Yesterday’s Wild Ride

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?’”