A Day in the Life of Bernz, Ghary, Jessie and Ozzie

Help comes in many versions and sizes. Help is a moving and visible interpretation of one’s genuine care or concern. In whatever way, the help that one extends ripples to these - ease the burdens of the persons in need, dispel that feeling of neglect or loneliness among the less fortunate.

Last year, around March or April, while I was aimlessly surfing the net, I stumbled upon a bunch of quiet special guys, or shall I say men, called the MP’s or Mga Palautog. There are around 5,000 of them actually. But I only got to know around 20 or so, and I am not exactly sure if the traits and qualities of these 20+ men are statistically representative of the group’s entire membership. (Utog, by the way, is Visayan for erection, hence to be a palautog is to be somebody who engages in specific acts that promote or encourage erection. In my observation, to be a palautog is human nature, although not everyone would willingly or outrightly admit to this.)

Nevertheless, the important thing is that I hang out with these newfound friends once in a while, and there are those whom I have friendly affections because of our online communication - chats, conferences, ka-churvahans, ka-eklatans. The group, like many other groups, is also a melting pot of diverse, enigmatic, distinct, and sometimes disturbing masculine-feminine urges. Fortunately, charity is one of the group’s essential qualities, and fueled by the so-called charitable urge, the Olango Island children’s education project came into fruition.

The project is one of the profound, life-affirming outputs of our rowdy yet intelligent, malevolent yet well-informed, socio-political conferences via Yahoo Messenger. The minds in the said conferences are Rosa Rosal, Marjory Smith, AnnQ (who joined towards the end of 2007), and yours truly, Oxana Fedorova.

The brain behind the project was Rosa Rosal – not the frail old woman in the famous television show KKMK (Kapwa Ko, Mahal Ko), but the piping engineer who is currently working in Japan. Rosa Rosal, popularly known as Bernz Corr, is one very enlightened guy and he envisions a world governed by peace and selflessness. He thought that he could contribute to world peace by sharing his fortune in Yen.

Enter Marjory Smith, an economist and a former Miss Universe titleholder who is now based in New York. He too shares Rosa’s vision and he thought that we could help create a more empowered Filipino citizenry by investing on the education of the children.

Oxana Fedorova could carry out the wishes of Marjory and Rosa. Oxana, or simply Jessie, is a Cebu-based employee of a social development organization. He enumerated some workable strategies that were well received by Marjory and Rosa. The plans were already laid down when AnnQ became the fourth corner of the group. Her expressions of support to the project were indirect but nevertheless very meaningful – she provided the usual encouragement and the steady supply of men who willingly strips and does their thingies on cam. These men, subsequently, propel the surge of creativity.

After months of planning and deliberation, Rosa and Marjory’s gifts reached 100 Grades 1 and 2 school children in Pangan-an Elementary School, Olango Island. Olango is located five kilometers off Mactan Island in Cebu. Although Olango is a haven for migratory birds that travel from as far as China, Japan and Siberia, poverty is everywhere because of many reasons, among them is the intense degradation of its marine resources due to years of irresponsible fishing and household practices. Because of poverty, the children of Olango are most affected since they don’t have access to many basic things – nutritious food, health services, potable water, good education, and so much more. The school supplies and books given to the children may not necessarily remove the day-to-day misery in their homes. But perhaps, these little gifts could teach them the value of education and somehow tell them that help will always be available if they persevere.

What we give to others, we also give to ourselves.

P.S. Special thanks to my two officemates, Riva and Rey for bringing us to Pangan-an in Olango. And also to Ozzieboi, also a Palautog, for braving and surviving the heavy rain, among other trials and tribulations last January 7!