Helping Out A Fellow Artist: Robert as posted by kwenTAO

Here's something a little different. So I was scrolling through my Facebook Timeline as usual when I came upon this article shared by a friend. 

So basically, it's about Robert, a 20 year-old kid who is down on his luck. He used to be a call center agent but he got bullied out of work and his life has really slid downhill since. 

Nowadays, art is the only thing that brings him happiness. Now you might think that this is pretty normal -- but consider this excerpt from KwentongTao's interview with him:

"We have no electricity at home, so every night, I spend time in front of our neighbor’s house to have some light when I draw and when I read books. Until some Police officers confront me that it is not allowed to stay outside because of the new Oplan-Sita. So I decided to spend my time here in front of 7/11 store. Atleast no one will notice even you spend so many hours. And then, since I don’t have money, I decided to ask for alms. And some people buy my arts for 5 pesos and sometimes, they give me 20 pesos for one piece of art.

I don’t have money to get my requirements to apply for a new job. If I just have money to get requirements, maybe I already applied for a new job. But for now, maybe I don’t want to apply again with call center companies. I think I will be bullied again there. I just want to apply to a job as a cashier or store merchandiser."

Fortunately, Ernesse, the friend who shared this post had the idea of gathering used art materials from artist friends in Iloilo and pooling our resources together to send them to Robert. Of course, I jumped upon this opportunity to help out a fellow artist.

Now to be completely honest with you, I can definitely relate with the part of being an artist and how art brings joy to my life, but as for the bullying part -- let's just say that if I were in Robert's shoes, I'd probably be fired from my job for indiscriminate and very brutal use of force.

Still, it was a chance to help out someone in need and so we all agreed to meet up at SM City Iloilo just a few hours ago this 6th of December 2019. 

Initially, I went to the wrong area, but eventually Ernesse found me and introduced me to the group. Here are some pics of the event. I got to meet up with Ernesse and Antonio's friends and fellow artists Reese, Denzee, Mia, and Marvin... also, pardon me if I forgot someone, guys. I know Clarisse wasn't there. 

We decided to try Philpost at SM first, but they wouldn't accept some of the paints I was giving away, so we hauled all our stuff onto the car and drove on over to AP Cargo where we were able to successfully send it off. By the way, Reese sent a really huge trolley bag over. I'm sure Robert will make good use of it.

With that said, here are the things I sent: 

• -Faber Castell 24 Classic Colored Pencils
• -Colokit Watercolor Set
• -Colour Sparx Colored Pencil Set
• -Prang Watercolor Set with Mission Gold Titanium White in one pan
• -Set of different pencils and an eraser
• -Nagi fanart in watercolors with a little message for Robert

Also, a shoutout to Jimmie from MyArtLife. I'm sure you'll be glad to know that the art materials that I won from your channel raffle are in good hands. If any of you still remember, I actually reviewed one of those materials in one of my older videos. 

To Ernesse and company, thank you for the opportunity. To Robert, I hope you get back on your feet soon, bro. Have a Merry Christmas, from all of us.

Original Post from Kwentong Tao:
https://www.facebook.com/kwentongtao/posts/559620311498868
@kwentongtao
kwenTAO
MyArtLife by Jimmie
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC17NM-ZZQ8I5xjqZ_FE4LWg
Video review by me of the Colokit Watercolors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7BkIqfh2uI