Since its establishment ten years ago, Adhika Inc has been undertaking many projects to provide assistance to people who were impacted by natural calamities, set up libraries in schools and hold other community events.
Every year it celebrates International Women’s Day with varying focus such as domestic violence, harassment, community building, recognising achievers and others.
This year’s memorable Adhika IWD event, held on March 27, 2022 at the Dooley’s Waterview venue, featured Sulatan: Tradisyon ng Kababaihan. The event was also livestreamed on Adhika’s Facebook page.
The event started with the opening remarks by Josie Musa, President of Adhika Inc who acknowledged the presence of officials and staff from Philippine Consulate, various community leaders and local government officials. This was followed by recorded special inspirational messages by Acting Head of Post / Consul General of Sydney Emmanuel Guzman and the Ambassador to Australia, Her Excellency Ma. Hellen de la Vega.
The event’s feature Sulatan initiative is the brainchild of Dr Merlinda Bobis, author, poet, composer and honorary senior lecturer at the Australian National University. Sulatan which was the traditional way of communication that women especially used to share stories and news about themselves to their pen pals who live in another province or overseas. involves the exchanges of letters between 8 women in the Philippines who were paired with responders from Pinays based in Australia (4) and the USA (4) with their sharing of day-to-day life in the midst of the pandemic. The Australian responders comprised of Delia Alexander, Cleo Baltazar, Rizza Janea and Edna Wacher.
In the event, a recoded original composition was sung by Dr Bobis against the backdrop of the famous Amorsolo paintingwho also gave a recorded message. Dr Bobis, who is based in Canberra, explained how she conceptualised the project and collaborated with Gantala Press in the Philippines for the subsequent publication of the letters exchanged by the women. Delia Alexander who is also based in Canberra also sent a recorded message sharing her appreciation of being involved in the project and what her involvement meant to her.
The one-hour forum proper about Sulatan was ably hosted by Michelle Baltazar (Editor in Chief of Money Magazine and publisher of The Australian Filipina) who asked the three responders from Sydney to answer a few round of questions about their sharing of views and stories through Sulatan. The responders were applauded for their candid and inspiring answers, with Cleo Baltazar receiving great cheers with her advice of how women should remain steadfast to choose their children over everyone and everything. Jojo Sebastian moderated the Q&A part of forum which was the end of the first part of the event which was livestreamed. You can watch the video here.
The second part of the event was co-hosted by Jojo Sebastian; this included dinner, entertainment, acknowledgement of sponsors and the presentation of commendation certificates. A Powerpoint presentation was shown highlighting the achievements and projects of Adhika Inc. over the years after the opening remarks by Josie Musa. The performers were Marlon Quijano (by video), Rolly Limun and Stacey, and LJR Dancers. A big surprise was the presentation of Commendation by the Philippine Consulate General Sydney through Consul Melanie Diano to Adhika Inc for its services to the community and the consistent celebration of IWD.
Adhika Inc also presented Commendation Certificates to Dr Merlinda Bobis and the Sulatan Australian responders, as well as to a number of people for their help in promoting and supporting Adhika projects over the years: Michelle Baltazar, Violi Calvert and Marilie Bomediano; for Founder and CEO of Pacific Accounting P/L Mr Kevin Beck who supported the event.
Other event sponsors are XMS Property P/L; Migration Australia & Settlement Services P/L; Homey Hunter P/L; My Pathfinder Consultancy P/L and Life Force Asia Pacific; Melody David for the table centrepieces and seat covers and Adel Kelly for the flowers/boquets who also helped on the registration/reception together with Babes Bustamante and Marilou Enriquez.
As part of its fundraising, raffle tickets were sold, the prizes for which were all donated by G&J Musa Pty Ltd, Life Force Asia Pacific, Marilie Bomediano and Lee Meekan.
Violi Calvert of Adhika Inc Team and Radio Tagumpay Producer and co-Broadcaster, who participated online, gave the recorded Closing Remarks.
Congratulations to all who were involved and supported the event. These include the amazing production crew comprised by Marc Baylon, Event Director; Jojo Sebastian, Anchor; Marlon Quijano, Videographer; Christian Salandanan, Technical Assistant; Gerry Musa, Photography and Bob Reyes, Graphic Design. Based on the feedback received from those who attended on location and by livestreaming, the Adhika IWD 2022 was a memorable and successful event.