Venus named ambassador for poor kids

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has chosen Miss Universe 2010 fourth runner-up Maria Venus Raj as ambassador for poor children.

DSWD tapped the 23-year-old beauty queen to help in promoting the rights of Filipino children, particularly their rights to education and health care.

Raj, who came from a poor family in Camarines Sur, was born to an Indian father and a Filipino mother.

The youngest of five children, Raj lived in a nipa hut with no electricity in the middle of a sprawling rice field in the rural Bato town for more than 20 years.

She would walk on rice paddy dikes as early training that would eventually land her on the catwalk.

She became famous with her “major, major” remarks after fumbling in the question and answer portion of the 2010 Miss Universe pageant held in the United States.

She now writes every Sunday in The STAR entertainment section in a column aptly called “Major, major.”

According to the DSWD, Raj’s sister is a beneficiary of Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps), the government’s conditional cash transfer program, while her grandmother is one of the recipients of the DSWD’s Social Pension Program for poor elderly.

Raj will be officially launched as the DSWD ambassador for poor children during the agency’s convergence caravan in Marikina City today to be led by Secretary Corazon Soliman and city officials.

The convergence caravan provides a variety of opportunities for beneficiaries of the 4Ps, including jobs and livelihood.

Dubbed as “Sama-samang Pagsulong ng Sambayanan,” the caravan will exhibit the convergence of the agency’s poverty reduction programs which include the 4Ps, Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) and the Sustainable Livelihood program.

The DSWD will award today a total of P225,000 as livelihood capital assistance to four organized Self Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) associations in Marikina.

As part of the department’s Convergence Strategy, the SEA-K program provides microenterprise development assistance, which includes capital assistance, to registered associations in order to enhance their access to basic social services and their standard of living.

From January to September this year, the program has already released a total of P97,672,676 for capital assistance.

The four SKAs which will be assisted in the management of sustainable microenterprises are Concepcion Uno Hangyha SEA-K group with nine members, Fortune MWL SEA-K Association with 18 members, Damitym SEA-K group with seven members and Barangay Tumana MWL SEA-K Association with 13 members.