maximine and minerva’s owl

love unconditional

  then unrequited;

    it didn’t matter,

           unconditional.    

                 then is still now;

                  now requited.

                             it doesn’t matter;

                                   now too late.        

*for R of sj

                                (and, for a friend)                        

This is one of the two picassos that I like very much, and the closest I could get to it is by owning a t-shirt that I got from a museum in Barcelona a few years ago. They say there are only two people in the world who can repair the 40 million dollars worth of damage (total value of the painting is 139 million dollars) that’s been incurred to it recently by its owner. Read here for more.

The other one is this,

which I bought at a flea market in Arles, France for 35 french francs. It’s been hanging on our living room’s wall for almost 6 years now.

*pardon my rather scandalizing title

My mother has volunteered to distribute them personally to my chosen recipient this year: the children of the Dumagat.  Mom said she had been there a number of times before when she and her friends brought provisions and medical supplies for the tribe- settled at the foot of the Sierra Madre mountains northeast side. Last year and the years prior since I started it, I always sent it tthrough my nun friend who did the distributing to orphanages and homeless children’s refuges.

There are more toys than clothes this time; stuffed toys and plastic animals with Disney logos, Gundam robots, colorful little bags and children’s books, t-shirts and denim shorts with Japanese anime prints on them. And about a dozen pretty dresses for 5-7 year olds - they’re all branded items and very slightly used. I could imagine the sight of little Dumagat girls running around clad in Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent dresses. Maybe I should inform these Parisian designers that their little masterpieces are reaching one of the far-flung places of the Earth, and that not only the most privileged can wear their overpriced precious creations but their less fortunate contemporaries as well. Who said life is ironic?

I also threw in about 30 cans of Libby’s Pork n Beans that I got at Costco, inflatable beach balls that we always get from Luigi’s clients, 20 pieces of toy harmonica, 30 pieces of tooth brush and tubes of toothpaste, and 20 Hello Kitty pencils, erasers and writing pads all of which I bought at the 100Yen shop.

The shipping takes 2 and a half weeks to 1 month max. So if I have it shipped by the end of this week and everything goes hassle-free my mom will get it by the second week of November; good enough, and there’s ample time before she gets busy with the holiday rush.

Christmas is in the air.

See, I’m not always spiteful and sardonic like the way I was in my previous post. I can be nice too! Once a year nga lang.

In the spirit of World Food Week…..

golden curry and banana-carrot bread for you all !

……………………………………………………………………………
Redistributing Wasted Food Helps Businesses As Well As The Hungry

We can all remember our mothers’ admonitions from when we were kids: “Don’t waste your food—think of the starving children in Africa!” But here in Japan, according to a recent Yomiuri Shimbun article, 40 percent of edible food is thrown away on a daily basis. “Walk into a supermarket and imagine how much will be wasted,” says Charles McJilton, executive director of Second Harvest Japan, the Tokyo-based non-profit organization devoted to promoting food banking and distribution to those in need.
Here are some more statistics to startle you: 19 million people in Japan, or 15 percent of the population, live below the poverty line. Among them, including the homeless, elderly, single parents, migrant workers and students, 650,000 live without what is known as “food security.”

“There is a difference between hunger and food security,” explains the energetic McJilton. His friendly but piercing blue eyes convey his passion for what he does, born in part from his own experience of living among the homeless along the Sumida River for more than a year. “Lack of food security means that these people don’t have enough safe, nutritious food to eat in a socially acceptable manner. Taking food from a dumpster or getting an innutritious cup of ramen from the government may keep them from being hungry, but it is not food security.
Compare this with the 6,000 tons of food waste created daily in Tokyo.” Second Harvest’s efforts are unique because they manage all three major aspects of local food provision.
First, they are a “hot meal service,” a kind of soup kitchen. Every Saturday, 450 hot meals are made at their warehouse and distributed in Ueno Park. Second, they are a “food pantry.” They deliver emergency food directly to families and individuals in need via a delivery service and twice a month to those living along the Sumida River. “As far as I know, Second Harvest is the only organization in Japan that is working to provide emergency groceries to those in need,” says McJilton. Third, they are a “food bank.” Long established in the US, food banking is an anomaly in Japan. Companies and food service providers like restaurants donate their unused or unsold food products to an organization like Second Harvest, which picks it up, stores it in a warehouse and redistributes it to orphanages, free clinics, the elderly, women’s shelters, and so on. Companies like Costco have found that by donating their large weekly surplus of bread to Second Harvest they actually save money. “Costco gets four major benefits from food banking with us,” explains McJilton. “They save money on disposal costs. Their employees feel better that the company is not wasting food and that they are helping others. It’s good PR for the company because the public sees that they are contributing to society. And finally, it’s free marketing. The Costco name is on the boxes we deliver, not the Second Harvest name.”
McJilton offers clear evidence that Second Harvest’s approach makes sense. “Last year, for every ¥1,000 that came in, we delivered ¥13,000 worth of food back into the community,” he says. “That’s a 13:1 ratio. We actually ended up saving companies ¥17 million. It is one of the miracles of food banking. Just a little bit of cash can go a long way.”

Second Harvest functions almost entirely through the help of volunteers and donations, which is still uncommon in Japan. McJilton himself works with Second Harvest full time and considers it his career, but is not paid. “We always need volunteers during the week, especially people who can speak Japanese,” he says. “We also need people who are experienced in cooking for large numbers, who can show us ways we can be cooking smarter.”

Ninety percent of Second Harvest’s funding comes from foreign companies, but 95 percent of the people it serves are Japanese, according to McJilton, adding that Japanese companies are only now beginning to understand the potential benefits of cooperating with NPOs.

“Foreign companies get involved because they want to make a difference in their community,” he says. “People get stuck on the word ‘charity.’ But it’s not charity. Second Harvest can save companies millions of yen. It’s just a good business model, a win-win situation for all.”

By Lucy Birmingham Fujii

Lifted from Metropolis Magazine (October 6, 2006 Edition)