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Katea's Blog
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Child/Youth Prostitution and Sexual Abuse
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I hear a lot of cases about sexual abuse on children and young people. Often, it happens in their own homes where their own father, male relatives or other close friends who the children trust are the ones who betray them. I don't understand, how a father or an uncle or a grandfather could ever do that to his own. Is it a mental illness? While I do not believe in capital punishment, when I hear of such crimes like child molestations or sexual abuse, I cannot help myself but think that the best punishment for them is to show everything that they did to those children, picture by picture, frame by frame, until the fang of their guilt devour them. Like a month ago, there was this young girl who was burned alive after she was sexually molested. These kinds of evil, I cannot take. I cannot make peace with these things, not when children are involved.

For children who are made prostitutes by their own parents, or relatives, there's no forgiveness. It's the responsibility of the parents to provide a good life for their children. If they cannot, they should not be allowed to have children in the first place (this may sound a violation of human rights, especially freedom of choice but really, what rights do they have to sell their children?!) Even if the parents are poor, they should be the one to make every legal means possible to at least feed their children, or clothed them or give them shelter. I know a lot of poor families and the parents do their best, work almost 24/7 just to make sure that their children eat 3x/day, or that they have blankets to keep them warm. But of course, we are responsible for them as well. For allowing it to happen. For making them poorer, more envious. For allowing child prostitution businesses to prosper. For keeping our mouth shut when we know that the kid next door is being molested and made prositute by his or her parents.


For some people, prostitution is an opportunity to live, or to survive rather. For those who are 18 and above, it's become a personal choice, not that they have other choices. I'm sure, if there's a better job out there and if they have the skill, prostitution would not have been included in their choice of work. Like, the other night, I was watching on a local network the "local bills" that our councilors passed. One of them was talking about prostituttions. He said that "it is very alarming that when the sun sets, prostitutes are on queue" on this particular avenue, and "these prostitutes are very young like 14-16 years old." He added, "these young women are not native of this town, they've come from other poor provinces. We therefore think that we should set a raid, and take all the prostitutes." One chauvinist councilor in a malicious tone said, "I'll go with you", and all other chauvinist councilors, as if in unison, reiterated, "me, too", and they all laughed. Bastards! They wanted to go there not because they want to save these young women but because they want to see a spectacle, being surrounded by half-naked women, would have been a taste of ectasy. If they trully want to be of help, they would have a ready-made alternative for these young women. They would have planned it really well, like send them to school after the Department of Social Welfare and Development officers have counselled them. But no, they just wanted to "catch" these young women as if they were the criminals. Like most raids, these women would be put to jail, subject to more molestations and sexual abuses by God-knows-who. And what about those people who made profits out of these poor young women? Nothing. They just enjoy their profit, relocate and look for another opportunity to lure poor young women to their bait. Our local government, obviously is oblivious of women's rights, of gender sensitivity. They make local bills that are trully nonsensical. They don't even read, I'm sure, that's why they are so dense. Again, it's our fault for voting these people. Well, I didn't vote for them but the rest of local city populace did.

August 19, 2008 | 11:59 AM Comments  1 comments



On Reading Umberto Eco
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I just love everything that he writes.

When I first read "The Island of the Day Before", I was like, "Omigod! That's exactly how I imagined things when I was a young HS student, creating my own theories about getting old or younger the moment one crosses the latitudes" But of course, his was more intellectual in a sense. It was like reading what I had in mind.

Anyway, my latest addiction is his Foucault's Pendulum. I read it before and reading it again after 3 years of keeping from the shelf. Now, I understand it more clearly. I really believe that his works are the work of not just a creative writer but a genius, somebody who can infuse history, myth, science, religion and creative writing in one. I mean, there are other writers who write beautifully but not with intellectual magnitude like him. Eco does not only entertain but informs very well. I have to read the "Name of the Rose" soon. I have some of his books in my library and this month til next month, he will be my "author of the month". I wish I could see him in person! Maybe that chance meeting will spark some inspiration in my own writing. Maybe.

Funny, I've been directed to the Middle Ages era in all the books I've recently bought, especially the ones connected to the Templars. Maybe, it's the kind of topic that's been read many many times and it's no longer a hot topic. I really don't mind having that kind of information: myth, stories, legends of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. I just enjoy reading.

August 14, 2008 | 10:44 AM Comments  0 comments



Learning a New Language
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Since my visit to Mexico, I had this dream of learning the Spanish language whole-heartedly. Although I took Basic Spanish a few years back, I only remembered a few phrases. The Filipino language has similarity in the Spanish language, as a matter of fact, there are so many Filipino words that are derived from Spanish. For this reason, I was able to, more or less, bargain some items in the flea market in Mexico. People thought I was Mexican. As my teacher would say, "you were Mexican, the Wise Woman of Mexico, Was it Mayan?". But when I went to Spain, it was totally different. The Spanish was harder to understand probably because they spoke quite fast and kind of slang.

Anyway, I recently visited a bookstore and bought 5 Spanish grammar books. From beginner's to intermediate, from conversational to basic form, and of course, a writing worksheet! Everyday, I try to read 1-5pages a day just to familiarize with terms and construction. I am preparing myself so that when I study the language formally, I won't start from scratch. I feel, I'm destined to go back to Spain (or I dream of going back to Spain, anyway) so I have to learn their language better.

Next time, when I'm good with Spanish, I will have to go back to my French school and relearn the language. Yes, I did study French for the simple reason: to be able to pronounce French food especially pastries properly. Hahaha. I just love French pastries and cakes. Yummy!

Next will be Italian. I like their accent, almost like singing; very romantic.

Next next will be German.

Then the classical languages (Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Eyptian...) I'll just stop on my death bed, well, maybe not. Who knows, I might be chanting a Tibetan prayer to hasten my "transformation".

August 12, 2008 | 12:32 PM Comments  0 comments

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Lucca Leadership Training
About this event: Leadership Foundations Programme
Related to country: Italy

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Also posted at: http://abc4all.net/essay.htm

The training is in a beautiful villa called Villa Boccella which is 45 minutes away from the town of Lucca. Our villa is at the foot of the mountain and we are surrounded by trees, flowers, herbs and vineyards. Everytime the sun rises, it shines through my window and it is just so lovely. Our food is strictly vegetarian but once in awhile we go out of the villa and eat at the nearby restaurants. The food is just so good, you woudn't even ask for fish or chicken or meat. The water tastes so good since Tuscan water is fresh.

The training is composed of of 24 particapants across the globe, alot of them are Americans, Irish, British and Australians (age17-35). And due to economic circumstance and language barrier, there are only 4 from Asia (Me, 2 Vietnamese, and 1 Nepalese) and 1 from Africa. We are divided into 4
teams, and all of us have a chance to be the "leader". On the first day, even without knowing each other that much we have learned to trust each other, especially within the team. Each task requires different leadership style and the more you participate the more you know which style fits you. We manage to resolve conflicts, use our own voice, and use dialogues to get to the bottom of things. nothing in the course is not known to us. However, the training reminds us of what we value, what we love and the kind of philosophy we embrace in relation to giving service to other people and the community. Questions like, how do we become aware of our surrounding if we are not even aware of our self? How do we maintain trust and partnership, when competition is the name of the game?

We are also lucky to visit Siena and learn how this city was built by visionaries of that timeand how this town became prosperous and pro-people. The lecturer is also a volunteer and is so passionate in sharing her knowledge with us. She is not even an Italian but through her self-discovery and self-study, she's been invited to lecture in different conferences and trainings in Europe. So I believe that in order to become an effective leader, it is not only limited to doing something outside but also one must work within. As leaders, we have to make ourselves a good "educator" to also inspire others.

In the training we also have "moments of silence" or others call it "meditation" and just listen to what the Universe is telling us, so to speak. It gives us a sense of stillness which makes us see, hear and
understand more.

Each of us also have personal mentor from the Lucca Trainers/Coaches to guide us in our current or future projects. All of the trainers are volunteers too, who of course, have been under the Lucca trainings. A lot of the trainers are Educators, Businessmen and Lawyers who are also traveling alot to reach the places and people who are often neglected. They also use their "miles" to sponsor trainees in the training, which a friend told me about. I'm sure, in the nearest future, when I'm able to sponsor others, one of the training grounds will be Lucca Leadership.

Anyway, here is the link to the organization: www.luccaleadership.org I will try to make a video presentation of our training to post on our yfci or abc4all web. But it may take a little more time.