Animations for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

De La Salle Harlequin Theater group and COSCA volunteers visit Stairway to undergo Theater Advocacy Workshop

Creative expressions have always been considered the strength of Stairway. It is at the core of Stairway's philosophy for promoting children's rights. From the 1^st musical play “Goldtooth – a street children’s musical” to its present theater piece “Cracked Mirrors – stories of child sexual abuse”, the use of theater as a means for advocacy have been an integral strategy for the organization. Children who pass through the residential program also undergo several theater workshops as a way to express their emotions towards the overall goal of recovery and rehabilitation. Thus, it was but natural that Stairway would come to the point that it would offer its experience on using Theater as an advocacy tool in a form of a workshop. Last May 3-5, Monica D.Ray, Stairway's artistic director, conducted a theater-advocacy workshop for student members of the Harlequin theater guild of De La Salle Manila, as well as COSCA student volunteers (Center for Social Action and Concern). The students underwent short orientations on how creative expressions are being used by Stairway, and then how theater as a medium, can be a powerful tool for advocacy.

The Head of the Philippine National Training Institute visits Stairway Foundation

Fifty people from the National Headquarters, including General Samiento, visited Stairway to share in our creative advocacy for children's rights. Stairway is currently training police cadets in 5 of the countries' 17 regions. The goal is to expand the collaboration so that all police cadets will undergo the Stairway basic training on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Child Sexual Abuse Prevention. Our purpose is more than the passing of information- it is to sensitize the cadets to the realities of child and youth victims of sexual abuse and exploitation.

CAPIN Members undergo Online Safety Training of Trainers and orientation on RA 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography bill of 2009

Stairway conducted an Online Safety TOT for 31 members of the CAPIN network (Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention Network) from different Cities and Municipalities of Laguna, composed of Local Government Social Workers, Doctors, Law Enforcement and other stakeholders. The creation of these CAPIN trainings was facilitated by Open Heart Foundation, which serves as a local response structure for child abuse cases. The CAPIN members aim to replicate the advocacy on Online Safety and Anti-Child Pornography in the communities where they operate.

Deaf Camp 2010

"This camp has definitely changed my life" was the sentiment of one of the participants who attended the 2nd annual Deaf Camp held in Stairway Foundation last April 13-17 2010. Deaf students and faculty from De la Salle College of Saint Benilde, along with Stairway Community Scholars and Stairway Kids, shared five days of learning, sharing, laughing, and communicating. The use of creative expressions, as an integral part of the activities, were effective in helping to narrow the gap between the deaf group and the hearing group, thus creating an environment where everyone could speak the same language.

Human Rights Night

Red Leaves Falling was selected for the 10th edition of Human Rights Nights Film Festival which will take place in Bologna and surroundings from 1st to 5th June 2010. Human Rights Nights is an opportunity to hear marginalised voices and view alternative representations through cinematographic narratives of the world, which together demonstrate and express the complexity of the question of human rights. The films, coming from all over the world, are selected for their ability to document reality - in particular the violations of human rights - with investigative scruple, courage and independence of judgement. The films presented are works able to tear away the veil of indifference that often hide human rights abuses from the world.

Infancia. Photographs by Isabel Muñoz (Childhood. Photographs by Isabel Muñoz)

Childhood. Photographs by Isabel Muñoz which took place on March 16, 2010 at Caixa Forum in Barcelona was a great success. The exhibition was a culmination of a year of traveling around the world and taking photos of children, which also included children from Stairway Foundation, as seen in the photograph on the left. Ms. Muñoz’s photographs are the result of a collaboration between UNICEF, the Spanish National Committee for UNICEF and ‘El País Semanal’, a weekly Spanish magazine that is dedicating a special edition to child rights. “To mark the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ‘El País Semanal’ has dedicated a whole issue to show the present situation of children, to celebrate the existence of the Convention and to remember there is still a lot of work to do to ensure the full observance of all the rights for all the children”, says Spanish National Committee for UNICEF Executive Director Paloma Escudero. “This is a collaboration with no precedent.”

The exhibition will be in Barcelona from now and until August 29th, and then it will be coming to Madrid on Sep. 15th to the beginning of 2011.

Ms. Muñoz has previously photographed Central American gang members and victims of child exploitation in South Asia.

Click to view

Local and international students gather at Stairway Foundation

The month of February brought together a plethora of young people and adults alike from all corners of the globe. Stairway hosted no less than four different schools, on three separate occasions, for its Youth for Change Camp. Joining us were: the Tugdaan School for the indigenous people of Mindoro, Singapore American School, International School Manila, and Cairo American College. Through various creative and thought-provoking activities over the theme "Our Climate, Our Children, Our Choice," the young people forged friendships, learned about children's rights and the issues affecting them, while enjoying Stairway's pristine surroundings.
As apart of the service learning experience, students from the Singapore American School visited child-care centers in Manila and interacted with kids on the streets before coming down to Stairway.

Twelve, a collective voice to ponder about our world, a project that searches our planetary role...

While on their journey around the world to document twelve children, from twelve countries, in twelve languages, Juan Carlos, a passionate photographer of every day life of ordinary people, and his wife, art director, Nallely Caceras, landed in the Philippines. They were here to document the ninth child for their amazing documentary project called Twelve: transition age. Later, they visited Stairway Foundation, where they became absorbed in the whirlwind of the Youth for Change Camps, documenting the activities and sharing with us their slide shows: the Twelve project and Gaia, a slide show about the earth. Before heading off to China to document the tenth child for the Twelve project, Juan Carlos created a beautiful slide show about Stairway. Click here to view.

To follow the development of the Twelve project, please visit their blog spot at: http://twelvetransitionage.blogspot.com

Metro Manila Women and Children Desk Officers receive Online Safety and Anti-Child Porn Awareness session from Stairway

Knowing the importance of building the capacity of the WCPDs, Stairway Foundation conducted an Online Safety and Anti-Child Pornography Awareness sessions to officers of Metro Manila Women and Childrens Protection Desks. During the session, issues were also raised on how to further improve the delivery of their services. Stairway is the first organization to conduct an orientation to them about the newly passed Anti-Child Pornography bill

Waste management and creative recycling at Stairway

The mosaic of Stairway contains many pieces separately put into place by visitors that have granted their time and effort while staying here. The latest addition to the big picture has been a waste management program designed by the Mexican art director, Nallely Caceres. She planned a garbage separation system, storage for recyclables, a compost and a small garden to be fertilized by the compost, and having everything finished in theory she involved the children in the project.