Hey hey hey, finally making my post about my trip to Dumaguete last week. A quick background, my cousin Diwa and I have been planning this trip since last year so we decided to book our tickets to Dumaguete last December so that the seats wouldn't be that expensive ;) We spent my birthday weekend there, and I am so happy about it. This travel entry will be a bit different, as I'll be starting from the last day (well, second to the last since we didn't take any pictures on our last day because our flight to Manila was so early). Why? Because I want to share with you guys how special my birthday was this year :)
For 2011, I decided to spend my birthday with the girls of Casa Esperanza. Casa Esperanza is a shelter for abused women and children (all girls) in Dumaguete--mostly from the remote areas. Apologies if you can't see their faces clearly as I had to blur their eyes for security reasons.
the Casa Esperanza girls during their activity
I brought cake and goodies for the girls :) Diwa and I also met my aunt's YATTA girls. YATTA is my aunt's youth theatre group in Dumaguete. Her YATTA girls were the ones who conducted the fun activities for the Casa Esperanza girls. Kudos to these young ladies!
I was fighting back tears in this shot. The girls suddenly sang happy birthday to me. They even offered a prayer for me, so touched. Truly truly blessed to have met these girls and to have seen how much they're really trying to recover from the unimaginable things they've gone through. You wouldn't think that they've experienced so much, especially when you see them laugh and smile.
I've decided to try helping out Casa Esperanza since the shelter's not getting much from the city. I asked my aunt to send me the list of housekeeping items the shelter needs so that I'll send a box every month or every other month. Not a lot, but it's my way of giving back. We have so much and we often don't realize that there are so many people out there who need our help, most of them not so far from where we are.
April 11, 2011 truly was a happy birthday for me :)
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