The Kulaman Charity Project began in December 2012 when the late Ms. Ma. Suzette “Jojie” N. Lao (1972-2022) found inspiration in the simple joys experienced by the Dulangan Manobo girls at the RNDM Dormitory in Kulaman when they received humble donations from Jojie’s family and friends.

This experience ignited an idea in her to make a yearly event every December to give Joy to these kids and other Manobo Communities in Kulaman.

The second year was dubbed “Buckets of Joy,” urging donors to contribute biscuit buckets along with other donations for the dormitory girls and food packs for the Sitio Saklay.

To raise funds, Jojie would find items to sell to friends like food, household items or anything that is worth selling. She even stays long at night just to repack food items.

Because of this dedication, she got endless support from friends.

Since then, it has become an annual tradition for Jojie, her family, and friends to visit Kulaman, calling it “Christmas Fun In Kulaman.” Donations have poured in from family and friends, including food packs, clothing, school supplies, laundry supplies, and beddings.

Two impactful projects included the installation of water pumps for three indigenous communities and the construction of a classroom for the Manobo Kids at Manobo Elementary School since at that time, they conduct their classes on a make-shift classroom vulnerable to rain and sunlight.

Every year, many volunters from Jojie’s circle of influence came to Kulaman and experienced the joy of giving – from the youngest to the seniors.

Fast-forward December 2022, the Kulaman Project celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Unfortunately, on December 26, 2022, Jojie, the founder of this project, passed away so suddenly.

However, her legacy will live on through her family, relatives, friends, and friends of friends, whose kind hearts were ignited and inspired by Jojie’s kindness, generosity, and compassion.

At the time of writing (2023), we launched this website for the project to facilitate convenient processing and monitoring of generous donations from our loyal supporters.

To honor Jojie’s legacy, we will keep this project as simple as possible. Therefore, please understand that this is a non-profit informal charity foundation intended exclusively for family and friends.