Talisay Anda gets free souvenir

Crafts and kids arts workshops

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, June 23 (PIA)—Thank you very much for bringing this opportunity to our community today, Ana Mainit retired librarian and president of Talisay Fisherman’s Association (TAFIAS) announced her gratitude at the close of the day-long four simultaneous workshops held at the AndaKIDZ Community Center, Talisay Anda, June 16.

In short notice, Mainit successfully gathered over a hundred mothers, parents, students and out of school youth including toddlers to early teens to the Arts and Crafts Workshop organized by the House of IT (HOIT), Aninaw Arts Collective and the Philippine Information Agency in Bohol.

The workshop forms part of the annual outreach program of the HOIT, and their third year in Bohol with PIA Bohol’s coordinating for their activities here, according to Mithi Sandalo Juacel, HOIT vice president.

In December of 2016, the PIA brought HOIT to the tourism island of Pamilacan, where the business process outsourcing company brought its employees to an early Christmas gift giving and kiddie workshops in Pamilacan Island.

In 2017, for the company’s CSR, the PIA in Bohol recommended going to help the Eskaya Community, especially in their preservation of culture.

That time, HOIT and its artists crafted and printed visual aids for the Eskaya language preservation classes. The educational materials were a hit to the children in the mountains who found it amazing.

This year, the TAFIAS and the AndaKIDZ were the beneficiaries for the kiddie art coloring and story-telling workshops, while the parents and teens had t-shirt printing in ordinary silk screen, red film and photographic printing.

With tourism booming in the town blessed with kilometric stretches of white sandy beaches and extravagant tourists, HOIT also offered shell based tourism souvenir and novelty items crafting.

For AndaKIDZ, the free workshops allowed the locals the opportunity to take a second hard look at the over-supply of materials which they could easily transform into additional income for the family.

“Daghan pa nga angay tabangan dinhi,” (There are many who could use some help here), Mainit, who along with Estonians Robin Guerney and wife, organized the community to help each other in addressing their miserable condition.

Set in the mangrove forest lined coasts of Anda, Talisay is a strong fishing community, until the fishermen realized the decline in fisheries and that more frequent typhoons putting them at risk.

The decision to go off fishing and finding alternative livelihood placed AndaKIDZ in the environmentalists’ radars when the people and international volunteers came in to help build a disaster resilient community center from recycled bottles and native materials.

The women went to tilapia, taro and food processing peaking in their taro ice cream and tilapia chips, but with Bureau of Food and Drugs asking them to check on their food sanitation preparation accreditation, the women soon lost interest and reverted back to the old unproductive ways, confessed Mainit.

While government came in with their package of assistance, she found it hard to convince the women to be active again.

Until HOIT and the PIA communicated its interest in bringing in free training workshops, things started to move.

Daghan kaajo’ng interesado, namasin nga makakuha’g kahibaw sa paghimog mga souvenirs nga ikabaligja sa turista, (Many were interested, trying their luck at getting the skill to craft souvenirs which they can sell top tourists) Mainit, who is ably assisted by her husband, retired policeman Virgilio, relayed to HOIT during an ocular visit and community validation.   

To make sure that not an hour of the day would be lost, the workshop organizers also packed in free food for the participants and even brought in art materials which they donated to the community.

Nindot kayo nga workshop Sir, basin makahimo na pud ta’g gamay nga displayhan para sa mga turista nga molabay dinhi padung sa Lamanoc. (It was a great workshop Sir, we hope we can put up a souvenir display for the tourists who go to Lamanoc,) a mother who worked on pandan leaves crafted into a puso keyholder excitedly shared.

By the end of the day, all participants outputs were judged as to their commercial viability and prizes where given for their creations.

Salamat jud, nga nakakuha mi aning libre nga workshops, kay kon pabayran pa ni, ambot lang kon makabayad pa ba mi (Thank you very much for these free workshops, for it this were to be paid, we do not know if we have funds for these), Mainit told the group who were leaving back for Cebu Sunday. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

Kiddie arts coloring workshop which ends in a story telling contest are among the skills which HOIT and Aninaw Arts Collective along with PIA Bohol brought to AndaKIDZ to help parents find alternative livelihood through tourist souvenir crafts making. (rahc/PIA7/Bohol)

Aninaw artist cuts the red film in preparation for the silk screen printing which HOIT and the PIA in Bohol brought to Anda Bohol to give parents alternative livelihood and cash in on tourism. The craft workshop happened inside the AndaKIDZ Community Center in Talisay Anda. (rahc/PIA7/Bohol)