Thursday, 9 August 2007

Get exclusive access to the closing party of the 2007 Venice Film Festival with Hub Culture. Hub is teaming up with Nikki Beach and Les Etoiles to present the Cinema Beach Gala on Saturday September 8th, 2007, a black-tie event to benefit the Smokey Children Project in Manila.

Tickets and reservations for the closing party are in very short supply, with a full roster of celebrities and VIPs slated to attend. As a partner, members of the Hub Culture collective are granted VIP ticketing access, but applicants MUST state on their reservation that they are booking as a part of Hub. Tickets are 300 each and corporate options are available.

Sometimes you just need a little bit of action to make a difference, and this is a great way to do it -- just by taking part in one of the world's most exclusive events.

The Smokey Children Project works to educate and help a forgotten group - children living on trash heaps around Manila, especially Smokey Mountain.

Here is more on the group from Italians working to improve the lives of people who live in these rough conditions:

"We first timidly arrive in Tondo (Smokey's next door neighborhood). When you live in Manila and work for an international organization, such as ADB, you can live comfortably without ever acknowledging the existence of Smokey Mountain and Tondo.The Canossian fathers have been working with the people in Tondo and Smokey for the past 18 years, and they are glad we can spend some time teaching Italian to the kids whose studies are sponsored by families in Italy. This year alone, over 1000 kids are sent to school.

The first time in Smokey, we find it difficult to breathe. We are also quite scared of the children as they could be very well carrying around the entire specimen of diseases known to the world. And possibly some unknown ones too. Those amongst us who lived in Africa think, at first, that Smokey is not as bad. It takes a couple of times to "appreciate" the magnitude of the surrounding misery - to realize that this is pretty much as close to hell as it gets.

Yet, there is a deep sense of dignity about Smokey's residents. They literally live in garbage and they still wash their clothes, their hair and their homes. Nevertheless, if you are born in Smokey, you are doomed. You know you'll live and die there, sooner rather than later. And, by the way, in case you forgot if you are born there you do not exist.

So, even if you get out of Smokey you have no place to go. No documents. No past and therefore no future. Are you, by any chance, wondering how a society can tolerate all this? It's surprisingly easy. These people provide a necessary service completely free of charge. There is no financial or social cost involved in the "transaction". There's only a moral cost and, frankly, not many people seem to be anxious to take the burden. Especially not the local and national governments as there are no votes to gain from Smokey.(Remember? These people do not exist.)"

The aim of the fund is to create the basis to educate children living in Smokey to help them break the cycle of poverty and get a chance at an education by providing an after school shelter, uniforms, materials, legal documents and more to get them on the grid and integrated into Filipino society."

Sounds worthwhile to us... try and make it.

If you can't here is how you can help:

a. Euro account:
Account name: Una mano aiuta l altra - Paderno - Onlus
n. 222082. RAS BANK Milano
Milano Branch. ABI 3589 - CAB 1600 - SWIFT code: BKRAITMM
Please specify Smokey Children Project

b. US dollar account:
Account name: Canossa Tondo Children s Foundation Inc.
n. 011013005989. UCPB
Ilaya Branch, Tondo, Manila. SWIFT code: UCPBPHMM
Please specify Smokey Children Project