BGN Serves The Diaspora's Need to Stay Connected & Help

FROM www.BGN.org Blog on BGN Serves The Diaspora's Need to Stay Connected & Help

First of all: our deepest sympathies and prayers go out to all the victims of the past typhoons.

Disasters like Ondoy and Pepeng (internationally called "Ketsana" and "Parma") have brought out the best in the Filipinos - even if sometimes we still forget to hide some of our lesser traits at the same time. There are thousands of people donating relief goods and cash to the affected victims. Companies and individuals are also assisting their colleagues as they recover from their loss. Even more heroic are those who sacrificed their own lives to save others and those who lost everything yet give their time and efforts to assist others. We don't need to talk about the sad few who continue to campaign in the places that they have neglected to help with better infrastructure and drainage.

I don't feel like it is my place to comment on the goings-on especially since a lot has been said by better people who have helped and continue to help. The little I would like to share is the following.

Even in the Brain Gain Network which is embodied by the web-enabled network and the countless emails among our informal members there is a COMMUNION OF SPIRIT: an almost tangible sense of unity among the Filipinos and Friends of Filipinos scattered around the world. Through this network, on this service, on facebook, or simply via an email or text, many friends ask how they can assist in the relief efforts. On some of our pages like the Group on Ways of Donating $ or Time to Charitiesor Relief Efforts in the Philippines we do our humble best to share posts and links that others have shared to causes that we are aware of and which we believe will best course any assistance sent from abroad*.

Details aside, we are happy to confirm that our idea of re-building www.BGN.org has been validated by the need of many smart and intelligent Filipinos and Friends around the world who are HUNGRY FOR WAYS TO GIVE TO THE PHILIPPINES. BGN has given links to ways to help with donations but in the end we believe that the collective (brain and spiritual) power of this network begs to be used to identify the root causes of the major problems plaguing our nation and to propose innovative and radical solutions. We hope that the forums and provocative media shared will allow all to contribute valuable experience and insights into how Filipinos around the world can collaborate to improve our country, physically, economically and spiritually.

Sincerely,

Paco

*The best is always to send your donations or assistance through people you know personally and deeply trust, but if you don't have access to those, here are some other options. We still urge you to get comfortable with your chosen course and follow links and read how your support will be used.