The positivity of Filipinos even under adversity is being shared with the world as Good Light Messages of Hope, a collaborative project between Good News Pilipinas and the Liter of Light.
In the search for stories of hope amidst the global health crisis brought on by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the resulting community quarantine in the Philippines, Good News Pilipinas collaborated with multi-awarded Filipino social innovator Illac Diaz of the Liter of Light to create the social campaign of sending messages of hope to the world while encouraging people to help fight the virus.
The first Good Light Message of Hope went live on April 6, 2020, and announced on Good News Pilipinas Live @PinoySeoul Radio Online hosted by Good News Pilipinas editor, writer, radio and TV producer Angie Quadra Balibay. The drone video was shown on Good News Pilipinas TV with Positivitrix Trixie Esguerra on Facebook Live the same night, and shared on Good News Pilipinas Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Balibay recounts how the Good News Pilipinas collaboration with Liter of Light began.
“It all started when Good News Pilipinas Live @PinoySeoul Radio Online had just begun its soft airing. I asked some friends to give me feedback about the new platform for GoodNewsPilipinas.com. Good News Pilipinas Ambassador and Filipino Pride Advocate Illac Diaz of the Liter of Light, who is also under lockdown in Manila, called me up to explore possibilities of collaborating on sending solar messages of hope to the world in this time of global public health crisis,” the Good News Pilipinas editor shared.
“I realized the project would be more than just GNP telling the story, it would be GNP already making a positive action in collaboration with a social enterprise we admire, the Liter of Light. And so a collaborative project between Good News Pilipinas and the Liter of Light was born under lockdown – the Message of Hope shining in the Good Light campaign to send out solar messages while encouraging people to help in relief efforts,” said Balibay.
Liter of Light for the Good Light
Through the solar messaging, Illac Diaz said he wanted to encourage people to donate to efforts to fight COVID-19 and provide relief to people, especially the most vulnerable.
“With Good News Pilipinas and of course Liter of Light we came up with an idea. What about solar messaging? It just so happens that we have thousands of Solar Lights here in our storeroom, and we can make words of light.
“So we want every night, if you can suggest a message of hope, a greeting to somebody, an empowering message. Of course 10-15 letters and make us this #MessageofHope or #GOODLIGHT. So we will be inviting people to send in their recommendations and we will work the whole day to be able to put together your message and at night film it so that it will shine brightly in the evening, overcoming the darkness inside and outside. So Pilipinas, can you send me your message of good hope?” Illac Diaz said in a video released on April 1, 2020.
Diaz also shared how the Good Light Message of Hope can lift people’s spirits.
“When you see light in the darkness, it gives you the feeling that there is hope. Sometimes they say the brightest dawn happens after the darkest night. Liter of Light works in training women in village communities to bring light with solar through teaching them how to use local skills and parts. But for these times, we want to use the lamps to brighten up people in the city who are on lockdown with messages of hope every evening. That way they see the light at the end of this crisis,” Diaz added.
Diaz, who is also under lockdown in Manila, works with his parents, house helps, and girlfriend Ami Valdemoro to set up the Messages of Hope for lighting up and drone shots. The multi-awarded Filipino social innovator shares how his home team values the task of creating solar messages.
“It is a family affair. My father and mother, the two kasambahay and Ami my girlfriend all gather during lunch and coordinate the message and number of lights. Then at 5:00pm we gather at the driveway and start putting it in place. The cutoff is 6:15 where we have to start flying the drone and light it up by hand.
“By 6:30 we start closing the lights as the GoPro and Drone cannot see the shots clearly. Then we have dinner and celebrate the days work. It gives a sense of doing something worthwhile for all everyday,” Diaz shares.
Good News Pilipinas Live Radio and TV
After the initial solar messages, more collaborations were born during the lockdown which also saw the return of Good News Pilipinas Live as an Internet Radio show on Pinoy Seoul Radio. The internet radio show which is hosted by Good News Pilipinas editor Angie Balibay reveals the featured Message of Hope during the nightly broadcast at 6 p.m.
Good News Pilipinas TV anchor Trixie Esguerra of Positivitrix also features the Good Light Message of Hope on her Facebook Live Stream.
“We were working out how to collaborate with her in terms of providing her guests, stories to share. We told her about the new Good Light Message of Hope project and she readily said yes to showing the video of the solar message during her nightly live stream,” Balibay shares.
How to Participate in the Good Light Message of Hope
Wondering how can you can have your Message of Hope lit up in the Good Light to inspire the world? Here is how:
- Send GoodNewsPilipinas.com social media on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram a photo of your PROOF OF DONATION (any amount/in cash/in kind) to ANY FUNDRAISING DRIVE, FOUNDATIONS, or CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS that are currently helping our kababayans, poor families, and frontliners in this time of global health and economic crisis.
- Include your 10-15 characters MESSAGE OF HOPE for our frontliners, for the Philippines, or for the world, Or post it on your social media. Tag us (@GoodNewsPilipinascom on FB, @GoodNewsPinas_ on Twitter, @GoodNewsPilipinas on Instagram) and use hashtags #GOODLIGHT #MESSAGEOFHOPE
- The Good News Pilipinas and Liter of Light team will arrange to have the solar lamps light up your message of hope, switch them on at night time, and film them using a drone camera.
- Watch out for your message of hope on the website of GoodNewsPilipinas.com, Good News Pilipinas Live @PinoySeoul Radio Online, Good News Pilipinas TV, and social media accounts.
WATCH the Good Light Message of Hope videos here to light up the darkness and inspire the world and SEND US your own Message of Hope!
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