Bicol Communities League Inc
Celebrating a Decade of Service
Bicolanos and
friends celebrated
a colourful 10th
Anniversary Gala
Dinner last month at
the Blacktown RSL.
Help a child
Project Be Heard
The event was attended by
Senator Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero,
a Bicolano from Sorsogon, who
was keynote speaker. He was
accompanied by his wife Heart
Evangelista.
“It is heartwarming to
witness the Bicolanos in
Australia harness their skills,
talents and resources to help
our kababayans such as through
its Adopt a School project for
students in the remote areas
of Bicol and other projects
involving the education
and training of youth,” said
Philippine Ambassador to
Australia Minda CalaguianCruz in her message to mark the
occasion.
Bicol Inc anniversary overall chairperson Roberto Lastica
said that the organisation has
faced challenges over the years
but the hard tasks officers and
members faced “contributed to
our deeper sense of ourselves
and of each other.”
The Bicol Inc is a Sydneybased not for profit community
organisation of Fil-Aussie
citizens of Bicol ancestry. Apart
from preserving and promoting
Bicol’s unique cultural heritage,
the organisation promotes
activities to raise funds to
help Kababayans back home
especially those who suffer from
hardship brought by natural
disasters.
Project Be Heard aims to bring awareness
that music can be a powerful tool to help
change children’s lives.
Tina Bangel and the One Voice school of Singing students aim to
raise $2000 to fund their project Be Heard film clip to help children
overcome fear and become more expressive. They hope to launch the
clip world wide and during their 2016 end of year concert.
But really, they want to do more than make a film clip. They want to
raise funds to help kids impacted by trauma.
Emotional expression through music can be so beneficial in kids’
lives, but can be really challenging, especially for children who have
gone through trauma.
Childhood trauma can have lifelong impacts. In Australian
communities, childhood trauma can be linked to mental illness,
homelessness, drug and alcohol dependencies, broken relationships or
unemployment.
One Voice want to help a non-profit organization called
KidsXpress. KidsXpress provide therapy programs that use music and
the creative arts to give kids facing significant life challenges, it’s a
place where they can really figure things out, explore their thoughts and
feelings and find their own ways to cope.
Tina says “Normally Christmas is a time where we gather with
family around the tree, sing carols and be joyous. But for some children
Christmas is a time of the year they fear. They may have a parent in jail
or it’s the time of the year when arguments are inevitable or it’s a time
when they remember a loss of a loved one. “
One Voice School and Tina Bangel invite you to help raise funds
for KidsXpress during this Christmas season, hopefully enough to fund
a child’s place in the KidsXpress program. $3000 pays for one child to
access their full 10-week KidsXpress Therapy Program and associated
support.
It’s their way to give back to the community and it is also a way to
teach them that they can use their gifts to help change the world.
The indiegogo campaign started in November and ends on the
8th of December. So far they are 74% at their goal. To help them raise
a total of $5000 be sure to pledge, share or find out about Project Be
Heard click at this link: https://www.indiegogo.com /projects/projectbe-heard--3#/
Watch the crowd funding video https://vimeo.com/190488372
From left: Bicol Inc anniversary chairperson Roberto Lastica, Blacktown Councillor Carol Israel, Senator Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero, Heart
Evangelista and Philippine Ambassador to Australia Minda Calaguian-Cruz.
48 Filipinos granted Australian
scholarships this year
Forty-eight Australia
Awards scholarship
awardees from the
Philippines are set to
take up postgraduate
studies in Australia,
host to six of the top 100
universities in the world
according to the 20162017 World University
Rankings.
The scholars underwent a predeparture briefing last month at
the Astoria Plaza Hotel.
The pre-departure briefing
included finalising the scholars’
‘re-entry action plans’. These
www.kalatas.com.au
plans allow Australia Awards
scholars to use what they have
learnt in Australia to undertake
programs and projects to
contribute to development in the
Philippines on their return.
As a result, hundreds of
groundbreaking projects have
been implemented all over
the country in fields ranging
from trade and economics,
local economic development,
infrastructure, peace and
development, governance, basic
education, foreign relations,
organisational development/
human resource management
and development, and mining
and mining related fields, among
others.
This batch adds to the more
than 3500 Filipino who have been
recipients of Australia Awards
Scholarships. Australia has a long
history of providing scholarships
to Filipinos, dating back to the
Colombo Plan in the 1950s.
An Australia Awards recipient
gets a full scholarship package
including travel and cost of living
allowance, tuition and other
fees such as health coverage and
supplementary tutorial assistance.
Upon return, he or she will be
invited to be a member of the
Global Alumni Network.
ANG KALATAS
|
DECEMBER 2016
23