I was just hopping around websites earlier because I was Googling Lumix LX3 which is the camera I am aching to get right now when I stumbled on A Bugged Life’s blog and seeing one of their posts mention that their friend got into the Mabuhay Guides program of the Department of Tourism which naturally upped my curiosity and made me click the link thus ending up in Carlos Celdran’s blog and finding the purpose of this blog post. I think that was a very long sentence and I’d be followed by the grammar police now…O.o

Being the curious and stalkish (yes its not a normal word..haha) person that I am, I decided to read more about it and followed all the links I can find. So what exactly is the Pacific Rim Friendship Park? Well based from Looking for Juan:

The idea is to bring together architecture and art students from different parts of the world who, together with counterpart Filipino students, will design and build a Friendship Park under the artistic supervision of leading artists, architects and urban planners – all in 30 days.

That was what they posted back in December 2007 when they announced that they were building the park in 2009. Fast forward to 2009, the project’s construction will be started next month, May, which is just a couple of weeks from today. On May 3rd, 25 students from China, South Korea, the United States, Russia, Mexico and the Philippines will be converging in Manila to leave for Palawan on the fifth. The launching of the Philippines’ Pacific Rim Friendship Park in Puerto Princesa will be on May 30.

That’s wonderful news, isn’t it? What’s even better is that they are asking for help from artists and writer’s alike to create their own original works with a theme of “What It Means to Be Filipino.” These works will be featured as well in large tarpaulin banners that will be exhibited in a public park or space aside from being exhibited in the Philippines’ Pacific Rim Friendship Park on May 30th. The used tarps will then be donated to Trashe Bolsas which is a livelihood project that creates unique and durable bags by recycling used tarpaulins.

Aside from that they are looking for someone who can help document the building of the Philippines’ Pacific Rim Friendship Park. This individual will get to spend the entire period (May 2-31) with the group to document the progress by taking pictures and videos of it as well as blog about it each day to share to the world what’s happening behind the scenes of the Philippines’ Pacific Rim Friendship Park. He/She will be able to talk and interview the participants as well as create highlights that showcase Palawan and of course the Philippines as one of the best travel destinations in the world. Although his/her main responsibility is to document the whole project, he/she is also expected to help with the building of the park’s design. This experience will enable the chosen individual meet new people, learn about new cultures and take part in a wonderful project. Now who wouldn’t want to line up for that?

If you’re worried about expenses, CANVAS will cover your plane fare from Manila to Puerto Princesa and back to Manila, your hotel stay in Manila and Palawan, board and lodging for the whole month in Palawan and a stipend of at least around P10,000. Who else can offer you that great package where:

you can meet new people
you can experience the beautiful view of Palawan for a month for free
you can get a stipend of P10k
you can add a unique experience in your resume

Just to snoop around, take pictures/videos then blog about it which you already love?

What’s the catch you might ask. There are two.

1. You need to have your own equipment such as your camera and lenses and tripod at the minimum. They may be able to lend you a laptop in case you don’t have one.
2. They prefer to see your online portfolio and blog-writing experience (and a following).

So after listening or reading to everything I’ve been blabbering about, do you think you are the Juan for it? In case you(or someone you know) might be remotely interested in this adventure, do drop them a line at info@canvas.ph.

P.S. I would apply if I had the equipment plus a following. At the moment I only have a point and shoot camera and blog-writing experience scattered around the web. Hahaha. So even if I wanted to apply, I know there are other individuals more qualified than I am based from the equipment and following alone. ^_^

You have probably heard of the Chinese proverb that says, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” and it is rather sound and rational. If we simply gave people who are in unfortunate circumstances help in terms of material things, we are probably just helping them temporarily because these tangible items doesn’t really last forever. After these items are depleted, most of the time they unfortunately go back to their previous plight and the cycle goes on and on. However if we do help them by providing them with a means to actually stand on their own after, we achieve the purpose of helping them become self-sustained for a lifetime. One might say that is is a huge undertaking and quite hard to so given the geographical differences we have from each other but with Kiva.org taking the step to bring us closer to those in need, it doesn’t seem such a hard feat.

We can’t alleviate poverty by simply giving donations to people. We can alleviate poverty by giving people sustainable jobs and businesses so they in turn can help their fellowmen by giving them a source of income by employing them. In Kiva.org, you are able to help entrepreneurs in developing countries by lending money to their businesses. Over time, they repay back the loans you loaned them and you are free to either withdraw the funds, re-lend them to other entrepreneurs or donate it to Kiva.org to help facilitate their operating costs. By lending money to these entrepreneurs you are helping them help themselves. They are able to break free from poverty because they are not burdened by interest rates that balloon into high amounts each year, thus they are able to grow their businesses. Loan interest rates are usually the source of even more business going down in developing countries because it is hard for small businesses to stay afloat if they always incur debts to fund their businesses. Free from these loan interest rates, these entrepreneurs are able to maximize the funds they are able to borrow and focus their thoughts in growing their businesses.

You can learn more about Kiva.org by visiting their website. They have many informational pages in there website and you can find links to press news about them in their Kiva Press Center. There is also a Kiva.org discussion group over at Kiva Friends. Please do check them out if you are interested to know more.

Lastly, if you are a member of the following social networks and you are interested to link to Kiva so your friends can find out about them, go check these groups out:

LinkedIn: Kiva Group
Facebook: Kiva.org – Micro Loans that Change Lives
Friendster: Kiva Profile
Yahoo!: Kiva Yahoo! Group
MySpace: Kiva profile
Squidoo: Kiva Squidoo page