“Going to school meant skipping a meal and walking 10 km a day,” says Josh Mahinay. “Walking had become an inevitable choice because the habal-habal (tricycle) fare can be saved for food.
I have a very vivid memory of the times I had to ask for a free plastic bag from a nearby sari-sari (retail) store to put my things in. I had been a regular face in the store because the plastic bag ripped almost every day….Walking down the beaten path, confined to mountains all around, I saw limitations everywhere. For a child who does not ask for much, I treasured one question – ‘What’s behind those mountains?'”
Josh left the Philippines in 2007: he had to step up to provide for his family. He worked in the U.S. for five years, accomplished his task, and returned to his country. At age 26, he founded a social entrepreneurship venture, BAG943. The Bag of Dreams project. Buy One Give One.
His riveting story published by Rappler.com shows how education was a primary vehicle for his being able to start this venture. Today, with every bag purchase, another bag is given to an impoverished child from a pool of adopted public schools throughout the Philippines. “What I am doing right now,” he says, “is a product of what people did for me.
“I was in 4th grade when I received my very first decent bag, a gift from a distant relative….Receiving that bag made me realize that while I was in the midst of an almost forgotten village, someone was actually thinking about me. It made me feel like someone made an investment in me so it empowered me to do better in school.
“Because someone believed in me, I started believing in myself. Having a school bag like my classmates gave me the confidence to dream the kind of dreams that they have, or maybe bigger.”
I encourage you to read the entire article and be challenged to seek out ways to help in your community, or the larger, global community. Education matters. As he envisioned this project, Josh was afraid, but fear activated faith as he started a business to champion education for the poor.
BAG. Be A Giver.
You can also find Josh on Facebook.
Thanks to Rick Passo, Las Vegas, and Dr. Anton Lim, Zamboanga City, for bringing this Rappler.com article to my attention.
What’s the best form of advertising? Word of mouth.
Thanks for your patience since I posted on April 23, when Alysha arrived home. Everyone is focused on Alysha’s condition and also the generosity of people toward the Raab family. “Even toilet paper!” says Ange Raab.
We went to the doctor this morning and the arm is healing so well that the surgeon released her. 
Alysha Raab woke up slowly after six hours of surgery. Before she even opened her eyes, the ten-year-old reached across her body to find out if her left arm was still there. It was. She’d been prepared for amputation. That was two years ago. She still has her arm, but in January of this year she learned that her battle with cancer isn’t over.
This spunky young teenager is now facing a nearly insurmountable second battle with osteosarcoma, a cancer that starts in the bones. After well over a year of chemotherapy and surgery, followed by some wonderful time in school, she found out the cancer, and her struggle with it, has returned. This bright, energetic girl had hoped and prayed that she would be cancer free forever, but her journey isn’t over. She desperately wants to live. She and her family need your prayers, and your help.
Alysha and her family have already been on a Make-a-Wish Foundation cruise for the family: they loved it and felt totally spoiled. 
Dean Raab, Alysha’s father, was often with his youngest daughter during her hospital visits, but he lost his job in 2012. In early 2013 he was hired for a new job the same day the family learned that Alysha’s cancer had returned. One day during lunch hour he was able to stop by Phoenix Children’s Hospital while she was being treated. “I do not have the words to explain the pain a parent feels when they see their child going through this,” he says. Both have kept family and friends updated in the 
“When she first found out,” says her mother, Ange, “she asked to be baptized.” Then she began wondering about things like playing softball and cheerleading, both of which she loved. The following two years meant drastic changes and intense hardship not only for Alysha, but also for her parents and her two older sisters. Her doctors ordered 26 rounds of chemotherapy over 1 year. Ten rounds prior to surgery. The tumor on her lung had been removed early on, and hadn’t spread. That was good news.
At best, chemotherapy is painful and produces many ugly side effects. Alysha’s many side effects meant her chemo was spread over a longer time. Very little nausea, but extreme pain, loss of sleep, hallucinations, mood changes, ANC (measures number of infection-fighting white blood cells in the blood) at 0, appetite changes (she had to take steroids to avoid nausea with every bag of chemo treatment, which led to increased appetite and weight gain), fatigue, sores in her mouth and throat…the list goes on.
Alysha’s current round of chemo is stronger and different than before because the cancer strain is different and more aggressive. She gets chemo five days a week and comes home on fluids and meds. Mixed in with the chemo is the low blood count, which not only means more units of blood but isolation from anyone who might be ill or pass germs. Isolation would be tough on anyone, but for a young teenager, it’s even rougher.
Ange Raab is amazed at her daughter. “It is so hard for me to see her go through this,” she says, “and yet she still giggles every day! She is generally a happy girl, full of life and she touches the lives of those around her. She loves being with her friends. She just wants to be a normal 13-year-old girl.”
Have you ever noticed how slowly and subtly the effects of cancer on a person can cause difficulties for the entire family? Alysha’s two sisters, Bre and Katie, adore Alysha. They try to keep her smiling, and try to be brave for her, but they’re children too. They have needs of their own that often can’t be met because of the demands of Alysha’s care and her parents’ attention on Alysha, their family, and themselves. Her parents don’t have enough time for themselves, each other, or their kids. The family has lost jobs. Their vehicles have worn out, and there’s no money to fix them. There may not be enough time or money, but always, with all of them, even through tears, their love and faith in God is holding them together.
I am a friend of the Raab family, and along with other friends and relatives I want to help provide as much support as possible. Priority: Prayer. Becky Blanton created this graphic which we’d like to go viral. Right click on this graphic to save or copy it. Please consider using your social network contacts to pass the word about this spunky kid who faces heavy-duty surgery next week.