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Nation Building Updates | HN Staff Update | HN Distributor of the Month 
Message from the President:Dear Friends, We are proud to present the maiden issue of our Human Nature newsletter! We're not even one year old yet but the overwhelming response of the public to Human Nature products and to our advocacy has both surprised and inspired us to work harder in bringing quality natural, organic, safe and affordable products to as many Filipinos as possible. I hope you enjoy learning about the new developments and our much awaited new products in this issue as much as we enjoy bringing them to you! :) Coming soon: our much awaited new issue of the Human Nature catalog due in October! Warmest regards, Anna Meloto-Wilk President Gandang Kalikasan Inc.  New Product Updates: We know you’ve all been excitedly waiting for our new products! The good news is, there will be a lot of new additions to our product line during the next couple of months. But in the course of setting new standards for organic and natural cosmetics in the Philippines, we often encounter challenges as we help our suppliers and others understand what truly organic and natural means. We recently took delivery of many of the extracts for our new range, but discovered to our dismay that they had all been processed with propylene glycol as a solvent (you can see more information about propylene glycol here). This ingredient is a synthetic irritant which is linked to a host of hazards including cancer. Yet despite that, it is still widely-used and accepted by most natural/organic companies here in the Philippines and is rarely even declared on the labels of 'natural' products! But our company wants to stand by our advocacy and claims, so we rejected the delivery and requested replacements. It is only through standing firmly by our commitment to natural and organic products (even if it causes us temporary difficulties) that we can truly change this industry in the long-run. What does this mean to you? Well, you can now look forward to the most natural new products in the Philippines around the end of September or early October :) Here is what we have coming soon: Moringa Toner; Moringa Facial Wash; Tomato & Echinacea Toner; Tomato & Echinacea Facial Wash; Gugo and Calamansi Strengthening Conditioner; Avocado and Seaweed Moisturizing Conditioner; Gugo and Avocado Deep Treatment Hair Mask; Lip Balm in swivel barrels instead of jars; Black Rice, Papaya and Sunflower Facial Scrub; Sunflower & Papaya Day Cream; Royal Jelly, Carrot & Aloe Vera Night Cream; Coco Flakes, Brown Rice and Pineapple Body Scrub!  Lastly, our long-awaited Paris bottles have now arrived! 
We will be phasing out our old, white, round bottles and replacing them with these clear, Paris-shaped bottles for most products in the coming weeks. We believe these make our products look much classier and more premium, don't you agree? Don't worry though, even though they are called "Paris", they are still made here in the Philippines :) Nation Building Updates: As you probably know, our vision is to provide large-scale sustainable livelihood to poor communities, especially Gawad Kalinga, by doing whatever it takes to help them become producers of world-class organic and natural goods. This has recently started to take shape in two GK sites: GK Encanto in Bulacan and GK Punta Dumalag in Davao. Aloe vera plants have been planted at the Human Nature Demo farm attached to GK Encanto and more crops are expected to be grown in the coming months. Meanwhile, the GK team in Davao have been bringing out the entrepreneur in our beneficiaries in GK Punta Dumalag by training them in sales and equipping them with sample packs. There are also Chinese and Japanese volunteers from AIESEC, the world's largest student-run organization, who assist in the facilitation of orders and remittances of payments. Just recently, the GK-HN dealers were given the chance to practice their sales skills at the recently concluded Kadayawan trade fair. This experience has definitely increased their confidence in sales and people interaction. The next step of the GK team in Davao is for these dealers to be able to work together with Green Kreations, the official distributor of Human Nature products in Davao.  Chinese and Japanese volunteers helping to train GK beneficiaries in selling Human Nature products.  As well as Gawad Kalinga, the company aims to help many other small-scale farms and NGO suppliers across the Philippines. With this, we have recently decided to move from a major supplier of citronella oil to KMMBK (Kooperatiba ng Maliliit na Magniniyog ng Brgy. Kanapawan) which is a cooperative based in Bicol. A long term goal of this cooperative is to able to spread the knowledge of organic farming to the Gawad Kalinga communities in the area. The Citronella produced by KMMBK is even stronger (and therefore more effective at repelling bugs) than our previous supplier, although the stronger scent may take a little getting used to for some people! Rest assured, the scent will undergo a bit of tweaking and merging with more fragrant organic scents over the coming months to produce an improved version of our very popular bug spray. Also worth mentioning, is our source of Lemongrass Essential Oil from AID Foundation Inc. in Negros Occidental. This organization provides alternative sources of energy to far flung barrios in Negros who do not have access to regular electricity. They specialize in solar and hydropower. As part of their livelihood program, they have trained and continue to manage the Lemongrass Essential Oil extraction business in Negros and have helped the farmers increase their income by marketing the products here and abroad. Their lemongrass essential oil is also certified organic by the Organic Certification Center of the Philippines (OCCP). Human Nature is indeed proud to be sourcing its lemongrass oil from the farmers of Negros. NEWSFLASH: Tony Meloto's (the founder of Gawad Kalinga) new book "The Builder of Dreams" is now available from Human Nature! This limited edition 450-page story of Gawad Kalinga recently sold for $450 for a signed copy in Boston, but your price is just P1200! To order, please e-mail orders@humanheartnature.com HN Staff Update: Meet the new members of the Human Nature family!  a) Joanna Gilladoga, Sales and Marketing Head - Philippines Joanna was formerly SE Asian Regional Category Head of Avon Cosmetics for the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. You will learn more about her and the changes she will be bringing in once she starts with us on October 1st.  b) Liezl Buenaventura, Graphic Designer Lizz is responsible for the fun and colourful new labels that you will soon be feasting on! You can look forward to the other new labels that will be coming out, as well as the revamping of the Human Nature Website.  c) Tripona Jamisola, Mary Jane Yolores & Edralin Bonuen, Sales Executives Pony, Jing and Lin are the new members of the Human Nature Sales Team. They are all set on providing you with efficient customer service and support.  d) John Michael Go, Business Development Consultant Mike serves as the liaison officer between Human Nature and Gawad Kalinga, as well as other organizations for the development of Human Nature demo farms.  e) Lein Deguito, Accounting Executive Lein is helping our Finance Head, Pam Lloren, with the update and maintenance of the Company’s books of accounts.  f) Jason Belvis, Logistics Specialist Jason is the only member of the Logistics Team who does not come from a GK Community. He comes from the BUKAS PALAD Foundation Community.  SPOTLIGHT: HN Distributor of the Month Frances Marie Y. Lacuesta, 29 Human Nature Super-Distributor, Iloilo City Frances was a part-time magazine writer and also had a very stable career in Makati, where she had been working in customer service for 9 years until she learned about Human Nature from an officemate. She decided to sign up as a distributor, but admits that she didn't have any plans of expanding at first because of the initial investment of P150k to become a super-distributor. Yet fate moves in mysterious ways! After meeting with Human Nature's Directors for a magazine article write-up, she got to learn more about the company and its advocacy. The support of her family and of Human Nature, and her desire to return to Iloilo City encouraged her to leave her well-paid, full-time job in Makati to become Human Nature's super-distributor for Iloilo City, where she launched just last April 2009. Now, she is already consistently in our top three distributors nationally, selling an average of P450k per month. She claims that everything just fell into place after the launch took place and it also helped that her family and relatives continuously provided her support. Given the opportunity, she hopes to establish a full-blown store which also offers health and wellness services and seminars in the future. please read the online version. Human Nature Newsletter is the regular newsletter of Gandang Kalikasan Inc.
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