It's another Vigattin Saturday today! We had a bunch of lively and energetic guests in out Vigattin Radio Program that we almost extended for another hour! Who would've thought that "informative" and "entertaining" can be a wonderful mix of a one-hour discussion? Only Vigattin Radio Program can do that! :D
Zander
Our first segment was about Holocorp, a group of young innovators who strive to utilize the latest technology available to achieve a better state of living for the world. The team aims to innovate and bring new solutions to the industry, especially in the agricultural and aquacultural sectors.
To start, Holocorp made a solution to regulate some of the factors affecting growth and health of cultured fish, with real-time monitoring and automated adjustment of the temperature limits of the fishpond through mobile(GSM), desktop, and web applications. Holocorp named this application Zander, derived from a rare kind of freshwater fish. Zander won the Google award during the recent AngelHack Manila 2013, and they were given USD20,000 worth of Google App Engine credits.
To represent Holocorp, we were joined by Harold Ocampo, Mark Segalle, Louie David, and Ian Tappa. They discussed how Holocorp started, which surprisingly was just a joke among them before. This joke of putting up a company became real, and here they are now, inspiring students and even grown-ups with their projects.
Zander provides real-time temperature monitoring and remote temperature manipulation through SMS, desktop, and web. Holocorp is also planning to develop other monitoring systems for oxygen and humidity levels of the fishponds. They want to build an automatic fish feeding machine as well. With these aquacultural technologies at hand, fishermen will be able to deal with and eliminate problems like fish kills and fish poisoning. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) should really look into this innovative technology to uphold the aquatic industries in the Philippines.
Vigattin Radio salutes the Holocorp Team for making the Zander application.
The Storytelling Project
For our next segment, we talked about The Storytelling Project, a very heartwarming philanthropy project founded by Rey Bufi and Grace Soriano. It's mission is to teach Filipino children how to read and to instill in them the love for reading and storytelling. It envisions a community where reading is a favorite pasttime and libraries are frequent hangouts for kids.
Rey and Grace even go to farflung areas and marginalized communities to bring books and conduct storytelling activities for the people living there. These communities are usually up in the mountains, with no paved roads nor electricity. But these people's hunger for knowledge can match and even exceed ours. The fulfillment of helping these communities is worth all the difficulties of reaching them.
Jill Lava is a friend of Rey's, and she's also into community service. As part of Smart's CSR team, Jill has also experienced climbing mountains, literally, to help these groups on the fringes of our society to have an alternative and sustainable means of income. Not all of these people are very receptive to new information, so Jill and the group go and visit them every now and then. For someone who was in the corporate world for 10 years, Jill admitted that it's not an easy job to shift into this kind of social work. But, she knows that her heart is in it.
As the Vigattin Team is interested in joining the next climb of Smart's CSR team, we invited Fabien Mangahas of AMCI Mountaineering Club Inc. to share a few tips with us when climbing a mountain. He told us that we should prepare first and get ready for the hike. It's not as easy as walking on a flat surface. Strength and endurance are needed for our body to keep up. AMCI offers a basic mountaineering course, including first aid, emergency and safety, and the right skills set required in hiking. If you want to try AMCI's mountaineering courses, you can visit their website at https://amci.org.ph.
I really hope the Vigattin Team can experience what Jill, Rey, and Grace had shared with us. But if you want to help The Storytelling Project in your own simple ways, you can visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TheStorytellingProject. Rey needs notebooks, Filipino and English storybooks, hygiene kits, medicine, and clothes.
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