News about the Helping Hand Project

17. Dezember 2003

Dear Mng. Pilar, Alfred, Daisy, Dieter, kids and the Haranang Filipino Family,

Greetings of peace and Merry Christmas to ALL of you!!!

Thank you very much for your Great 2 emails and for the nice packages that you sent us, we appreciate so much your love and friendliness which we could not pay back materially but praying to our Loving God to repay you back with more blessings, good health, happy family, more fun with your children, friends and relatives especially as we celebrate this Christmas Season. May joy and happiness flow among us though we are million miles away from each other.

Pasensya po for not replying 2 long though I want very much to open my email earlier but actually I just open last Tuesday and this morning. It was unfortunate that I was down for almost 3 wks from severe flu and colds and stayed at home for 2 weeks but praise God we are now recovering with my children Aldrich and Jay that were infected from me.

We are happy to receive the package on the 2nd week of December, our spirit was elated and our illness were almost gone due to gladness as we opened and each one of us were sorting and wearing the nice clothes that you sent us. We were able to select most of the clothes with our children, niece, brother who are staying with us and our mother who came to visit us from Lias and they are back now. Thanks a lot for it we like it so much and the rest we bring it to Lias. I just receive a text message from our Pastor yesterday that the package for Mr. Romeo Coffin is now with our church member who is doing a package delivery business. I will send it to somebody who is going home, or we will bring it home with us when we go home on the last week of December.

I appreciate so much the English homepage that you made, it is best for our target beneficiaries in the different project sites here in the Philippines, now they could appreciate more the different projects that you have established since at least they could understand and hopefully could encourage them to better implement the project. The Deutchs version is also best for our sponsors to better appreciate and support our projects.

Well, regarding our project, I received a letter from the Lias Fruit Growers Officers regarding the rules and regulations on how to use the grass cutter that Mrs. and Mr. Awingan brought it home last October, I will email it later for your comment. By the way, we are planing to spend the rest of the our Christmas vacation in Lias and we are going home on the last week and I planned to buy coffee arabica seeds for for sowing in the nursery that the farmers have constructed since the old coffee seeds did not germinate because they have lost their viability, so I will buy a new harvested coffee seeds. I plan to conduct a meeting among the farmers for updates regarding the project and know their future plans for next year since I was not able to go home since I came back from US last July. I appreciate Alfred for his concern and effort regarding the preservation of the Philippine eagle in Lias, good luck! Its unfortunate though that Mr. Ciano's (president of the Association) Wife died the other day in Bontoc due to stroke.

In behalf of the Kacayon family, I thank you ALL for the money that you sent for Bianca, kindly extend my thanks to Frau Schaumacher, I am very happy to know that you are also planing to spend your vacation next year in the Philippines and spending the rest of it to Lias, I am gladly looking forward on April, this is good time coz we are also having our Clan Reunion and the Fiesta, Rest assured that I will inform the Lias people regarding this matter. I'm happy to inform you that the Lias Tribe Association is celebrating the Christmas here in Acop, uncle Caels house our neighbor, we will be playing gongs and a lot of fun....well, we are cordially inviting you...hehehe

I understand that inspite of your bussy time you are still doing your best spending your precious time in presenting cultural presentations and graceful dances this Christmas to interested and passionate groups and individuals just to support our projects...wishing you the best and God bless you ALL.

Kindly extend my best regards to everybody and
I JOIN MY FAMILY IN WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

Sincerely,
Pedro