November 26, 2009 Efren Peñaflorida CNN Hero of the Year

Tonight a Filippino was honored with being the "hero of the year." Efren Penaflorida, 28, created a company called Dynamic Teen Company, where volunteers "bring the school" to the poor childeren who cannot afford to go to school. They literally have a pushcart of books and school supplies that they take to the slum areas and teach the childeren; reading, math, hygiene, and english.
In his acceptance speech Efren said there are heros all over the world of every color and shape, together we make a wonderful tapestry. He went on to say that there is a "hero" inside of each of us and that together we can change the world.
Click here to read the story from CNN.

To learn more about Dynamic Teen Company and the vision of Efren click here to go to his website.

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November 24, 2009 Philippines order State of Emergency in Mindanao

Forty-six murdered and state of Emeregency declared in Mindanao. The Philippines are having elections in May. Early reports seem to say that members of the Mangudadatus family were murdered by the Ampatuan family, both familys are powerful clans. The Mangadadatus's were in a convoy to register for the elections, the men of the family were not in the convoy, reasoning that the women would not be harmed. However, many women were murdered, one was pregnant, and several journalists were murdered as well. It has been reported that some had their hands were tied behind there back and were shot in the head.

Click on the date above this post for a link to the NY Times report.

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The above sunset was captured and uploaded to flickr near Cagayan De Oro, at Villanueva. Very beautiful. I think this picture was taken near the road that I travled several times.

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Davao City: Waiting Shed

Davao City: Waiting Shed
Originally uploaded by FoNgEtZ

I found this on flickr, taken in Davao. It is a "waiting shed", similar to our bus stops. This is especially beautiful. The person who took the picture writes that Davao is the home of the endangered Philippine eagle.

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Davao City: Waiting Shed

Davao City: Waiting Shed
Originally uploaded by FoNgEtZ

I found this on flickr, taken in Davao. It is a "waiting shed", similar to our bus stops. This is especially beautiful. The person who took the picture writes that Davao is the home of the endangered Philippine eagle.

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Clinton visits Philippines

The US Secretary of State is visiting the Philippines and has urged that a peace deal be made between the Philippine government and the MILF. She said the be current Philippine president should be the one to make such a deal because she will be out of office in June. However, she said that it should be a legal treaty; the current president made a deal with the muslim rebels that was declared unconstitutional by the Philippine supreme court.
Please pray the will of the Lord be done in Mindanao and in the coming May elections in the Philippines.
Click on the title above and it will link you to the news article.

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November 12, 2009 Freed Priest

Good news out of the Philippines. A break-away group from the MILF released the Catholic Irish priest they had kidnapped more than a month ago. He was quoted as saying the captors treated him very well, thank the Lord for that. In contrast, to the beheading of a school teacher last week.

The priest said he was fed sandwiches twice a day with a "special spead" that was just for him. He is talking about a sandwich spread that is sold in the stores. When I was in Valencia they bought this "special" for me. One of the cooks thought it was mayonnaise, saying, "Americans like Mayonnaise?" Actually, it was Ceasor salad dressing! LOL. But there are several different kinds of the sandwich spread, all that I sampled tasted very good.

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November 11, 2009, Photo at top of page.

I took this photo in Valencia, Buikidon. It was a small community on the outside of Valeancia city proper. The road led to a mountain region where there was bannana trees and sugar cane. This is taken from the porch of Edward Suarez, he is an owner of a sugar cane field. There were many people walking down this road and traveling by motorcycle. I was an "attraction" for the young people, many had never seen a "white" except on television.

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November 9, 2009

Sad news out of the Philippines, the BBC is reporting that a teacher who was abducted 3 weeks ago has been murdered.

The area of this violence is the island of Jolo. It is  part of the Sulu archipelago, located to the SW of Mindano, but under governmental control of Mindanao.

Please pray for peace in the area, and for the critical elections coming this May to the Philippines.

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