What has Dire Husi been up to?

Well, it has been a long time since the last post!

If you have been following our Facebook page, you would already know that in this short 10 months, the Art Haus has been saved thanks to your support, Dire Husi won the regional Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) awards, represented Mindanao youth in a number of regional and national conferences, held a series of night workshops to journey, vision and plan together, workshopped on product development, sold our products at various venues and performed at a number of gigs such as the KAAMULAN FESTIVAL, Sungod tu Kamangga Festival, Salotabo Festival, a Pagadian event, Earth Hour CDO launch and UNLEASHED! Check out our Facebook page for the massive array of photos covering these happenings. The artistic capabilities and enterprising side of our artisans continue to grow, much to delight of everyone here.

We also welcomed several new members into our midst -- Tyrone, Lance, Juvy, Markel and Ian, not to mention our friends from Manila, Mark, Shao and Janice, who stayed with us at the Art Haus thanks to Kuya Vince!

Even as we struggled with rent and bills every month, it didn't dampen our spirits. Despite our limited resources (and with Rhyan still on crutches), Dire Husi pushed on with its commitment to youth and community development, finding creative ways to incorporate service into our lives. We celebrated our birthdays with street kids and by doing workshops with tribal communities in far-flung areas. Dire Husi also made special appearances at events that supported our advocacies, such as the Earth Hour launch and UNLEASHED. UNLEASHED will support 50 children from a community living in a garbage dump area, CDO with back-to-school supplies this June.

We are also LOVING Lance's blog on her crazy life with Dire Husi, and a short indie film, PLAWTA, by a group of Xavier students on Rusty Quintana's street struggles. A group of Dire Husi artisans filming a documentary on another Dire Husi artisan, we just adored the dynamics of that!

With this, Dire Husi continues to journey and grow through all the ups and downs. We are closer than ever, everyone supports each other, and we work through the pains, conflicts and discords with determination and a lot of love. Visit us, jam with us, join us. This is the Dire Husi family, our small community of artisans, where all are welcome!