BETTER WORLD MEDIA and TARGET FOUNDATION join hands for KUWENTONG DINIG

Better World Media and Target Foundation offered a pre-Christmas treat to the kids of the Philippine National School for the Blind last December 4, 2006. It was a day of sharing and fun, topped off with the presentation of two new Kuwentong Dinig audiobooks to the school.

Better World Media launched Kuwentong Dinig in an effort to bring the wonder of storytelling to visually-impaired children who often have limited access to books and other reading materials. The original children’s stories, all value-oriented and written in Filipino, are recorded in audio format and accompanied by Braille and large print versions of the text.
In a ceremony last June, the Philippine National School for the Blind became the first recipient of a Kuwentong Dinig audiobook, Juan,
recorded through the help of Dow Chemical Pacific Limited. Juan, written by Cynthia Cruz-Paz, is the story of a young boy, born with a clubfoot, who learns that a person’s value is not measured by abilities or disabilities but by what is in the heart.
Together with Target Foundation’s International Grant Program, through its Philippine sourcing service, Target Sourcing Services-AMC Manila, Better World continues to bring imaginative stories and valuable lessons to children. Target Foundation’s grant for Kuwentong Dinig is facilitating the recording of 5 additional stories and distribution of the entire set to 151 schools for visually impaired children across the country.

The books in the Kuwentong Dinig series are recorded by voice talents from some of the most popular Asian tele-seryes and anime series. Gantimpala and Bertdey Ko, which were presented by Target and Better World during the December 4 festivities, feature the voices of Rose Marie Barin, Grace Cornel and Rowena Raganit, while Vincent Gutierrez, Candice Arellano and Albert Nino Reyes help bring other Kuwentong Dinig stories to life. These voice actors have played prominent roles in popular series such as Jewel in the Palace, A Rosy Life, Ghostfighter and Stairway to Heaven among others.
These stories and others will be made accessible to visually impaired children all over the Philippines in time for the next schoolyear.Target Foundation, whose motto is “making a difference every day” is surely making a difference in the lives of these special children.
Better World would also like to thank Goldilocks Bakeshops, Earl Palma’s studios and all its generous donors and volunteers.