This July, my birth month, I'm celebrating each day by advocating for the things that I love to live for and that includes rock 'n roll. But apart from that music era which gave us some of the best things we could ever have in this world (like inspiring a hippie non-conformist life), rock has transcended from merely just being a fad to today's voice of an awakened cultural society. It has become more of an attitude that drives one to make a real blast out of what we do best until we hear someone tell us, "You rock!" And for that we become more than a rocker pretending to be a god on stage; we are regarded as a shaker, a mover, a trailblazer for doing something "godly" for humanity.
 |
| Graphic designer and RHUM advocate Farah Brodit was able to capture the spirit and objective of the group in this impressively executed logo design. R in RHUM represents an important element of nature, rock that is--rough, tough and tainted, a proof of withstanding the many challenges and hurdles in life. The green M in the logo symbolizes MAN, the steward of mother earth. The text, rock for humanity, with its freehand style captures the human spirit-- freely moving, ever willing to serve humanitarian causes. |
How we envisioned
Rock for Humanity as an organization went beyond playing and appreciating rock music, the very common thing that brought us, RHUM advocates, together. We came up with the hip, fun and witty "nick name" RHUM and toasted to every success of our little events that somehow made a big difference in the lives of others because every musical production was dedicated for a certain cause. And so RHUM became a byword in the local production scene five years ago when we were just one of those flourishing "prods" finding our own space in the local music and art scene. What we had then were all benefit gigs to raise funds for our planned outreach programs that were usually done during summer and Christmas season. We were able to reconcile our passion for rock music and our love for community service. With music as our driving force then, we promoted Rock for HUManity (RHUM) with a strong emphasis on HUM to highlight music as an important tool for such advocacy.
Poster designs by RHUM Advocates Farah (Let's RHUM as One, Rock the Earth, PRHUM Night at 6UG), Aza Camps (Rock for Womanity) & Jojo Laig (Penguin Rocks for Humanity, Rockultura)
We always had a blast during RHUM gigs held at our favorite indie hubs like the bohemian-inspired Penguin Cafe in Remedios Circle (now relocated to Makati) and the then goth-charmed 6Underground in Legaspi Village. Even with our piling deadlines and the demands of our day jobs, we would still find time to meet after work for a drink and brainstorm endlessly for an upcoming gig. We would get very excited about the event concept, gig poster, band line-up and whatever gimmicks we could think of-- always anticipating an awesome crowd gracing our events and sharing our vision to rock for a purpose. Back then, our tagline for RHUM was RHUM sets the stage ablaze with Pinoy acts that rock for the human race. And so for a time, we went on rocking for humanity...
 |
| Little RHUMmers Jomin & Angel |
 |
| Erwin of TOYO, one of RHUM's house bands |
 |
| Honey & Jojo |
 |
| RHUM house band 7 Days Off with Toti on the lead |
 |
| RHUM house band Makina |
 |
| RHUM house band Jaycie & Honey |
 |
| Juan Pablo Dream, our guest band for RHUM's 1st birthday gig |
 |
| Guest band Agaw Agimat spicing up our Rock the Vote gig |
 |
| Scarlettears gracing our Halloween gig |
 |
| With Krissy and 6UG gatekeepers |
 |
| One of our gigs at Penguin Cafe with Sam, DJ, Jaycie, Farah, Honey, Krissy & Jojo |
 |
| RHUMmin' with actor Joel Torre |
 |
| RHUM's first anniversary gig (PenguinCafe) |
 |
Our Halloween gig PHRUM Night, Fright Night
with Ey, Krissy and Carlo (Penguin Cafe) |
 |
| Ey during RHUM's birthday, also the launch of RHUM button pins. How we love all those witty lines we thought of just for RHUM. |
 |
| Rock the Vote gig at Route 196 in Katipunan |
 |
| Our own version of prom: PRHUM Night at 6UG |
 |
| RHUMmers were here! (ANC studio) |
 |
| ANC guesting |
 |
| RHUM advocates Richard and Farah for ANC's morning show |
After our series of fundraising gigs, we would always look forward to The White Bag Project, RHUM's charity drive that aims to respond to some of the basic needs of our chosen beneficiaries like poor communities, street children, public hospitals and environmental projects among others. Our experience in community organizing activities essentially taught us the spirit of volunteerism and one is sacrificing our free time and giving beyond what is convenient to give up to make a difference in the lives of others. We had two successful community projects: RHUM's community gift-giving in Brgy. Dona Imelda, Araneta Avenue in December 2006 and our summer feeding program (in partnership with Center for Culinary Arts) in Brgy. Balangkas, Valenzuela in April 2008. RHUM was able to cater to more than 30 children from poor families in Brgy. Dona Imelda and around 30 malnourished kids in Bgy. Balangkas.
From then on, we started referring to RHUM as a volunteer group and not just one of the many production groups dominating most bars and managing their own "elite" circle to showcase what some claim to be the "best" in the independent rock scene. We just wanted to do our thing and that was to rock for humanity.
 |
| Part of our "Rock & Feed" project was to distribute vitamins to around 30 malnourished kids in Brgy. Balangkas, Valenzuela. |
 |
| The students of Center for Culinary Arts, one of our partners in this project, prepared a healthy spaghetti meal for the kids. | |
 |
| I asked the kids if they know what rock is.. |
 |
| They were all so eager to answer.. bato! |
 |
| Aza & Farah ( Brgy. Dona Imelda community gift giving, Christmas 2006) |
 |
| Singing Christmas carols... |
 |
| RHUMmin' and goofing around... |
 |
| Krissy telling a story to the kids.. |
 |
| Rock on kids! |
 |
| Distributing our white bags of goodies (The White Bag Project) |
 |
| Community storytelling with Lhot |
 |
| We Rock for Humanity! We RHUM! |
Our 2008 "Rock & Feed" project in Valenzuela was the last of it for RHUM's first phase since most of us advocates became busy on other things that demanded more of our time and commitment. Most had to attend to some important projects, while some had to leave the country to pursue bigger plans. Yet, contrary to popular belief that "some good things never last," we believe, even in our separate paths, that all the good things we have started in RHUM are meant to last....until this very day when we are ready to rock for humanity again.
This will be the beginning of another exciting journey as we relaunch RHUM this year by going places. Rock for Humanity will have a new look in RHum, highlighting our very cause which of course is to Rock for Humanity. And it's not just about the music serving as our only vehicle for such advocacy; we are advancing the cause of humanity by giving back to the community and that's exactly what we are committed to do as we go RHumobile. If before, we had to create our own "scene" in commercial places (like in major bars and malls) to support our cause, this time around we are bringing the "scene" to the community which we want to directly benefit from our projects. For this, The White Bag Project will be dedicated to local communities where we will hold cause-worthy events like our very first project under the new RHum: The Traveling Community Bazaar.
Our first stop for this is U.P. Village, a dynamic community of free thinkers and creative souls, and now home to some really cool and innovative business ideas-- from all sorts of interesting food trips, conceptual bars and cafes, book and film nooks plus more bohemian hubs lined up along the streets of this much-raved about village in Q.C. My fascination for that "comfort zone" inside this awesome community in Diliman, obviously Maginhawa St., has brought me to a more quiet yet equally interesting side of U.P. Village which can also get really busy because this street is where you can find Claret School and Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, two famous landmarks inside U.P. Village. And right in between these respected institutions mounted along Mahinhin St., we will launch RHum's Traveling Community Bazaar to kick off on a Sunday (July 31) as we look forward to attract parishioners and community residents attending the hourly masses starting as early as 6:15 a.m. until 8:15 p.m.
 |
| The majestic structure and the lovely brick walls of Claret are simply fascinating. |
 |
| The church is known in the area as "simbahan ng Claret." You can say that exactly to the tryke driver in Philcoa and he will lead you just right here-- another beautifully built structure inside U.P. Village, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. (source: http://ningisko.weddingannouncer.com) |
 |
| This will be the venue of RHum's Traveling Community Bazaar. It's called Bulwagang Claret located just inside the compound of the church. It's fully air-conditioned and can house around 300 guests including the two function rooms inside the hall. |
 |
| There's an ample parking space for everyone-- parishioners, guests, buyers and sellers to make this event an exciting Sunday Family Day at U.P. Village. |
 |
| As you step inside the venue, you will be welcomed by these comfy couches and this lovely wall art-- a prelude to what we will have on the actual bazaar day as we strive to offer something different from the usual. |
|
Looking beyond these lovely structures that define the Claret community, there's a deeper cause built within: its mission to serve the poor. And for this very first stop of RHum's traveling bazaar, we will cater to the needs of poor communities supported by the parish under its program called Claret Urban Poor Apostolate (CUPA).
Last July 4, my birthday, I chose to celebrate it in one of those communities, an urban poor area in Philcoa called Pechayan. It was a Monday and an important milestone was about to unfold in the lives of the families, especially the kids who were all excited to embrace education. It was the launch of the community's only Day Care Center called the Claret Mission Center. This will be the beneficiary of RHum's second journey via this first of a series of community bazaars.
 |
| The Claret Mission Center has three sessions: 8 a.m. for toddlers and 10 a.m. & 1 p.m. for kids between three and five years old. I attended the 1 p.m. session that had the most number of kids, around 22 I guess. Here, with Teacher Glenda, they were asked to line up to prepare them for what's in store for the day: a series of play and learn activities that most kids truly enjoyed. |
 |
| It's recess time and I treated the kids to snacks of their favorite Fudgee bars. As I observed, they were all happy to go to the Center. Here, they are free to explore, play and interact with other kids. It's so nice to see them in pretty and presentable clothes and even came prepared with their name tags and school bags. Their parents, I'm sure, were equally excited getting them ready for school. |
 |
| Like this mother of 4-year-old Jade Marielle who told me that her daughter woke up very early looking forward to her first day at the Center. |
 |
| The newly-built Claret Mission Center in Pechayan is spacious enough to make it an ideal learning environment for the children. They refer to the Center as the "play school" of the community, the biggest facility they have in the area which also serves as a chapel and venue for youth-organizing activities. As orderly and well-maintained as it looks, this new structure was actually founded on the ashes of the destroyed day care center in Botanical, one of the parish-supported communities, when it caught fire February this year. |
 |
| Making learning conducive for the children is a top priority that's why Claret Mission Center strives to offer the best, both in its teaching approach and facilities. This is to preserve the interest of the kids mostly coming from very poor families. They apply here what Teachers Glenda, Dina and Christina call DAP or Developmental Appropriate Program that is based on non-traditional learning, fusing the benefits of play, study and interaction in their method of teaching. |
 |
| With all the efforts of making Claret Mission Center as quality as it can be (having accredited teachers and maintaining the best facilities), there's still a lot to be done to sustain the project especially in catering to very poor families. The Center is constantly in need of school supplies, learning materials and even additional electric fans to meet the everyday demands of quality learning. Those who really have nothing to spend on any materials required in school are provided the very basic school bags and some school supplies. As we allot part of the bazaar proceeds for this cause, we will also welcome kind donations of small things that will make a big difference in the lives of these children. As observed, the Center has specific needs for writing, drawing and art materials like big crayons, pencils, drawing pads, manila papers, cartolina and other school supplies. Other stuff that will be of big help are school bags, story books, play mats and educational toys. |
My personal drive to make RHUM as active as before and pursue this project no matter what it takes is spurred by my own exposure in public advocacy, working for a global NGO that supports the poorest communities in rural areas around the world. That experience still makes me hold on to this belief that every community can be empowered. The poorest families can be enriched with sustainable projects that will make them productive and self-managed, breaking them free from the chains of being dependent on dole outs or even the government's promise of "prioritizing the poor." Though RHums' take on community service via this series of traveling bazaars cannot promise social change overnight, we are moving forth to see where these travels will lead us to help and rock more communities together.
More about the Traveling Community Bazaar:Bands+Bar+Bazaar
Working with Pinoy Rock band TOYO (one of our RHUM's house bands), we had plans of bringing our music to the communities via a traveling concert. With this in mind along with my passion for social entrepreneurship and toying with the idea of a mobile bar, (thinking of all those cool establishments that had to close shop because of the inevitable), we were able to marry all these elements and came up with our latest offering from RHum: Traveling Community Bazaar:Bands+Bar+Bazaar.
For this much-anticipated launch, we wish to build a tight community of Pinoy entrepreneurs and independent artists working together for a common goal: advancing the cause of humanity by giving back to the community-- our new tagline for RHum. One of our objectives for the Traveling Community Bazaar is to give priority to livelihood projects and for U.P. Village, we will have KaAKBuhay (Kapitbahay Kaakay sa Buhay) as our community showcase. KaAKBuhay is a program that gives a sustainable livelihood to parishioners who are in need, fostering the spirit of "kapitbahayan" and "bayanihan" by sharing their time, talents and treasures to the community. We will have the products of KaAKBuhay sold during the bazaar as this project also aims to boost local business and inspire the spirit of social entrepreneurship among local residents.
Likewise, we will have the most creative, advocacy-driven and innovative product and business concepts by dedicated entrepreneurs and artisans everywhere. And it's always good to know that more and more of them are getting competitive, thanks to local bazaars which always have a big room for fellow "indiepreneurs" to showcase their one-of-a-kind works and cause-worthy creations. And we're just so happy to have some of them in RHum's first-ever Traveling Community Bazaar.
It would really be great to have you here in our first-ever Traveling Community Bazaar. Let's Rock for Humanity! Let's RHum!
For interested parties, email rhumobile@gmail.com.
