Theme: Imagine + Nation

Innovative ways to build this nation. Jaime and Gene (the guys I keep on talking about) and three more are organizing this. It’s time to put our heads together. Jaime kept on emailing TED asking them for permission to host a TEDx (x = independently hosted) and when he got it sometime last year, we all started working on this excitedly. Gene called up awesome awesome people and 5 speakers have confirmed. Dada got some sponsors to shoulder the cost (TED is nonprofit = so it’s free) and a team is ready to roll out this February 17. (I’m just the web guy! These guys did all the heavy lifting)

This January and February, we’re having TALKS instead of just feeding programs. We need thinkers to come together and Imagine things for our nation, and map out ways to carry these things out. It’s ok to have questions. What’s not ok is to act like the status quo is good enough. Ask questions. It’s the first step to finding answers… and that’s what TED is all about.

Find out all the details available on the official website. Add on Twitter, Fan on Facebook. You know the deal! Get the word out!

Hey Osep! Tell us about your event!

(below I am literally cutting and pasting from his email)

Got them! THANKS! (-he was referring to files for banners)

The other speaker is Anne Candelaria, an Ateneo alumna, who is now teaching at the Political Science Department and the Development Studies Department. Her background on politics coupled with a development perspective can present the implications of volunteerism and unity and how it is a concrete act that contributes to nation-building. I’m currently having trouble with the third speaker, so let’s not include na lang muna.

About me, well, I’m a graduating Comm student, I just turned twenty, and this event is part of my thesis. I chose to do something on Ondoy because I think it is a very timely issue, what with all the movements for nationalism going on lately. Ondoy served as an eye-opener for us Filipinos that there is a need for us to help each other out, and that we can achieve great things if we work together.

I made a short event description which may be of help.

Event Description
Back in September, typhoon Ketsana, or Ondoy, hit the Philippines and devastated thousands of lives. The heroism of the Filipino shone brightly as we worked hand-in-hand in helping the victims of the calamity. At the height of the issue, calls for aid and mobilization spread everywhere, and relief efforts were organized here and there. But now that Ondoy is “old news”, the buzz that once highlighted the need to work together to help our fellowmen has faded.

Ondoy helped us see not only the victims of the flood and the lost livelihoods, but also the existing problems and implications of poverty. It is in this light that we hold this event. Rehabilitation efforts, which contribute greatly to nation-building, are being done and many are unaware of them. This symposium invites us to gather once more to look back at the disaster and find ways of continuing the valiant mission of addressing the issues Ondoy opened our eyes to.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I’m very, very excited for this!:)

God bless!:)

That’s it guys. This Monday, Osep is running an event at Ateneo named “Life After Ondoy” … It starts at 4. If you’re interested, please email Osep right away so you can get in touch. He needs to tell the guards on campus what your plate numbers are and give more directions. Cheer us on?

Email Osep@lifeafterondoy.com if you wanna come!

In 1 and a half days, we’re gonna have a feeding program!
It will only be in the morning… done around lunch time
We’ll have games with the kids then give them some food

Details:
-meet at CJRS building, Laguna Bel Air 2, 9am
-convoy to the location somewhere in Laguna by the “riles” (railroad)
-around 200 kids will be there…
-someone already donated food, you can give loot bags with candies, small toys..
-if you don’t bring anything, that’s ok too!

Stuff to bring:
-alcohol, off lotion, sunblock, extra shirt
-have a heavy breakfast
-camera, some way to record your thoughts
-thinking caps

See you there!
For more questions, email me at stefan@lifeafterondoy.com

PS: to get to CJRS bldg, just exit at sta Rosa from SLEX, turn right, then turn left at Mcdo (laguna bel air 2).. it’s along the main road.. lots of cars will be parked there for the convoy..

What now? Speak up.

Thoughts on What We’re Doing:

1. We are exactly where I said we’d be a month ago. Ondoy is Old News.
2. If you’re still interested in helping NOW, it’s no longer because of post-calamity hype.
3. If you’re the calamity-type of guy, we’re still early for the next one.

What to Focus on:

1. Now however, we can focus less on relief and more on rehab
2. I’d rather have TONS of volunteers ONCE A MONTH than a few ONCE A WEEK. What do you think?
3. It’s better to make a solid impact on one thing (one place), than scratch the surface on many things.
4. What should that one thing be? React in the comments:

What’s New:

1. Comments on this site are no longer moderated. Say what you want. Encourage others to do the same. It will be published the moment you press the button.
2. I’ll be taking down the Ondoy-related stuff on this site (donations etc) and will post initiatives instead.
3. The subscriber base is still growing. And there are two ways to help make it grow. First is to tell people about the site and just get them to put their email in the box. Second is the Cause page on Facebook. Invite as many as you can, don’t get offended if they don’t join haha.. Some will some won’t so what someone’s waiting.

What Now?

Speak up. Comment below. Answer this question:

“Of all the things we can do (reading program, poverty rehab, information campaigning, etc) what would you want to focus on?”

Or this question: “What would devote give one day each month for?”

1. It’s Quick – 3-4 hours and we’re done. So if you’re scared, or not used to this sort of thing- welcome to the club. I’m not used to this either and I know for a fact that if I have to stay the whole day every week I probably can’t sustain it very long.
2. It’s Fun – What’s strange is that once or twice last Saturday I was thinking “I wonder how much longer it will be till I get to go home” because I was missing my little baby. But when I got home and saw the photos and looked at them with my wife, I realize – that it actually was fun.
3. Transpo is easy – We just meet in one place in Sta Rosa (Laguna Bel Air 2, CJRS Building) then have a quick Powwow there and then convoy to the place. Last week there were enough cars so I left mine in CJRS and just rode with someone.
4. You get to meet people – people just like you. They’re interesting and nice to talk to. Here are the people I met in trip #1 – http://lifeafterondoy.com/ZeoA
5. It’s an escape – Ok so it’s not Boracay but it’s still an escape from our sickeningly routine-like world from Monday to Friday. Look at the headline – this is a list of “selfish” reasons remember? Just being real. The easiest way to forget your problems is to help other people with their bigger problems. When my wife and I come home the first thing we do is give each other this “look” and I know what she’s thinking and she knows what’s on my mind too- “Thank God for everything in here”.
6. It’s Disturbing - ok so I don’t know why this is a Selfish Reason but think of this. If you will willingly pay 150pesos to watch Paranormal Activity only so you can stay sleepless for a week I think that maybe somehow someway you want to be disturbed! Hahah.. The truth is, these outreaches are not as disturbing as I thought they would be. My first time I was thinking “What the heck am I doing in this car? Why am I not at home right now watching TV?”. But when we missed a week last week I was kinda wishing I was there.
7. It’s Addicting – They say “Charity is the last legal way to get high”. I dunno who said that but I heard it more than once. It’s true. So if my list of selfish reasons somehow convince you to come… it’s being selfless and the ensuing highs of that.. that will make you stay.

All Life After Ondoy really is- is just a way to keep on Volunteering all the time. I’m not delusional enough to think that this website will solve all our country’s problems. I do believe though that if we all learn to pop our own bubbles once in a while and see what’s really out there, then maybe collectively we can make this place a little better. Or a lot.

Details for This Saturday

Place: Kaingin. We’ll convoy there. It’s just 20 minutes away from our meeting place. It’s a flooded area close to Ciudad. The water is still leg-high where they live. Don’t worry we’re not gonna wade there. At its worst-  it was chest high.
What will we do? Games with kids, feeding, distribution of goods. Not sure about Medical. Last Saturday we had a doctor and a nurse giving free checkups.
What to bring? Food. I’ll update this page. Probably boiled eggs again. Also- always bring the magic three when you come- Sunblock, Off lotion, and Alcohol (rubbing).

Can I see Photos of Kaingin? Yes. Tada…

How to Volunteer

Shoot me an email right away at stefan@lifeafterondoy.com

That’s it!

Ian Bennett

Post Production
Bigfoot Entertainment in Cebu, PH
Found us via Google

You know how some kids start bawling their eyes out with mouths wide screaming, and it looks like the end of the world? This kid wasn’t bawling, he was lower. Past the point of crying. Like he didn’t know what to do to make things better, or that it would even get better.

Apparently there are many many people living in these camps, probably too many. So I held out my camera so he could look through it. It took about a minute, but I could tell the strain in his face eased up ever so slightly when looking through the lens.

I wish the kids, and especially that kid, well.

Even in such conditions these kids are still having a good time, and I had a good time with them. The other volunteers were also very welcoming and fun to be around — even though I was a total foreigner!

Yes I will do it again. I don’t know when I’ll be able to go back to Manila, but I’ll keep my eyes open in Cebu too, or wherever else I end up.

Frances Ong

Associate Editor
Ilaw ng Tahanan Publishing, Inc.
A friend of hers told her about Life After Ondoy

What do you remember most?

Angel, the masungit baby. And my little chat with her mother about reproductive health and family planning. Gene took this little boy to see me after the mission was over. The boy wanted to thank me for the book we donated and his face was beaming. Kinilig ako.

Note: Frances was able to convince the company she works for to donate 50 storybooks to the kids in Ciudad.

These are the books donated by Frances' company.

Albert Largoza

Account Manager
Lowe Worldwide
Found us online

What do you remember most?

The lady who was touring us was very memorable (her house is submerged). Despite the circumstances, her spirits were very much up. her joy was very infectious. I remember asking her to dance and she did it more than a coupleof times It was a lot of fun.

Is it something you’d like to do again?

Definitely.

Notes From Stefan:

1. Simply forwarding this or telling a friend about it is already BIG HELP. The three of them found us because of the power of the Internet to get the word out.
2. This stuff is fun. And while it’s for the people we help, it’s also for us. We all want to be freed from Apathy but don’t really know how to do it. Just tagging along is one way.
3. Here are a bunch of photos from Ciudad that just arrived (I used film). It’s scratched up because the night before, I took the roll and wrote on it hoping for the words to appear but only the scratches did. Click here to view the photos.
4. I’m always excited to meet interesting people like these guys in our trips. Hopefully tomorrow I can meet you. Click here to find out more.

Just had an awesome time today. Thanks to everyone who donated stuff and to those who came… It was so so so awesome meeting you guys. I’ll fix this post tomorrow. Exhausted. Enjoy the video.

Hey everyone! Had an awesome time at Pagoyo last Saturday. Didn’t announce that because I just wanted to work out some details with a few key people and guess what? We’re rolling out this coming Saturday- October 24! Let’s do this bullet point style.

WHAT:

• Feeding Program, possibly Medical (doctors are confirming still)
• It’s for Kids mostly!
• There will be some games. Be ready to marshal the games.

WHERE:

• Ciudad, Sta Rosa, Laguna (See “Community Submerged” in previous blog)
• Community of 50 families
• Around 200 people who lost their homes

We can meet in Laguna Bel Air 2 and convoy from there. Meet at CJRS Bldg, along the main road. (Directions Below)

WHEN:

• Again it’s this Sat October 24
• We meet at 9am sharp
• We’re done before 1pm

WHY:

• Immediate Relief – they’re still hungry
• Intersect lives – there are no long term plans where lives don’t intersect and faces don’t become names.
• Get this party started – There are around 100 people subscribed to this blog and much more on Facebook.
• We can start this whole Life After Ondoy thing we’ve been talking about.

——————————————————————————————————————–

Some more Details:

What to Bring:

• Food: biscuits – like cookies or wafers – for around 5 kids
• Lots of hard boiled eggs! 3 Dozen each?

Fun for Kids:

• Be ready to marshall games
• Brainstorm for next time: maybe storytelling (pinoy storybooks), movies/cartoons for kids via a projector. The sky’s the limit. Come and see so you can help pitch ideas for the next one!

Transporation – Convoy

• Ciudad is around 30 mins from sta rosa exit. No floods don’t worry
• Meeting place is like this: Take SLEX exit Sta Rosa. Turn right when you hit the main road and keep going till you see Mcdonalds on your right and Laguna Bel Air 2 on your left. Enter the Village and say CJRS Building- it’s along the main road.

What now?

• I need to find out how many are coming so please confirm!
  Email me at Stefan@lifeafterondoy.com right away!
• Tell me how many eggs you can bring
• 3 dozen per person is great. if you can bring 5-6 dozen that’s awesome
• Cook them eggs in the morning for best results!

Make this a Fun thing.

• Bring your friends!
• Last Saturday someone who wanted to celebrate her birthday asked me if there was any activities. She had the right idea.
• Tagaytay is really nearby. You can volunteer in the morning and hang out after lunch.
• This isnt supposed to be traumatizing for you! It should be fun! We’ll all make it fun!
• We can do it again and again.

We’re trying to come up with Big Plans

• and we need more people in the conversation
• the conversation happens live when we meet these people
• we start here in laguna and make our way up north
• we can duplicate any successes we experience here
• you can be the pointperson for your area!

Any Questions? Reply! Comments! Retweet! Repost!

This technology is now made available to the Ondoy victims via the Clean Water Project.

I just shot them an email about how we can be a part of it. Read about them here:

The Clean Water Project

Hi Everyone! I sure hope the email notifications are working, in which case some of you will be reading this from your inboxes. If you haven’t already, please subscribe- click here. Anyway, let me tell you quickly about Yesterday’s Wild Ride. Visisted 3 places:

1. Reading Camp

Told Gene our tour guide to take it easy on me since I’m a newbie when it comes to this. So the first stop was a walk in the park. It was a camp (set in our idyllic rural countryside on a cool rainy morning) with 10 kids aged around 5 yrs where they have a reading/rehab program. They’ll be there for 6 mos and in that time they’ll learn to read better than most 4th grade public school students here. Most importantly, they experience life away from the streets. Here in the camp, they are loved and cared for. The foundation behind it is called “Visions of Hope” and the reading program they’re using is called “BLESS“.

The kids were really cute but what I struck me the most was how affectionate they were. A few moments after I was introduced, one kid ran and hugged me. I didn’t mind at all but I didn’t know how to respond so it was awkward, and Gene told me to hug him back so I did. Later on, Gene would tell me stories of how they were when they found them. Putting it mildly, the contrast is stark. Same goes for where they are now. They’re in paradise now, but the first 5-6 yrs in their life were spent in the dangerous drug-infested streets of Pasay where they had to fend for their lives.

I’ll probably make an individual report for each of these places later on- to tell you more about what each one needs, how we can help, and how we can volunteer. We’re still trying to work out the details but I’d imagine it would be a great experience for the kids in this place to have some “guest teachers” come in every so often (once a month?) later on. If you’re already interested, leave a comment in the box. I’ll try to keep this short so that people with A.D.D. won’t mind reading this blog post, but ask me as many questions as you can in the comments section. Here are some photos:

• #1 Need in my opinion: Parent them. Go in there and love them. They have only 6 months here and then they’ll get exposed again to a horrible environment. We need to make it count. They didn’t come running to me looking for a hug for no reason. These are the children of illiterate drug addicts, some of whom are criminals. Show them an alternative. This is perfect for a long term volunteer plan (comments?)
• #2 Need in my opinion: This one’s easy. Money- for the Bless program. It takes 10,000pesos ONLY for 10 kids to complete a program (materials are subsidized by BLESS in the US). That’s 1000 a kid. Will let you know how to give to the foundation later on.

2. Microfinance in a Squatter’s Area

NOTE: This is a squatters area which was NOT hit by Ondoy. What are we doing here then? This is called “Life After Ondoy” remember? We’re looking for ways to be part of the solution without waiting for another calamity to give us a rude wake up call.

Many people bring up this thing, and if I were reading through this website I’d bring it up too- and it’s the question of sustainability- aka teaching someone how to fish. People can’t live on dole-outs, and it frankly doing that does not help people. What helps people is teaching them to sustain themselves and on the face of the earth, I have not seen or heard of a program better than Microfinance (hey if you’ve heard of something else, let us know in the comments). I went with two friends- one who is tied up with a Microfinance group and another guy who volunteered to visit the place once a week on his own accord and with no affiliation other than friendship. What the Microfinance group does is lend some capital for them to start small businesses, and then each time they come to collect, they have values formation and basic business training. Super awesome!

Ok so we’ve all been to outreaches during our high school days and maybe immersions in college. This place looked just like that (maybe 1 notch worse). I was cynical back in those days but they were right- I guess you don’t forget what it’s like to live in one of those places for 2 nights. The people we met in our little school field trips were somewhat banking on us to remember and I’m hopeful everyone does. Back to the site: This place did not go underwater but yes Ondoy hit them and every single typhoon puts their lives at risk. Look at their homes in the photos and you’ll see what I mean. Those roofs can blow off anytime. The soil they walk on can turn to quicksand anytime. The insides of their homes are already totally muddy. They don’t have floors. This community is made up of 300 families… and they have one deep well. And the government- which relocated them- was nice enough to provide 4 portalets. If you have an average of four people per family (and you and I know that’s conservative) we’re talking about 1200 people sharing 4 portalets, and 1 deepwell. Here are the Photos!

• #1 Need in my opinion: A lot of them need medical attention. There was someone who had Typhoid. They do not have access to clean water. Jaime was caught on video smelling the water from the deepwell and you should’ve seen his face. Anyway this place is very easy to go to and it really helps that we have contacts in there that we trust. We can easily drop stuff off for them. I’m thinking we can make a list and ask you guys to buy their stuff and give it to them personally…
• #2 Need in my opinion: Business ideas! They have access to a lending group, but the options for business are- sari sari store, talipapa, etc. What can these people do – what businesses can they start so they can end the cycle? How can we train them? Put your thinking cap on and respond in the comments section… Retweet this too to your really smart friends

3. Community Submerged

This one was really sad. It’s like seeing a swamp, and realizing that the swamp appeared overnight and under the water is an entire village. The story here is that the other side of the community was nearer to the school/basketball court and was evacuated and they’re the ones who get the relief goods. This side was not evacuated and no one visits them. When asked why they still choose to stay in their homes they say it’s because they’re afraid their things will get stolen. The thing is, even if they left those things, there’s no place to go. The evacuation center is cramped and has sub-human living conditions. Some people in this site work in a sewing company (2 houses with sewing machines) and that’s where Gene knows people because the Microfinance group has some borrowers there. They were the ones who “toured” us. Some people from the village would ask our tour guides what we were up to and the explanation was:

“ilalabas daw tayo sa Internet para may tumulong sa atin”

[English- "They said they'd feature us on the Internet so someone could help us"]. You could imagine how nervous I was when she said that. When we were about to go, they asked me “babalik pa ba kayo?” ["Are you really coming back?"].

We did. That same day. When we arrived in our meeting place in Sta Rosa, Gene found out that someone dropped off 100 bags of “loot” at the church he’s connected with. He asked me and Jaime (the guy in the photos) if we wanted to go back. I really didn’t I’ll be honest so I said: “Well you’re my ride home!”. Later on he’d reveal to me that he really didn’t wanna go back either. I will digress: It’s so refreshing to hear honesty. Seriously. I mean let’s get real- no one “likes” to do this, and we’re not experts at it. When I ask you to imagine “a perfect day” you don’t imagine strolling across homes of relocated urban poor do you? I get really annoyed when I hear people turning it into a pissing contest calling other people “maarte” (I can’t translate that in English. Can you? Comments?) – on the other hand, I get really refreshed when I hear people admitting that something wasn’t easy for them but they did it anyway.

Back to the story- we went back. We arrived at the sewing machine joint at sunset and told the girl we had the loot. This was seriously like a spy mission. If the people in the village found out and caught us unprepared- that’s 50 families and we were just 4 guys. The girl drew up a list of names since she had written previously (she knew each family and their faces) and we started to unload. They’d take care of distribution. As we were unloading, a few people who saw us were already making sure they’d get their share. You can really feel the desperation in them. The village by the way- was totally invisible. It was night. View the photos.

• #1 Need in my opinion: The same ol relief goods- food, medicines. That water is already turning toxic (it’s really black and – opaque). Kids have diarrhea probably from drinking it when they swim there for fun. They need Off lotion and mosquito nets and diatabs. You think it’s a good idea to send doctors? Anyway we’ll write a nice list soon. Reply below.
• #2 Need in my opinion: How in the world can we evacuate them? Their concern is their stuff getting stolen. I’m thinking some freight company can drop off a container to send lock their stuff for them. Then, where do we move them? Wow. Thoughts?

In Conclusion

I really wanted this to be short. In fact it’s so late (3am) I don’t even know if I’m coherent. Thing is my mind is so full of stuff that even when I try to do this “bullet point style” it still turns out long. Here are some last thoughts:

• Life After Ondoy starts- After Ondoy. If we were to come up with a way to volunteer immediately- it would probably be in that last place- the submerged village- and other Ondoy-stricken places up north.
• I can’t announce the date, but it’s soon and it’s in my head. Once we have details I’ll announce it. Sometimes I wonder “will people even come?” so can you tell me what you think down there in the comments section. Again tentatively- it’s in that place in Sta Rosa and we’ll probably do a feeding program. Then some place nearer to the North folk
• When we’re in a “south place” the north folk can be the back support- donate stuff, give money, pray, etc. When we’re in a north place, south people can do the same. Of course if you can come to both, come!
• You don’t have to go LOA for LAO. Probably on a weekend- always.
• Life After Ondoy only means- Life After Ondoy. We’re not a registered group or anything and we’re not trying to recruit you for “our” cause. The Philippines is our cause. We’ll gladly post a link to your cause and talk about what you’re doing, even help you get volunteers. Just contact me and let me know how I can help via this website.
• For the volunteer stuff that we will initiate, we’re not going lone ranger either. As you can see, we’re tying up with existing groups who know their stuff, and have good ties with people in the communities we wanna help.
• Guys, we can do this. This is as real as we choose to make it.

I was supposed to post separate albums here but decided to post the entire thing on Facebook. Click for Photos and Captions.

“When we were about to go, they asked me ‘babalik pa ba kayo?’”