Pinoy family in UAE organizes 'Pinoy Henyo Para sa Ayuda' online game

After having at least a thousand subscribers to their online video-sharing platform, a Filipino family in the United Arab Emirates  thought of doing a livestreaming game to solicit assistance for OFWs reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Persian Gulf state.

"Our channel started as a suggestion of my son, Seth Matteo. It then paved the way to a segment called the 'Pinoy Henyo Para Sa Ayuda' para sa marami nating kababayan dito sa UAE na 'no work, no pay'," said Mario Napat, a 35-year-old licensed medical coder at the Fine Care Medical Center, referring to his eldest child.

[See the family's YouTube channel].

The mechanics of the game is simple, its like a modified version of Eat Bulaga's "Pinoy Henyo." Online participants need only to guess the word or a name of a thing written on a piece of paper. They just type in their guesses and the one who gets it right wins a prize.

"If the winner has a job, he or she would give the prize to a beneficiary who lost employment due to the pandemic. But if the winning participant is in a 'no work, no pay' situation, the prize goes to him or her. Laro at saya lang talaga," Mario said in an interview via email on July 14.

The prizes are packs of grocery items, and five kilos of rice, which will be delivered to the beneficiary or the winner's doorstep by the Napat family.

"We will go to the beneficiaries’ doorstep to deliver the goods personally, to have also a chance for brief conversations with them to really get to know their situation," Mario said.

"Eventually many were inspired and sponsored the prizes, Napat said, adding that they have already aired five episodes, so far.

"We are so grateful to God for helping our fledgling YouTube channel as a vessel to help our kababayans, as well as to our sponsors who have the biggest hearts to journey with us in this initiative. This is really an answered prayer," Napat said.  —LBG, GMA News