by Co-editor Djoma de Guzman
Every now and then, the Frontpage of Aliguas Mangaldan captures the forum's vision of, "a space for the celebration of life, a linkage to Mangaldanians' ancestral birth place and a collaboration forum to assist our town of Mangaldan, Pangasinan."
This particular August 3, 2008 page depicts how immigrants build the social network with Kabaleyans to get them through to adjusting to a new country-of-choice, how the immigrants come together to pool their resources to extend a helping hand to our hometown of Mangaldan, how from across the seven seas they share in celebrating and thanking the well-lived lives of those who have been called to the next life, how lost and long-lost friends and kins are getting reconnected and, the beginnings of a planned and unwavering effort to record the culture and history of the hometown so that today's generation and the next to come will understand and appreciate a place our Kabaleyans fondly call, "say baley tayo a Mangaldan!"
On Sep 26 2008, Aliguas Mangaldan will be celebrating its 2nd year of launching. So much water under the bridge has passed since that first day of publication. The web statistics say there are now at least 130,000 page views in the site from its starting day. During the early weeks, Aliguas Mangaldan ranked only in the top 60 pages of Google and Yahoo. Currently, because of the avid readership and enthusiasm of Kabaleyans in sharing their celebrations of life, Aliguas Mangaldan holds a ranking in the top 5 web pages of the leading search engines under the keyword: Mangaldan. Aliguas Mangaldan is what it is now because of the collaboration of our beloved Kabaleyans to build it as, "Our Aliguas Mangaldan."
For those who may find a need to search for someone or view an old article, there is a widget at the upper right hand panel, a green colored box that says, BLOG BAR. Just type a name or a place or an event on the search space, then click go (keep the site button marked as "This site") and you will find the links to articles published inside Aliguas Mangaldan that are related to your search choice.
On behalf of co-editor Marie Aquino-Junio, we thank all of you for making Aliguas Mangaldan what it is now and we continue to count on your participation in "Celebrating Life!" For posterity, here is the Aug 3 2008 Frontpage of Aliguas Mangaldan.
Aliguas Mangaldan is a space for the celebration of life, a linkage to Mangaldanians' ancestral birth place and a collaboration forum to assist our town of Mangaldan, Pangasinan. This is your website to connect with our townmates back home and abroad. It is a volunteer project initiated by some members of Mangaldan Residents of Vancouver (MAREVA), British Columbia. All 'Kabaleyans' across the world are invited to send and share your stories and pictures.
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