Friday, August 29, 2008

The Mirror Art Group: Making Waves in the Mountains


Working north of Thailand, Chiang Rai, The Mirror Art Group focuses on projects and programs that aims to help the hilltribe peoples of Mae Yao sub-district to combat their everyday struggles with unemployment, poverty, drug addiction and lack of Thai citizenship. The group also work to provide the skills, education and support to hilltribes of Mae Yao that prepare them to adapt and co-exist with lowland Thais without sacrificing their cultural identity.

The Mirror Art Group has one of the largest Internet presence within the Thailand NGO community.
Their well designed IT Development Program uses the internet to create a community to bring in volunteers, create funds, and develop projects. With six of their acitve core members being women working from web design, to e-commerce or leading volunteer teachers to the hill tribes, this group of young artists is trully making waves in the mountains for the hill tribes of Northern Thailand! They also design websites for other NGOs, to raise funds and spread information about the hilltribes to the rest of the world. What an awesome way to use your creativity and pile up the good deeds!

Here are some of the projects: (Taken from their website)

Backtohome.org - Missing Persons Locator
Throughout Thailand, economic and societal changes have created a migration pattern of individuals leaving the safety of their villages. In this migration, some people lose contact with family or disappear as a result of more sinister causes. Backtohome.org attempts to re-unite disappeared people with their loved ones.. Backtohome.org is sponsored by the Asia Foundation.

Virtual Hilltribe Museum @ www.hilltribe.org
The cultures of highland ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia are changing rapidly as the hilltribe people become more incorporated into the lowland majority societies . The Virtual Hilltribe Museum is geared to documenting these cultures and their changes for the world to see. The Virtual Hilltribe Museum is sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Bannok TV
With changes in the new Constitution, local stations will soon have the right to broadcast pertinent, non-Bangkok-centric local programming. Bannok TV is a developing local-access television station set up by the Mirror Art Group to address the needs of the Mae Yao community, keep them abreast of relevant issues, give positive media images to the hilltribe youth and address the lack of knowledge about the hilltribes in modern Thailand.

Project to Combat Trafficking in Women and Children
Every child has the right to happiness and to grow up in a safe environment. Unfortunately, among the poor of Northern Thailand, especially the hilltribes, this right is often not realized. The cities in Northern Thailand are full of children who have left school as early as the fouth grade to struggle earning money for their family. Worse yet, the extreme poverty of the region is fertile ground for those wishing to traffic women and children to wealthier areas of the country and the world.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The Story of PETA

After more than 10 laborious years of research, compiling, writing and editing, the book on the story of PETA is finally available to the public. Entitled A Continuing Narrative on Philippine Theater: The Story of PETA, the 740 plus page book is priced at PhP 1,499.00. You may call PETA - FAU for orders and payment: (+632) 4100822, 7226911 telefax (+632) 4100821.
About the book:
The Story of PETA may be considered a collective biography that provides a comprehensive yet intimate account of its lifework, from 1967 to 2007. It highlights the company’s unique approach and contribution to Philippine theater aesthetics, performance and pedagogy, and to popular education.
PETA began by asserting the then radical view of creating and performing plays in Filipino. A solid record of some 400 plays written, translated, adapted, published and performed, shaped the company’s and indeed the country’s theater history, enriching it through theater forms and techniques that express local, national and universal themes.
PETA’s pedagogy and aesthetics for people’s theater, a unique and powerful curriculum for training in theater and the arts has inspired artist-teachers to share their skills, talents and experiences with others, directed toward individual human development and societal transformation.
This book presents a chronicle of the collective journey of men and women who have inscribed a powerful presence in Philippine theater history. Woven together, their stories provide strings of hope and inspiration, a remarkable tapestry of dreams dedicated to Philippine theater, society, and nation.
As PETA enters its fifth decade of existence, it continues to nurture young artists who will metamorphose into artists-teachers- leaders and carry on the torch of art to inspire many to become cultural creatives.

Panaghoy ng Naghahanap: A Sharing of Experiences of Families of the Desaparecidos

In observance of the International Day of the Disappeared, the Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) will host a roundtable discussion on the 29th of August 200 with mothers, sisters, and daughters of the victims of enforced disappearances. It will be held at the UP Balay Kalinaw, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City from 9:00 a.m.-12:00nn . Entitled Panaghoy ng Naghahanap: A Sharing of Experiences of Families of the Desaparecidos, the activity is a venue for sharing of experiences of the families and how they cope with the situation.

CWR is a research and training institution for and by women. Since its inception, CWR has actively promoted the rights of women through advocacy and services such as education, training, research and publication. Part of the advocacy work of CWR is the promotion of human rights, especially in cases and situations where women are affected.

The activity will gather women and human rights advocates from the academe, non-government organizations, government agencies, church and media.

We hope you will join us to show our solidarity with the families of desaparecidos.

For inquiries, please contact Di, Teta, or Osang through 411-2796 or 920-1373.