Mount Pinatubo Ashglaze Stoneware was featured in a beautiful photograph in the Sunday Inquirer, Page 11, Sunday 13th December, and with a write up on page 12. This is in conjunction with our volunteer sales outlet - "Butchie's Recipes" in Greenhills. Thank you Angelo.

Our Secretary, Bing, prolific as ever, has just published another social history book entitled "60 Years of Philippine Indian Relations". A valuable source of historic facts and social comment for future researchers. Keep up the good work Bing and we look forward to the next one.

The New Zealand Aid and UNDP Donors meeting was held in the RCBC Building and focused on Indigenous People's rights. EVACF was invited as a private donor involved with IP through the National Commission on Indigenous People - NCIP which recognises "The Relentless support of EVACF" in their most recent annual report. The NCIP reps and the UNDP rep on the left were listening attentively to the main speaker NCIP CHairman Atty Eugenio A. Insigne and his address. The meeting was well attended by representative of IP communities and those who support them.

A new venue this year for our 18th end of year General Assembly as our Vice President Alain Antonio was our generous host in Dasmarinas Village. EVACF members witnessed the turnover of the school supplies and garden tools to the Undersecretary of Agrarian Reform and EVACF supporter, Mrs. Rose Bistoyong, and NCIP-EVACF Coordinator Dr. Catherine Ramos. The kits include a spade, a trowel and education material. With the help of the Armed Forces of the Philippinese we filled a 10 ton truck with about 2000 kits, in 98 boxes.

These were transported to the NCIP offices in San Fernando in Pampanga, for redistribution to Aeta and other indigenous people in TOES schools and other EVA umbrella organisations. A message from one of our new members Raquel: "It was great to see and hear about the enormous effort everybody puts for EVACF...I am learning and getting inspired to do more." Welcome Raquel! And thank you for the photo with the spade. Also we transported donations of new & used clothes, blankets, toys, books, school supplies, kitchen wares and garden tools from members and friends of EVACF ( BCC, ELKS). Until the next GA, Mabuhay to all!

At a meeting of EVACF board members we discussed Scholarship and livelihood loan fund applications and approved those who were qualified for grants. Funding was given for the NCIP EVACF Scholarships fund and for the SACPOP EVACF livelihood loans fund.

We were invited to participate in the NGOs bazaar organised by the ADB Staff Council and community fund. We were one of about 12 NGOs lucky enough to be invited to share EVACF with ADB staff and guests. During the two days we sold over Php 50,000 of fundraisers. Thank You ADB

ELKS Manila donated generously to EVACF projects after being nominated by Mr Robert Lane of Silahis Arts and Artifacts. Robert is also a trustee of EVACF and has supported our work since 1991. This will go towards the three schools still waiting to be constructed. These are now due for completion in 2010. We are waiting for the rain to stop!

The Scandinavian Society of the Philippines kindly invited EVACF to display information and sell fundraisers at their December Meeting which was held in a member's home in Dasmarinas village. We do appreciate being invited to these meetings as it provides a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness of EVACF work and raise some funds at the same time.

As a recipient of their typhoon donation we were invited, by the British Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, to their special Typhoon information evening in the Dusit Hotel. We were able to display information and to sell fundraisers and meet new friends. Our public relations officer Angelo Songco and our Vice President Alain Antonio enjoyed sharing evacf with BCCP.

The Standard Chartered Bank (SCBM) Staff from Manila, along with NCIP Region III officers visited the TOE²S SCBM school at San Martin, Bamban, Tarlac. They were pleased with the extensive renovations, completed with the guidence of outside contractors. They also delivered school supplies and treats for the children. Watch this space for Photos and more news.

Our public relations officer, Angelo N. Songco, was featured on SHE-KA programme of NBN INB Channel. He talked about the work of EVACF charity and "Butchies' recipes", his cafe in Greenhills, which also carries our products and specialises in food from Pampanga which he sometimes serves on our dishes.

We were also kindly invited to display and sell our fundraisers at the MADS meeting in Forbes Park on the 10th November. It was such a busy month. MADS is a vibrant group and a great support for any expat with children in teh Philippines.

We were kindly invited to display and sell our fundraisers at the BWA meeting at The Wine Museum on 9th November 2009, along with Kanlungan Sa Erma which is a beneficiery under EVA's Umbrella. Stewart Dovey and Robert Lim Joseph, of the Wine Museum chose their corporate Christmas cards from our selection - Thank you Wine Museum!

Karen Palo of Sapang Uwak, from our TOE²S school Katja Wohlrab, was recently awarded a scholarship by President Arroyo of the Philippines. Congratulations! We are proud of you. ARC Shop at the USA

This year the Tribal Games held in Clarke hit the Newspapers. It is an exciting development as it promotes games focusing on ancient heritage skills and will hopefully ensure their continuation within the community. Our TOES schools also promote these sports and we look forward to seeing some of the children at the games in the future.

A wonderful range of EVACF stoneware fundraisers can be found in Tesoro's outlets, Silahis outlets, Butchie's Recipe's cafe in Greenhills, ARC Shop at the USA embassy compound and of course at BWA meetings and Pack and Yack at Jenny's every Tuesday morning- 17 Ecology Village, Makati. Our photo shows Alice of Tesoro's who is a great supporter of our charity's work.

Executive Board Member Kim Nygaard, recently displayed her photography and potter skills at the exhibition, entitled"Glimpse of the Soul" at the Carl Jung Center, Bel Air, Makati.EVACF volunteers enjoyed their invitation. You can contact the center at jungphilippines@yahoo.com

Erin and Lani, EVACF volunteers, met under EVA's umbrella microfinance project participant Arlan Fajardo, she coordinates the box making projects for our stoneware packaging. Arlan showed them one of the new box designs, meanwhile admiring the newly delivered thread cards from Bahi.

PANDIMAN company sent their photographer to EVACF to photograph our beautiful products to help them choose their socially responsible corporate gifts/cards. Here are some of the lovely images - the rather nice young photographer took! Thank you PANDIMAN.

Maria Ellis is sadly moving on from the Philippines. She has been a very successful and enthusiastic fund/donation raiser for EVACF over the last four years. However, her main dedication has been to the AETA children attending TOE²S schools, especially those at the Standard Chartered Bank AETA school complex at San Martin, Bamban.
We will miss her and wish her well - Philippine's loss is Australia's gain!

EVACF VP Alain Antonio and Board Member Angelo Songco recently represented EVACF at the Metrobank Foundation Professorial Chair Lecture at Dilliman University given by Dean Marvic M.V.F. Leonen entitled "Law at its margins: questions of identity, indigenous peoples, ancestral domains and the diffusion of law".
He opened his speech with 3 intriguing statements...
"Philippine Law is not, unfortunately, Philippine Indigenous Law."
"Not everything that is INDIGENOUS is good."
"Not everything that is FOREIGN is bad."

You can find out more at www.MBFoundation.org.ph

Bahi Cebu, also under EVA's umbrella make the popular thread cards for EVACF which are designed by Jennifer Wallum, MBE and sold exclusively for EVACF. The Christmas Cards 2009 have just arrived and are for sale. So put your order in straight away or rush over to Jenny's house at 17 Ecology Village, Makati. These cards are now also available in Boracay's Christmas Bazaar via Jinky Reyes, one of our members.

The Bahi Group, which is under EVA's umbrella, recently sent samples of hair grips they made in Bohol, for Body Shop. They now seek more orders, having completed the order for Body Shop. Watch this space for new products from Bahi Bohol and maybe you have ideas for other high profile purchasers who could be interested.

EVACF volunteer, Barbara, visiting from England, helps explain the achievements of EVACF through our banner to the BWA members shopping at the meeting. This group of ladies is a great supporter of our charity and often invites us to raise funds through stoneware sales at their meetings.

At the same meeting our President, Jenny, presented a certificate of appreciation to Sarah McLeod, Board member of the British Chamber of Commerce, Philippines, acknowledging their generous donation of Php100,000 towards replacing school books and agricultural tools damaged by the recent devastating series of typhoons in AETA TOE²S school nurturing communitites.

Angelo Songco, Public Relations officer of EVACF Board, helped load fundraiser stoneware items to take to restock the consignment supply for Butchie's Recipes Cafe in Greenhills.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has offered donations in kind and money for the recent typhoon relief. Our projects are so remote and always prone to difficulty of access that we will have to wait until the flows subside before we can offer assistance. However we are very happy to report that none of our TOE²S have collapsed due to the terrible typhoons Ketsana and Penang, and the school buildings have been welcome shelters for those displaced.
However the photo on the left shows crossing the Lahar flows to the remote schools during good weather, when it hasn't rained. As you can imagine Typhoon Ketsana has made access impossible to many schools for now, holding up further the two new school buildings, MMQ and David MacKenzie Ross Memorial School. Luckily the communities we support are very resilient and able to respond to even extremes of nature, relying on their ancient wisdom gained through generations. Their legends describe how these extremes are caused through abuse of nature - could be they have been right all along!

If you have any donations for the Aeta people they will be VERY welcome. Soaps, Hand Towels, Shirts, Notepads, Notebooks, Backpacks, Rulers, Pencil, Eraser, Art Paper ( set ), Cups, Pencil Case, Tooth paste, Tooth brush, T-shirts , Short pants, Sandals. You may drop them with Alain Antonio at 2064 Lumbang St, Dasmarinas Village, Makati City
For those who would prefer to make cash donations please use the following EVACF special deposit account details:
Name of Bank: Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company
Swift Address: MBTCPHMM
Branch Code: 159
Name of Branch: ADB Branch
Account Name: Entrepreneur Volunteer Assistance (EVA) Charity Foundation
Account Number: 159-3159239242
tel (+632)632-4145  
THANK YOU ALL FOR CARING.

We have just received news from the St. Andrew's society that St. Andrews and Viking School's complex is now being developed by a Korean group which organises tourism to the Mt. Pinatubo crater, with the approval of the Dept of Tourism. St. Andrew's society will continue to help via school supplies and small equipment and will supply furnishings for the St. Andrew's dormitory facility. We hope that the original school names will remain. Quoting The St Andrew's Chieftain Hamish Moore "This decision was taken following our chance meeting on site, and subsequent correspondance, with the Korean Charity, the Good People Foundation. Having seen their plans for the complete redevelopment of the school complex, including the dormitory, it became apparent that they were better resourced, financially and personnel-wise, to conduct this project and that our contribution would not add significantly to the worthy obectives of GPF. We still intend to continue to support the teachers and pupils of the school and have set aside monies for this purpose. I would, therefore, like to ask if you can provide us with a list of needed school supplies for the pupils and a list of furniture and toiletries for the teachers. "

The New MMQ classroom, SHOM school and David MacKenzie Ross Memorial School: start of construction was luckily delayed which has meant no damage to materials from the typhoons affecting the Philippines since May. Even though this has caused a delay we are just waiting for a long enough break in the bad weather and the land to dry out so we can start construction.

1. We are delighted to report that the MVP Pinatubo Treckers donated school supplies for one teacher and 40 pupils at a TOE²S school this month.
2. JENEVA and MMQ new TOE²S Schools are expecting to officially open this June and July - watch here for more details and the opening ceremony photos.
3. EVACF founder and President Jenny Wallum MBE has been voted to be a Director of the Philippines British Society.

The 15th AGM of EVACF was held in the new home of Jenny, our President, and celebrated the 18th year of assistance by EVACF members and more than 4000 indigenous children assisted with education. The members attending this AGM are shown on the left.
Our President reported that the past year has been both busy and challenging with fund raising for several new schools and the organisation of the 4th Towards Happy TOE²S residential training meeting.
The livelihood loans programme goes from strength to strength as do the scholarship grants for qualified Indigenous People. EVACF's work is again included in our partner's - The National Comission on Indigenous People NCIP Region 3 - Annual report and summarizes our achievements as having supported, to date, 42 schools, 52 college graduates, 26 college undergraduates and 173 livelihood loans.
Another of our partners, the Social Action Center of Pampanga (SACOP), continue to work with us, administering our livelihood loans fund for women in Pampanga.
Our new EVACF flyer was distributed at the meeting. if you need some please contact Jenny or Alain.
As usual we finished the meeting sharing a delicious lunch while watching the video from NCIP R3 which focuses on their work partnering with EVACF.

It was a great honour to be invited to display EVACF achievements at the Queen's Birthday party at the British Ambassador's Residence on the 23rd April. We hope you enjoy a glimpse of the event through our photos. The tondo Children's choir sang the anthems and as you can see we have a super new banner to use for future events.

EVACF office has found a new home as Jenny has moved from Dasmarinas village to Ecology Village.
Jenny says "Mabuhay to all EVACF members and friends!
I have lots of stuff in need of PACKING , so "PACK&YACK" must restart this Tuesday (21 April 2009) morning.
Please email everyone to tell them to come help me. THANX. Hugs
The new office address is 17 Sabio St. Ecology Village, SLV, 1230 Makati City and the Tel: 8172621

Great news from our Vice President Alain Antonio: EVACF featured in BABY mag

"BABY", March 2009, Vol. 14 No. 3
"Goods that do good" by Ditas Bermudez, pp. 66-67

Now available in all bookstand and bookstores.

Mabuhay to all!

Alain Antonio
www.evacf.org

NCIP Region 3 officers plan to visit Chang Chio Te Memorial School to encourage teachers, puplis , parents and community leaders in this remote place and to distribute school supplies and many other assorted items donated via EVACF.

EVACF Members visited "Studio Potters" and the Crescent Moon Cafe in Antipolo, home of Mt. Pinatubo Ashglaze Stoneware and good food! They saw the potters at work; ate good food off unique plates; and shoped from a wide range of beautiful pottery.

For a first hand account of this day by Patricia Walker Click here.

Also for more on the pottery follow this link.

Dear EVA Volunteers,
Just want to inform you of our coming aeta children outreach activity and finally the Happy Hanzel Aeta school inauguration. The outreach to the Viking Aeta School, Sitio Alunan, Sta. Juliana, Capas, Tarlac wil be on Feb. 11, 2009 with the Stolt Nielsen Shipping Co. employees and their wives. They have adapted the school and they have been doing their outreach for almost 4 years now. 4x4 vehicles or off road vehicles are suggested to be used cause we will be passing thru lahar and rough roads. What we usually do is to leave and secure  our vehicles in the house of one of our NCIP staff in Sta, Juliana, Capas, Tarlac and rent a 4x4 vehicle to reach the school up the mountain. They charged us P1,500 for one vehicle accomodating at least 5-6 persons. Happy Hanzel school inauguration will be on Feb. 12, 2009 at Sitio Baliwet, San Marcelino, Zambales. To reach the place we will be riding on carabao carts and "kuliglig". Both areas are so remote. Please let me know if there are interested EVACF volunteers who are interested to join. Tomorrow we are visiting the Mape School and looking forward to seeing the progress.

Dr. Catherine D. Ramos, NCIP-EVACF Project Coordinator, February 3rd 2009

During the outreach visit to schools the team also managed to deliver the rice donated in December. Look back at the link to see the whole story. This year we had so much rice donated that it nearly filled the EVACF office and all these donated by one generous company. The rice is given to the families of children who attend the schools and the photo on the left shows rice being gratefullly accepted by a parent of Maganday Schoolchildern. The rice is apportioned so that as many familes as possible and at as many TOE²S schools as possible receive something. There are still several bags of rice to be distributed.

Dr. Catherine D. Ramos NCIP-EVACF Project Coordinator organised an outreach on Thursday 29th January visiting Maganda'y Nobokah Aeta School, Sitio Monicayo. Calumpang, Mabalacat, Pampanga. You can see them opening their presents on the left and the delight in their faces. Next was Standard Chartered Aeta School which you can see on the right at San Martin, Bamban, Capas, Tarlac. The NCIP outreach team were distributing items kindly donated over the Christmas period by companies, clubs, schools and kind individuals. By nurturing the partnerships with groups like NCIP we ensure that donations are delivered in the best way possible. YOu can visit this page to see the donations.

In January, Mr. Frederico Kahn of the Cheese Club of the Philippines visited EVACF office to enquire about a special cheese tray order with their logo. We are very happy to entertain this type of request just so long as you are aware it takes a little time to prepare the items. If you want to know more about the Cheese club, they meet on the 1st Wednesday of every month at the Manila Polo Club, 17 McKinley Road, Makati City 1220 Philippines, Tel: +63 2 817 0951

In January, we were delighted to receive yet more donations, which included clothes and toys from anonymous donors and also a large selection of plastic plates, beakers and much more from EXOGAIN CORPORATION. Thank you again everyone. These are going to be distributed at the opening of schools, probably the Jen-Eva school expected sometime in May 2009. An extra treat for the lucky community.

The Spouses of Heads of Mission (SHOM), headed by their president, Mrs. Katsura, made a donation to EVACF. The ceremonial venue was held at the PGH Director Alfiler's office. Money will be used to build a 2 room 2 toilet TOE²S school to be named the SHOM-EVA Aeta School at Sitio Aryada, Limay, Bataan.

EVACF was invited to the January BWA general meeting at the house of Julie Williams on the 12th January. Those attending watched avidly the video prepared by students of the Brtish School Manila, telling the tale of Lily and her wish to go to school, entitled from Pumice to TOES (schools). It is a delight to attend these meetings as not only can we spread the news of new schools, but we can thank those who support us and sell pottery for more school constructions. BWA have helped to build 3 schools, and 2 additional toilet facilities. Their constant support encourages us all.

The Holiday Inn, Clarkfield has helped EVACF since it opened about 1997, after rising from the ashes of the Pinatubo Eruption. The hotel has a policy to help the Aeta indigenous people and does so partly through EVA Charity Fuondation. On occasions it has used Mt Pinatubo ashglaze stoneware sets as management gifts for special visitors and it has always permitted the charity to place its fundraisers on consignment in the lobby shop. This year EVACF presented a certificate of appreciation to the lobby shop for its support and hard work. The Hotel manager has announced the intention to assist EVACF further this year.

EVACF has a list of items needed by schools in 2009. If you can donate any of these items they will be much appreciated and support the excellent work in the TOE²S schools: