Playing Catch Up - Momma 'N Manila

I’m sad.

I had a bit of a problem last month with the blog.

I updated a bunch of my plugins and did all this technical stuff to keep everything neat and up to date, and somehow something went awry. Turns out some of the updates had bugs, we had to roll back the blog till the last update that was saved and left unscathed, which meant that I lost a bunch of posts on DS awareness.

I had plans of getting everything fixed and back up and running as quickly as possible. But as many of you know, life happens and things don’t go exactly as we plan.

The first quarter of the year is always the busiest for me. January is usually when we focus on Autism Awareness. February is reserved for Down Syndrome Consciousness Month as well as my son’s birthday celebrations. March is always busy because it is Best Buddies Month and believe, you, me, this month is just as busy as the two months that came before it.

I will try and catch up on the backlogged posts. But because there are so many other things going on, I wanted to at least get something out there so that I can tell you all just how much I have missed writing and letting you know what’s going on.

The most devastating thing is that I had a bunch of guest posts published and new ones queued for Down Syndrome Consciousness Month and I lost them too. Because I have those posts saved in other places, I can definitely revisit them and publish them at a later date.

But for now, I will share with you the week that was…

Last week was jam packed with Best Buddies Philippines events and I wanted to share them all with you now.

It’s as if time escapes me every single day. I’m trying to fit in as much as I can while still managing the home and taking care of the kids. But to be honest, so many things are falling through the cracks.

BALANCE. BALANCE. BALANCE.

On Thursday March 16th, Best Buddies Philippines launched their first art exhibit with over 32 paintings all completed by artists with special needs. These acrylic on canvas paintings featured collaborations done by our Citizen Buddies during Vico Cham’s last birthday.

Since Vico has opened Vico’s Artism Gallery, he has welcomed artists of all abilities to attend art classes with teachers who can further the artistic skills of all individuals.

To learn more about the inclusive art therapy classes that Vico’s Artism Gallery offers, visit their FB page.

The featured artists will be donating 20% of the proceeds to Best Buddies Philippines to further inclusion through our friendship programs

On Friday of last week, we were able to train 8 new ambassadors. These 8 new ambassadors will join Vico, Jessica, and Ian in our roster of self advocates. They will attend Best Buddies events, and be given the opportunity to speak publicly at different events around the metro.

Best Buddies Philippines Ambassadors L-R: Jessica, Ian, Cojie, Randy, Nicey, Dacki, Andie, Clarence, and Vico

On Saturday morning we met with almost 60 new public and private school teachers. Jennifer Allen, our International Programs Director facilitated this training, arming these educators with the tools they will need to bring Best Buddies back to their respective middle and high schools.

How exciting is it that we had teachers from as far as Sorsogon, Lipa, and Valenzuela attend this training?

On Saturday night, Best Buddies Philippines was welcomed into one of Manila’s premier dance clubs for a Teen and Adult Dance Party that would have our Buddies dancing NON-STOP for four hours straight.

This photo totally amazes me. These are our buddies, our parents, our faculty advisors, and supporters of Best Buddies dancing the night away (which they did for four hours straight) in a place that is safe, secure, and a real live nightclub. Not many of our Buddies have experienced this kind of dancing like you are totally free, and we are so thankful that Prive Luxury Club believes in our mission of social inclusion. They gave our Buddies an experience that they will remember FOREVER.

The image that remains in my head from this evening?

Watching our Buddies laughing, grooving, and getting lost in the music, the lights, and the truth that everyone in that place “gets them.” We all jammed together. We all let loose and had perma-grin from all the good clean fun that we were gifted for that evening.

That evening? That was social inclusion at its BEST.

All for BEST BUDDIES.

Will still try and play catch up. I have so many hugot posts lined up. This year has been amazing and eye opening for so many reasons. We are coming up on graduation for all of my kids in the different stages of their educational careers. But for now, I will leave you with the fun that we had and our newly trained ambassador Andie who was rocking it out on the dance floor at Privé.

This is how our Ambassador Andie Cruz gets down during our Teen and Adult Dance Night @priveluxuryclubbing! #inclusion #priveluxuryclub #bestbuddiesasiapac #bestbuddiesdlsz #bestbuddiesph #bestbuddies #downsyndromeawareness #autismawareness #danceparty #dance #fundraiser #foundation

A post shared by BestBuddiesPHL (@bestbuddiesphl) on Mar 18, 2017 at 10:49pm PDT