we interrupt normal programming...

... to bring you this very important message from my sponsor. (Fabio)

Hi Chick Chat Readers,

I thought I might expand on Toni's Kiva comments.
As you might have guessed, I am in the Philippines trying to turn a small unprofitable gold mine into a large profitable one and I have seen first hand, what third world poverty really means to people.

First let me say that I am deeply impressed with the Philippino people (Pinoy).
When I go shopping in one of the local stores I am often one of the worst dressed people to be seen; they are clean, happy, family oriented, industrious and friendly people. What they lack is opportunity.

Take Tumac for example; he is my driver/body guard.
He is a 28 year old married man with one 4 week old daughter.
He lives in a 3 room bamboo hut that I pass every day on my way to work.
He works my schedule which means up to 18 hours a day.
He completed high school with honours and 4 years of college, at the top of his class, to become a forensic police officer.
Unfortunately the police examination takes the top 120 persons out of 5000 applicants and he came 126th, so this extremely well educated, multi lingual (4 languages), skilled, funny, integrity driven, well conected man works for the princely sum of 8000 pesos a month (just short of $200 in Aussie dollars)

In many ways he is lucky, he has Philhealth, the local version of H.B.F.; another of my workers did not, when he collapsed and injured himself, the local hospital would not treat him until his family had come up with some cold hard cash, that's poverty.

2 days ago I saw 2 young wives fighting over a piece of firewood, that's poverty.

Yesterday I saw a boy (maybe 10 years old) nearly washed away in a raging torrent of thick muddy water, coming off the mountain that I am mining under, after 3 hours of torrential rain. He was trying to pan gold with his family, he literally risked life and limb to put food on the table, that's poverty.

Here in this magnificent, beutiful, proud and dangerous country, money is indeed life, so little can do so much.

Years ago Toni and I decided to support Kiva without really understanding the impact that it can have, now I truly get it and I will support Kiva till the end of my days.

Yukiful na salamat Di. (good evening and thank you esteemed ladies).....Fabio