Children all over the world first learn their ABCs from the popular program Sesame Street. But in the South African version, children learn a new set of letters, "H-I-V" and "A-I-D-S."

In Takalani Sesame, Kami is like any other children's puppet, except for one significant difference: she has HIV. Kami brings to life the reality of HIV/AIDS and ends the stigma of the disease.

Moving almost four years ago to the Takalani Sesame neighborhood, Kami not only represents the face of AIDS in Africa but also the 14 million orphans whose parents have died from the disease, a number which is currently rising as more and more people with children die every year in the region.

Last summer, after 28 years, I had the opportunity to again visit my mother’s hometown of La Carlota, Negros Occidental (Philippines).  I wondered why it took me that long to visit Negros but one thing is certain, after that visit, I promised to go back as often as I can. Not because the food was exceptional, not just to catch up with relatives I’ve just met but because of the plight of the children and teachers in the barangays of La Carlota.

The path I’ve chosen [in life] is working with and for children. Education,
specifically pre-school education is close to my heart as I worked as a pre-school teacher for quite a number of years. I have seen how lucky the children in private schools are with access to all the materials and supplies needed in enriching their young minds. Thus, it broke my heart to hear about the children and see a pre-school with hardly any thing inside it.

For a business idea that was just discovered on a "serendipity walk," (see this article) there is no doubt that Centromigrante has made a giant leap by winning the grand prize from the prestigious MIT 100K Entrepreneurship Competition last week in Cambridge, Massachussettes. This is the first time a  Filipino team has taken on this 100K race, a competition that might as well be compared to a marathon for its magnitude and prestige. An advantage arose for the Pinoy team when MIT decided to shift course this year and open 100K to a development track.

The building of transient homes for seafares in the Philippines is the team´s running proposal. "As many as one million Filipinos a year spend up to six months away from their home provinces, looking for jobs as seafarers in Manila´s port areas with most of them living in shanties under depressed and undignified living conditions."