All About Your Child

Christmas is often packaged with lots of dazzling decorations with glittering rainbow lightings. Everyone is so encompassed by the beauty and fun, few remember that there are people, especially young children suffering in other parts of the world; away from all these Jingle Bells and Santa Claus.

Children in Payatas, Philippines have always been wishing for the appearance of Santa or an Angel, to come to their rescue. All they need is a decent meal, clean water and a shelter without holes in it.

My cousin, Esther had been there many years back on a missionary trip. When she came back, the whole experience changed her life. She used to be one who believed that once a person is full, he/she should stop eating. But after she saw how the children run towards the garbage truck, like little kids running towards Santa hoping to get one gift from his big red bag of presents, just to dive in to what most people would run away from…. they dig for food. Tiny pieces of what seemed decomposed food to put into their mouth. And ‘THAT‘ could be their only meal for the day. Now, the ‘changed‘ Esther finishes everything on her plate.

Totedaddy and Lighthouse Center for Children Foundation are their Santa Claus and their Angel for Christmas this year. Praise God for them. Support them over here, all you need to do is sacrifice the amount for that extra can of coke or that packet of potato chips and with that little, you can actually help thousands of Children in Payatas….. If you had donated….Myself and many prominent supporters for the good cause, from footballers (from both Manchester United & Arsenal!), politicians, celebrities …..Thank you from the bottom of our hearts….

Here’s the extract from the main site: –

The landfill in Payatas, The Philippines, is notoriously known the world over as Smokey Mountain. For over 35 years, the smoking dump site has grown to become a stark and heart-tugging reminder of the desperate conditions of humanity.

On a daily basis, children pick through newly arrived garbage to collect material to sell. The earnings made by one child are not
enough to even buy food for the day. Hence, entire families are forced to climb the mountain each day, hoping to earn enough to feed everyone. Children as young as four years old are forced to work in this daily struggle for survival.

In response to the plight of these children, Totedaddy is working with Lighthouse Center For Children Foundation to bring a little cheer to the children this Christmas.

Totedaddy has kicked off with a cash sponsorship of USD 10,000 to enable the children to celebrate Christmas. FusionExcel International has also pitched in a USD 5,000 in cash sponsorship. The money raised will help fund the projects already in place, and help fund additional projects aimed at providing better housing, and a means of livelihood for the Payatas community.

It is hoped that by creating better awareness to the plight of these children, more support can be garnered towards their betterment. Together we can bury poverty!

I didn’t realised that things hasn’t been going well lately till Ann pointed it out when she commented on yesterday’s post. From the dispute over the speed of eating, the virus, the ‘Red Days’ symptoms and whatever ‘unhappy’ things which I may have left out…. well, at least the beginning of this week seemed that much better…

First, I saw myself on TV. *Laugh* Remember? The Working Mothers Forum? I was one of the panelist on stage? The feeling was weird! Though it was less than a 2seconds shot, but still, I know it was me up on that stage alright… *laugh* But Allan was a little disturbed when he realised that they didn’t write my name… Oh well, that didn’t bother me at all, ‘cos my face is MORE important than my name… *laugh*

Then, I tried to ‘compromise’ on the food aspect. Whenever Allan joins us for a meal, I’ll give them a smaller portion than usual. A couple of hours later, I’ll let them snack. Giving smaller portions during meal time didn’t improve their speed but it shortens the waiting time for the big man, the time to wait for the kids to FINISH their plate or bowl of whatever.

At the same time, I try to avoid giving too much meat, cos’ they will take a longer time to chew on it, even though I’ve already ‘tore’ it into smaller pieces. That’s the best I could do, and so far for the past 6 meals with Allan, it seems that its working, although he still chants his usual line, “Eat faster… Bite… Chew… Swallow…Faster…” But whenever my man is NOT with us, its back to their usual portions, chatting and laughing as they eat… Well, though it ‘may’ confused the kids, but so far, this method is working and EVERYONE feels less stressful during meal time. *Hooray*

Then an hour ago, *Yeah* my boys, especially my younger one doesn’t need me to pat his bum before he could slip into dreamland! In fact, tonight was the very first time Allan could tuck them in bed! Probably because Allan promised to bring them to the Goat Farm again tomorrow morning! *laugh* Who knows?! Anyway it goes to show that their Anti-Dad cells are dying… *Yeah*

May more of such good stuff continue to come for the rest of the week, the month, the year and many years to come….*laugh* ….. this sounded like a New Year’s Greeting… *laugh* Yeah! I’m laughing… that’s ANOTHER good thing… *wink*