Orphan stars shine – 1

Good morning everybody. When I’m reading some books, magazines, newspaper or anything, I always read first about youth, kids, children. And every time I read some bad articles happened to children, I thought that for a long time and asking myself why those instances happened to children. They are innocent. They still don’t know what is life all about and this happened to them. I want to share what I have read with reference to The Sunday Times (one of our newspaper).

Performance can be so important in the spiritual, emotional and intellectual development of children. They can carry the ideas and skills acquired from singing, dancing and acting into the classroom, and from there, onto the stage of real life. For children who call an orphanage home, these gifts are even more critical.

On October 25, the young residents of The Children’s Haven, an orphanage located in Cordova, Cebu, débuted their theatrical talents in a play titled Noah’s Ark as part of the Shining Stars program of the Bigfoot Asia-Pacific Foundation.

Founded in 2002, the Bigfoot Asia-Pacific Foundation’s mission encompasses educational, socio-economic and humanitarian outreach projects in and around the province of Cebu. “Developing the children’s interests and skills in the performing arts empowers them and allows them to believe in their own abilities,” says Kacy Andrews, CEO of Bigfoot Entertainment, the Foundation’s parent company. “We are happy to give our performing arts mentors, as well as our other company volunteers, the chance to share what they know with these wonderful kids.”

Fiona Cross, an employee of Bigfoot Entertainment, was the writer and director of the play, and also served as acting coach for the children in the show. When asked about her inspiration for the play, Ms. Cross said, “I wanted to produce a show that had themes which were relevant to their lives. I chose the biblical story of Noah’s Ark because of its messages of hope, survival and re-birth.”