Me and my master plan
First of all a huge THANK YOU for taking an interest and visiting this site!
My name is Hazel Douglas, I could go ahead and tell you all about me but if you are on here chances are you will either know me already or you are a kind stranger interested in my mission to provide free dance training to underprivileged children in the Philippines. And the truth is my mission is all that is important on this site.
On the 4th October I came to the Philippines, the region of Visayas, and will be here for 4 months to work with a well established charity, Volunteer for the Visayans where I will be teaching dance, setting up as many free classes as I can for their various projects.
Setting up this site goes against all my natural instincts, normally I don't like asking for help and I don't like promoting myself, however I'm not doing this for my own good, I believe I can make a positive difference to these children's lives and I have no doubt that this charity is a worthy one.
I appreciate that a lot of people won't see dance as a necessity, however I have experienced first hand the joy that it brings. My classes will be about so much more than just dance steps, they will focus on building social skills, building confidence and self discipline and the sense of escapism and freedom that dance has brought to me. One fantastic example of what dance has already brought to the community comes from the hip hop dance troop, they are a group of boys who in wanting to start up a dance troop made a deal with the charity to start going to school in order to use the facilities.
It goes with out saying that charity is non profit, and in a country rifled with poverty the money to fund all these projects comes from fees payed by volunteers. For the 6 months that I'll be there my fees are £1800, a small price for the experience and the help it will give, you will see on this website all the ways I have been fundraising, with thanks to everyone who donated/ attended my fundraisers I managed to raise the full amount to cover my fees. With my own savings I payed for flights, vaccinations, visa etc. and now all money I raise will go towards building the new community centre.
I came across this quote years ago and it's inspired me ever since;
"It’s always the fearless who are destined to make the biggest impact on the world. Those willing to make confetti from the rule book, to ignore the conventional wisdom of industry and listen to everything their gut instinct is telling them, they’re the ones who will push things forward and make life exciting, be they artists, authors, scientists, explorers, or musicians. They may not follow the easiest path, but it’s sure as hell a more interesting view along the way!"
My name is Hazel Douglas, I could go ahead and tell you all about me but if you are on here chances are you will either know me already or you are a kind stranger interested in my mission to provide free dance training to underprivileged children in the Philippines. And the truth is my mission is all that is important on this site.
On the 4th October I came to the Philippines, the region of Visayas, and will be here for 4 months to work with a well established charity, Volunteer for the Visayans where I will be teaching dance, setting up as many free classes as I can for their various projects.
Setting up this site goes against all my natural instincts, normally I don't like asking for help and I don't like promoting myself, however I'm not doing this for my own good, I believe I can make a positive difference to these children's lives and I have no doubt that this charity is a worthy one.
I appreciate that a lot of people won't see dance as a necessity, however I have experienced first hand the joy that it brings. My classes will be about so much more than just dance steps, they will focus on building social skills, building confidence and self discipline and the sense of escapism and freedom that dance has brought to me. One fantastic example of what dance has already brought to the community comes from the hip hop dance troop, they are a group of boys who in wanting to start up a dance troop made a deal with the charity to start going to school in order to use the facilities.
It goes with out saying that charity is non profit, and in a country rifled with poverty the money to fund all these projects comes from fees payed by volunteers. For the 6 months that I'll be there my fees are £1800, a small price for the experience and the help it will give, you will see on this website all the ways I have been fundraising, with thanks to everyone who donated/ attended my fundraisers I managed to raise the full amount to cover my fees. With my own savings I payed for flights, vaccinations, visa etc. and now all money I raise will go towards building the new community centre.
I came across this quote years ago and it's inspired me ever since;
"It’s always the fearless who are destined to make the biggest impact on the world. Those willing to make confetti from the rule book, to ignore the conventional wisdom of industry and listen to everything their gut instinct is telling them, they’re the ones who will push things forward and make life exciting, be they artists, authors, scientists, explorers, or musicians. They may not follow the easiest path, but it’s sure as hell a more interesting view along the way!"
A new Centre
Thankfully there is a light at the end of the tunnel, VFV own a plot of land very near by and have plans for a new purpose built centre, with a (whoo hoo) dance studio, as well as 3 class rooms for tutorials (right now we are taking these tutorials all crammed into a couple of rooms)
The community centre is the heart of the Bliss community. Squeezed in between all the other residential buildings the size works well for some of it's uses, admin work, meetings and feeding sessions, however as a space for Dance or other physical activities it is pretty rubbish! The floors are tiled, in my years of learning about health and safety in dance this kind of flooring is a big no no, they are slidey and hard, meaning that all movement requiring jumps or floor work will be sore and dangerous. You'll also see from the picture below just how small the space is, even with the tables and chairs removed the room is ridiculously small for a dance studio. Already 80% of what I would teach in my dance class has to either be avoided or cut out; floor work, traveling sequences, jumps and anything too fast that would risk falling. Nightmare. I have come all this way and the kids absolutely love dance so I will have to make do and find a way around all the problems.
On the left is a picture of the plot of land, it is good size and looking at the plans it will be a fantastic building. Obviously it won't come cheap, we have everything in place except for the money, this is where I need your help. I have come here as a dance teacher however there are hundreds of volunteers every year and I'm sure with this new centre we will be able to harness each and everyone's specialties, Karate, Scouting, gymnastics etc. I have no doubt of the positive effect this new centre will have.
