PANAAD sa Negros Festival is celebrating its 25th year this 2018.
One of their activities is “Panaad: The Promise Fulfilled, A Musical Play,” a show which featured Negrense artists Joel Torre, Kuh Ledesma, Ronnie Lazaro, Emcy Coreza, Audie Gemora, Vanya Castor and Carlos Sison.
The cast also included Jed Arboleda, Ern Martir, Fergus Martir and Dwight Gaston recently at SMX Convention Center. Many local based Negrense actors also joined the show.
The story is about the ups and downs and ups again of the Negrenses, especially the sugar planters during the seventies to the nineties. It tells of fictitious families, of a haciendero family and an encargado family. It shared the achievements, struggles, and survival of the Negrenses. It also showed the meaning of “Panaad,” and what it means to the Negrenses. The promise - that the Negrenses will never be hungry again, that it will not depend on one product alone but with the many products the Negrenses can do.
It was a wonderful and enjoyable play. The actors were superb, the set was beautiful and the songs were great.
The show was for the benefit of rebuilding Kalipay Negrense Foundation’s Recovered Treasures in Bago City.
Kalipay Negrense Foundation is a non-government organization committed to rescuing the disadvantaged children – the homeless, the neglected, the abandoned, and the abused (both physically and sexually) and also the victims of child labor and child trafficking. These are the children who silently cry out for help.
Kalipay has been taking care of several children for the past ten years. Kalipay makes sure that their needs are provided and their rights are protected. Kalipay believes that no child should be hungry, no child should be subjected to violence, no child should be denied education and no child should be left on the streets.
Kalipay has two residential homes, where the children are provided with a fun, safe and loving environment through its home, health, education, and social services.
Haven Home in Bacolod City is a home to newly rescued children and children below four years old. It is also the residence of Kalipay’s older children, those who have graduated from high school and are ready to enroll in Senior High School.
Recovered Treasures in Bago City is home to more than a hundred children from ages 4 to 18 years old. There is also a school building within the compound run in partnership with a private school accredited by the Department of Education.
Sadly, the home in Recovered Treasures is dilapidated. It has cracked walls and has poor ventilation. It also has a small kitchen and dining room which can hardly fit about one hundred children. It does not have a living and the bathrooms are in bad shape.
Kalipay Negrense Foundation Inc., together with the province of Negros Occidental, invites you to shower these Negrense children with love and care.
You can donate, volunteer or spread the word. Please visit their website: www.kalipaynegrensefoundation.org or call their office at (034) 435-2496.