One Candle Schoolhouse

Dropped in on Bill and Diane Pool at their One Candle Schoolhouse in Tambobo Bay, Siaton. Theirs is an informal, open classroom which Diane handles every Saturday for the children in the area, and to which TVB Group recently gave some pre-owned, but perfectly good elementary school textbooks.

Diane's students range in age from 4 years old to about 20, coming from within a radius of 2 or 3 barangays. They come - rain or shine, some on foot while others in their bancas - every Saturday, all hungry for the wide range of activities she always has for them, the most popular being the chance to work on their stories at the (donated) computers.

Having all these children eager to learn and just soaking up everything has also encouraged several cruisers who drop anchor at the Bay for more than a few days, to volunteer and teach them a skill or two. The latest of these is Robin, an American architect who's now teaching the kids art appreciation and basic drawing skills. Below is one of the kids' works.

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Interacting With Persons With Disabilities

July is Disability Awareness Month, and TVB Group was recently asked by Great Physician Rehabilitation Foundation (GPR) to help in its information dissemination campaign. TVB member and Outdoor Specialist, Jufer Villanueva, has been quietly volunteering his time at GPR's center, sharing some adaptive games with children with cerebral palsy, Down's Syndrome, and other disabilities.

Saturday morning he gave a talk on "Interacting With Persons With Disabilities" for the parents of the children, Nursing and Physical Therapy students, and other volunteers. GPR has requested that he give the same talk over the next few months during their info campaign. In August the target audience will be the various colleges and universities, and after that the socio-civic organizations of Oriental Negros.

After his talk, Jufer demonstrated some adaptive games that can be played by children in wheelchairs or crutches. Shown here is an adaptation of baseball for children with cerebral palsy or those unable to propel the wheelchairs themselves.

Innovation Awards Wiki Up

Negros Oriental Innovation Awards 2005-2006 is already up. You may find it at www.innovationawards.kom.ph. More details as soon as we finalize them.

In the meantime, do keep posted on this blog, too.

Of Call Center Visits and DTI's IT Outlook Presentation

July's turning out to be quite busy for IT Investment Promotion with the visit of teams from 2 call centers only a few days apart: June 30-July 1 and July 4-8. Both call center teams were given the IT Outlook presentations by DTI-Negros Oriental and given the full Investment Promotion tour with TVB Group's assistance. They talked with the telcos, checked out all the available locator-sites and tourism/hosting facilities, and visited universities and the BPOs that have located or opened here. At Silliman University, Foundation University, and St. Paul University, the teams interacted with the students to experience first-hand the local population's facility with the English language.

Both teams were quite impressed with what they saw here and by the success of SPI-Publishers Services. One, composed of senior management, has indicated their intent to start with a small site in Dumaguete within the year.

This morning, DTI-Negros Oriental did its IT Outlook presentation for the Oriental Negros Chapter of the League of Mayors of the Phils. While Jong Fortunato did the presentation, TVB Group provided technical support.

Another Blogging Workshop

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TVB Group Workshops in March

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Our First Activities

TVB Group Inc.'s only 2 years old and yet when we looked back to see what we could put into our wiki and this blog, we were pleasantly surprised to note that we seem to have been quite busy all that time. Here's a sampling of some of our past activities in cooperation with several organizations, schools and businesses.


1st Negros Oriental Book Fair, August 2003. Jong Fortunato, Oriental Negros' Governor George Arnaiz, Book Development Assn of the Phils Pres. Mr. L. Sandoval. Other partners were Nationwide Book Network and Libro.

1st NOBF Essay-writing contest, Elementary Level. Our partners were the Department of Education-Dumaguete City Division and Foundation University.

1st NOBF, Dr. Isagani Cruz's forum on The New Makabayan Curriculum. Partners were Anvil Publishing House and Silliman University.

Hosting and providing technical support for Oriental Negros' IT Outlook presentation at the 3rdPhilippines e-Services Convention, February 17, 2005

Networking during the 3rd Philippine e-Services Convention, February 18, 2005.

An informal audience with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during her March 10, 2005 visit to Dumaguete City to look at the IT investors of Oriental Negros.

TVB Group's Board Members, March 2005

Susan Canoy's Summer Art Workshop, May 2003

Dr. Edith Tiempo at the TVB Group Inc.-assisted book launch for Dr. Cesar Ruiz Aquino's CheckMeta, March 15, 2004

The 1st Team-building Workshop for TVB Group Inc., April 2003

Dr. Cesar Ruiz Aquino reading a poem from his book CheckMeta

1st NOBF. Story Hour for Grade 2 public school pupils of DepEd-Dumaguete City Division. Partners were friends, Peace Corps volunteers, media personalities, Senior students from Foundation University's College of Education, and volunteers from Calvary Chapel ( shown in the following photos are Alex, Natalie and Suzanne)



1st NOBF. Readership Workshop with Dr. Patria Cordero, for high school teachers. Partners were the Reading Assn of the Phils., National Book Development Board and Foundation University.

1st NOBF. Story Hour for Grade 2 public school pupils of DepEd-Dumaguete City Division. Partners were friends, Peace Corps volunteers, media personalities(shown in photo are Alex and Irma Pal), Senior students from Foundation University's College of Education, and volunteers from Calvary Chapel

1st NOBF. School children and their parents at the Book Fair.

1st NOBF. School children and their parents at the Book Fair.

1st NOBF. Story Hour for Grade 2 public school pupils of DepEd-Dumaguete City Division. Partners were friends(shown is campus beauty queen Von Kathleen Panot), Peace Corps volunteer Durrell Hatch, media personalities Alex and Irma Pal, Senior students from Foundation University's College of Education, and volunteers from Calvary Chapel

1st NOBF. Essay-writing contest, High School and Elementary level winners with judges Bobby Flores Villasis, Nicco Vitug, Atty Ernesto Superal Yee

poetry writing workshop with artantrum, su

Judges at the Oriental Negros Innovation Awards (formerly called the NOBDF Innovation Awards) 2003-2004: Prof Andy Ferreria of AIM, Dr. Paco Sandejas,
Engr. Filemon Berba, with Provincial Board Member Hon. Mariant Escano-Villegas and Jong Fortunato. February 25 2004


2004-2005 Oriental Negros Innovation Awards. Guest speaker Mr. Illac Diaz at the College of Business Administration, Silliman University, a day before the official launch.

2004-2005 Oriental Negros Innovation Awards, Information Campaign. Colegio de Sta. Catalina de Alejandria, October 2004. Partnered with Lead Agency DTI-Negros Oriental


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