Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Blog Action Day: Blog Poverty

Today 9,000+ bloggers are blogging about poverty to raise awareness, initiate action and to shake the web!

I do not like putting a video of the Philippines that depicts only the poverty, because aside from the poverty there are a lot of good things, great people and nice places in the Philippines. However, since Blog Action Day today focuses on Poverty, I pulled this video out for many to see. (warning: the maker of the video included some footages from the 911 which I think shouldn't have been added here.. but it's there. I apologize if you think that that part is out of context here)

Ironically, the Tagalog word "Paraiso" when translated in English means "Paradise" ...


Return to a land called Paraiso,
a place where a dying river ends.
No birds there fly over Paraiso,
no space allows them to endure.
The smoke that screens the air,
the grass that's never there.

And if I could see a single bird, what a joy.
I try to write some words and create
a simple song to be heard
by the rest of the world.

I live in this land called Paraiso,
in a house made of cardboard floors and walls.
I learned to be free in Paraiso,
free to claim anything I see.
Matching rags for my clothes,
plastic bags for the cold.

And if empty cans were all I have, what a joy.
I never fight to take someone
else's coins and live with fear
like the rest of the boys.

Paraiso, help me make a stand.
Paraiso, take me by the hand
Paraiso, make the world understand
that if I could see a single bird, what a joy.
This tired and hungry land could expect
some truth and hope and respect
from the rest of the world

***

For a related post on poverty, click HERE.






1 comment:

kuanyin333 said...

Mahalo for your visit to my WYM blog, and I apologize for taking so long to return the visit.

Today I'm making the time to visit commenters and enjoying my visits.

Great to meet another Maui blogger--we're few in numbers!

I also participated in Blog Action Day, and if you're interested,I posted it on another one of my blogs called Blog-Blond.