save philippine children in prison

was comfortably chilling in zeeland (zay-lund), southwest netherlands, 2 weeks and a half ago. watching tv in the beusmans summer house and on was cnn europe. the small world that it is, a feature on the phillipines was being shown. the topic—philippine children in prison. not the best of all features, especially after telling the folks there about how nice the philippines' beaches, nature and people are. but it is the sad reality nonetheless that over 20,000 children languish inside philippine prison cells, living in the same inhumane conditions that hardened criminals face. and there is no reason to ignore such stark reality.

a week and a half back in new york now and a friend from manila this morning forwarded a link to a great site that gathers online signatures asking the UN, Unicef, phil govt, etc to do something about the horrible situation. check out the stand and should you find it in line with your beliefs, sign the petition. hopefully before september 15th, as that is when they intend to submit it. i have (#944) and i hope you do too.

upcoming spreek je spread // a call to save filipino child prisoners

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in lighter news, believe it or not, i've managed to get a healthy dose of gezellig in the city (check previous post for what that dutch concept means). the other night, some (free) wine tasting in the farmer's market in union square and a nice relaxed impromptu picnic in the park, watching people enjoy the great weather. also, got to spend some time at pomme frites with a bunch of filipinos, sharing stories over fries. it's quite refreshing having blue-collared worker friends here without any of the messiahnic and superiority complex brought about by my 16 years of jesuit education. oh before i forget, dont forget to go down the hill and help save philippine children in prison, here.