised trellis that holds the vine. It's very expensive to prepare the field and it's 2.5 hectacre so it's very large.

The cool thing about all this is that after you loan this family the money for this small business, you get your money back and the family is left with half of their entire budgetary needs for 2008. So it's a great help for Bunso Vangie and her large extended family which numbers over 30 people.

Please contact me if there is any questions. You can email me at larriji@gmail.com. We need to get this crop in before the end of Feburary. So please hurry! Many thanks! God bless, L

Bunso Maryann tells her story...

Looking for someone to sponsor Bunso Maryan - who needs $200 per month

A few months ago I asked all the members of World Sisters United to write down their story. Here is what Maryann sent me:

hi hello.....
I"M MARY ANN B. ASIS...
I'M 19 YRS OLD... RUNING 20 THIS COMING NOVEMBER 19...
MY DAD NAME IS: SOLOMON ASIS JR..
MY MOM NAME IS DIOSA B ASIS...
I HAVE A 2 SISTER AND 1 BROTHER..
I'M GRADUDTING IN HIEGH SCHOLL.
im studying frome elelmentary and hiegh scholl in my own sopurtcoz evert sat and sundy im going to market to gaurded any kind of vagetable so i get the money frome here and i use for my studying....
And year 2004 and 2005 im graudte in hiegh scholl..
i do my best ton find job and im happy coz i get a job... and can start my work of month of april us a sales lady in grocery of my place and after 4 months i diside my self to go in LAGUNA to find other job and have good salary and after 1 weak i aply to takata compony and after 1 weak again i reasave the call frome agency i ned to roport coz im going to start my work in takata compony im so verry when im start my work.... im only causual i have a contract only 6 months... and after 6 month my cauzin get m in laguna to go in PAMPANGA she tell m i something work there but i dont know it is a bad work but i dont have choise coz i dont have a moneyto trip to back in LAGUNA i doo my best to try this kind of work in cyber sex but i dont like this when im online so maney boy fieting allwys tell m im bad girl and im allwys crying coz i dont like words of other costomer in sex.... And month of OCTOBER i mett name of LARY TRASHER he allwys talk to m and give m some advice a bout my work im so verry happy when i meet her.... and he offer to m if i like to b a member in WSU but i dont know mean of this i try to ask here what mean of WSU and then i like this i tell her YES i like to b 1 of WSU member and he tell m i ned to stop my work in sex im so verry happy he tell m about WSU coz i need to stop my bad work and he help to suport to m get my own buesness and he give m some money to get my store my mom and dad is verry happy i get here store and allso m coz this is a big help to m...
and month of JAN. i have a own store and im happy when im start to mage here but of help of GOD i have good income frome my store..
I'm so verry happy about this.
I hope WSU is allwys good and going to grow and have a good income of any kind of buseness... i hope some day it is going a big buesness....
thank you so much to larry coz of her help i have a own store... and allso to meher baba...... THANK YOU AGAIN....
i'm mary ann b asis...

Blogging for Bunso Maryann

Pictured here is Maryann Asis at the 2006 summit for World Sisters United

in the Philippines.

Four years ago I started to conceputalize of what could be done to help oppressed women in developing countries in the face of rapid globalization that was increasingly victimizing the innocent. The result was World Sisters United, an international media collective that allowed the point of view of impoverished and dispossessed women from all around the globe. WSU is providing media creation tools, training and facilities and exploring ways to use the media to help others. WSU has blossumed on its own now and it building its own momentum. But all my money is gone and so we are looking for people to help sponser some of our members still struggling for survival.

In 2005 I started recruiting members from all around the world but the Philippines took off first. I used the web to make all the initial contacts. I found the easiest place to find female victims of oppression to be the cybersex sweat shops. They were online and accessable to chat. This human-slave-trade derived industry would find young girls from small villages, ship them off to the cities, keep them in crowded apartments hovered in front of CRT computer monitors with as many as 5-8-12-16 crowded to a room. They would then pay them pennies a minute only to strip and perform sex acts to mostly men from developed countries who pay $2 a minute. These girls basically have to do anything the men ask them. They put up with constant verbal abuse for hours and hours. It turns good kind hardworking God fearing people into battered prostitutes. Cybersex industry is a billion dollar business that's growing at a rapid rate. 12% of the GNP of the Philippines is the sex industry. 14% of Thailand's GNP is from the sex industry. Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia all are following this trend. Right now as you read this there are countless millions of girls online working hard for their money. It's a sad waste of humanity. It's hard to believe the people profiting and supporting this industry can sleep at night.

Going to the site where I recruited at was extemely depressing seeing the sadness in the eyes of these innocent young girls, many underage, that were supporting large extended families. I couldn't really understand how people could find seeing these girls and seeing their condition erotic in any way. To me it only spoke of a certain slavery and oppression of good people. People worthy of helping out. These weren't drug addicts or hardened prostitutes for the most part. Most everyone I met sent all their money home. I couldnt help but wonder if there wasn't a way you could use a web portal like this to actually help others. So this is what spawned p2pgiving.com which will be launching within a the next month. This will allow profiles of people in need to be directly viewed by people who can give. With broadcasting of the status and updates the giver can actually be part of the story. So we no longer have to just witness dispair we can help to turn things around.

It took a lot of time and a lot of money to get to meet and know candidates for WSU and to sift through the variety of personalities and to find ones with good leadership qualities and strong character. It took about nine months, I was very happy when that phase was over and the core members of WSU that we ended with is amazing to say the least. I'm happy to say my intuition regarding the ones I recruited was spot on. About half of the members still have to work in the sex industry. So I am currently seeking people to help sponser them so they can leave behind these dreadful jobs where they are treated purely like objects and end up with battered self esteems.

Screenshots of Maryann at work in her cybersex job:

The very first girl I recruited in the online cybersex industry was Maryann. She was always crying or sleeping or looking depressed in her cybersex job. She was understandably depressed all the time. Her work was hours of men treating her poorly and asking her to do disgusting things. Maryann didn't see any of the money she made through the sex work. Most of her earnings went to her boss and the rest went to her family. Maryann comes from a remote province of Biliran where her family lives in a nipa hut with no water or electricity. I asked Maryann how much would it cost to leave behind her cybersex work and she replied $50 a month. I put her on salary and then started to help her build a small business.

It's been an uphill battle since then but things are improving in her life in general. She met a scallywag type of guy who got her pregnant nine months ago. She had the baby then if you read some earlier blogs you can see that after a sligtly premature cesarian birth and complications with her baby she was left with a huge hospital bill. One hospital actually kept the baby as collateral! So Maryan's mother had some land that was in the family for years that she sold to pay the hospital bills. Maryann had to sell the sari shop I helped her start. She managed to get some pigs in exchange and now they have been sold. So we are seeking donors or sponsers on behalf of Maryann. Any amount will help. 100% of the proceeds go directly to Maryann to help her survive and feed her newborn. Maryan has no support from anybody. The father of her baby has ran off and disappeared. I can personally vouch for this young woman. She has great heart and goes to her local church every day to pray. This is a person who derserves a chance and any help will certainly make a significant difference in her life.

Asking for any help of any kind for Maryan. Maryan's current total financial needs are $200 a month which supports her entire extended family in Biliran. So for those of you who can help any amount on a monthly basis as sponser would be really great. We are also asking for any prayers and positive thoughts.

Peace in 008

Looking for someone to sponsor Bunso Maryan - who needs $200 per month

Even a dollar will help. Please send a dollar now to help Bunso Maryan

Lola Veronica's nipa hut

Pictured is Lola Veronica's nipa hut in Pangasinan, Philippines. This is a typical type of hut that you see extremely poor people living in. It's raised to prevent flooding from heavy monsoon rains and typhoons. It's built of materials from the immediate area. Even though it looks like a small barn out building it's actually Lola Veronica's home. The kitchen, pictured below, is mostly outside. This nipa is in a cluster of huts that a large extended family lives in. The area around them is beautiful rice and ampalaya fields. The area is 10 miles from Malasqui which is 45 minutes from Pangasinan city.

Lola Veronica is in desperate need of $250 for a throat operation. She has throat cancer. She is 89 years old and would love to be able to just live in her nipa hut for a few more years to enjoy her family. Pictured below is Lola Veronica two years ago with her great grand children. I met Lola in 2006 during the WSU summit in the Philippines. WSU is organizing to find people like Lola Veronica who need a little help. We are creating a peer-to-peer charity web portal to accomidate this function. Please help in any way you can. Lola Veronica needs medicine everyday that she can't afford and she really needs this throat operation that should add some years to her life. Otherwise she is fading away rapidly and can't really eat. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

pictured here is Lola in 2006 in her kitchen with Vangie, Director for World Sisters United in Malasqui.

Please help Lola Veronica by sending a dollar now!

Thank you and God bless

Blogging to Help Others