T-shirts fresh off the rack

Hey guys and girls, this week, I designed two t-shirts as a remembrance for the hard work of our teachers, parents, and especially, sponsors, who are making this trip possible. Below are the two designs: one will be for our performance at SM San Pablo City and the other will be for our cultural immersion day in Bataan.

If you would like to purchase or donate a shirt to the Bayan-Bayanan Elementary school students or the Pag-ibig at Pag-asa (PPP) /Central School Rondalla Kids, click on the link below. T-shirts cost $3.75 or $4.75. For those who have donated to either charity organization already, you will receive a San Pablo performance t-shirt for free. To ensure you have the right size, all who wish to receive one must fill out the form. Donors' names will be written on the first T-shirt and teachers, students and parents' names will be written on the latter.

SM San Pablo Performance

During our stay in San Pablo City, we will be performing at the SM Mall in San Pablo City. To accomodate for the five other groups performing with us, our performance will be held in the Atrium (basically the center) of the mall. Funds for this performance will go to the PUP RED Foundation, Inc. projects, the Paaralang Pag-ibig at Pag-asa (PPP), a school for the disabled, and the Division of San Pablo City Schools. It'll be great to hear all of the local schools' Rondalla groups perform!

Bayan-Bayanan Elementary School

On one of our trips, we'll be traveling to Bataan to meet the children of Bayan-Bayanan Elementary school. This school is unique because about one-third of the students are Aeta people who live in the mountains. Aeta are the aboriginal people of the Philippines, or as they say, the true Filipinos. (You can read more about them in one of my earlier posts.) Thanks to Myrna Nisperos, my aunts and my mother, we plan to give t-shirts to all of the 130 students and their parents. 

Each circle represents an activity planned for that day. The purple circle represents us, the Rondalla kids. Since this is more of an immersion and not a performance, we'll only be playing a few short songs for the children and their parents. Luckily, the school has a plethora of events planned for us. We'll play pabitin, a.k.a. "climb up the bamboo stick the fastest," plant trees in the school's backyard, so that the students can one day have a playground of their own (that means bring your own tag so someday you can return to your tree!), watch a performance by the parents of the Aeta (they're traveling from the mountains just for us!), and hear a little bit of the school's drum and lyre band. The school is very excited for our arrival! 

Just five more days...five more days...

Sierra Jamir