“Relief is temporary. Commitment is not”

After posting what I posted yesterday, and being a little overwhelmed with the results (in a good way), I spent all day thinking about what the next step would be. I read every single comment and took it from there. The first thing I was thinking was this:

• This discussion can’t stop
• More people need to be in it
• We need to share all our thoughts and ideas
• We need to stay connected so we can turn those ideas into concrete, doable, sustainable action plans.
• Then we need to carry out those plans ourselves.

If it sounds like I’m making it all up as I go along, that’s exactly how it is. But what we have here is an opportunity to turn this into something permanent. As I’ve said before: momentum is on our side. Momentum can do two things… it can speed up… or slow down. It all depends on how much action we take and how fast we take it. I know there will never be a perfect plan, but the worst plan is the one we wait too long for to carry out.

So I spent all night fixing this website. We need a way to be connected before that post of ours– and all your precious comments– before the post starts to drown in a sea of Facebook mundaneity. All I ask of you is to:

• Sign up by entering your email address on the right. You’ll receive an email every time there’s a post on this site.
• Tell other people to visit. Show them what you wrote. Tell them to keep the discussion alive. Then tell them to sign up too. Remember that this site is available to the international community. Tweet about it. Repost it. Email your relatives abroad. Just connect.
• Decide how involved you can afford to be, then commit to it. Because we’re gonna need people to volunteer- which takes me to why the title is “The Next Steps over Coffee”

I just arrived home from coffee with my friend Gene, we lost track of time and the mall closed on us. Gene Battung has been involved with a reputable microfinance organization for a while now and is very exposed to the nation’s situation- in all of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. He does not run out of stories to tell. He said he’s been waiting for a chance to tell his stories to people… So you guys are gonna hear them, see the faces of the people he sees, and hear about about all the things they need, and all the opportunities to help. As we go along, you’re gonna be feeling things that you’ve never felt and your lives will change. Then you’re gonna be thinking of ideas and creative ways to help- and their lives will change. That’s the point of all this.

Anyway, back to Gene. He’s also very connected with other groups so when our discussion entered the world of Possibilities, things became REALLY interesting. Our conversation touched:

• A certain machine that can purify water to the point that even the smallest virus (which is Polio apparently) is eliminated. He knows how to get that into communities. (in Banda Aceh and most other calamities in the past the first problem was always potable water- and again many communities needed access to clean water BEFORE the calamities happened)
• A certain reading program that takes someone who can’t read or write- and brings him to a 4th grade comprehension level- in 6 months! Some people commented about education and wanting to volunteer as a teacher. This is it.
• A certain group that has been feeding people before Ondoy came. They concentrate on a village until every kid get’s even just a little- chubby! Even after we feed the victims of Ondoy, we can keep on feeding our hungry countrymen

As you can see I got more than a little excited about it. But there’s also one thing- one need- that is so… pressing and sobering- that we cannot do any of these things without considering it. If I talk about it here, this post will get too long for most people to read so I’ll save it for another day. Before I end this, there’s one last thing I need to announce:

This week I’m going with Gene to a certain area that needs help- it’s in Laguna- to check it out. The week after, I’ll be asking you guys to come along. We’ll organize the meeting place, and discuss other logisitic stuff. So tentatively, 2 weeks from now, we all get to meet face to face- and start this thing together. Till then, please help by bringing people to the site- or to the Facebook post that got us connected in the first place.

I know what you’re thinking… “is this for real?”. I was thinking that too. Guys I’m just a normal guy- I have no experience doing this, I’m no social action hero. But that question- “is this for real”- we need to answer it.

“This is as real as we choose to make it.”

And we’ll take it one step at a time- together.

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Reposted from Facebook, written October 2 2009 12:47pm

“So we fed a few people. Now what?”

What happens when Ondoy gets old?

It’s Day 6 and Facebook, Twitter, TV, the papers- everything’s still Flooded with news about the Flood (though a little less than before). I even have some friends getting angry when their other friends post “useless” stuff- you know- the kind of stuff we’d normally post if there wasn’t an emergency or disaster.

But here’s reality… a few days or weeks from now, things will not-so-slowly start to look normal again. At least for us. Facebook will have less stuff about emergency relief, and more of those quizzes, and games, and scores, and invitations to gigs and parties and whatnot. In a few days, Ondoy will no longer be “the news”. When Ondoy gets old, it will be forgotten. It will be just another problem that we’ve learned to live with.

The truth of the matter is this- 95% of the people whom we are helping now- they needed our help BEFORE the typhoon. They were hit hardest because they’re the ones who live in shanties, they’re the ones without medical access, they’re the ones with no jobs and no money, and a lot of them didn’t have water even before the flood. Heck a lot of them needed food before Ondoy. And they existed, while we existed, side by side. We never bothered to help them. And when Ondoy gets old- when it moves from “front and center” to the sidelines of our attention and life goes back to “normal”, these people will still need our help.

“They needed our attention BEFORE the typhoon. They will need our attention AFTER the typhoon.”

If anything the typhoon opened our eyes to the REAL situation our countrymen were in. This post is just my way of asking everybody to be around for them PERMANENTLY. The great thing about Ondoy is that with everybody helping, we have some sort of momentum going. And when we move from Red Alert to whatever color normal living is, we can still keep that momentum going and never stop helping, and sharing, and giving.

What does it take for these people to live better? When the flood goes down, many will need homes again. Then they’ll need jobs. Then they’ll need infrastructure built in their towns. Reliable water supply. Transportation. Schools should be rebuilt. Education should be made accessible. Crime should be controlled. Guys these are OLD problems. We can’t just be heroes when it comes to NEW problems. All old problems were once new, and they stayed there because somewhere along the way, we forgot how to follow through. I remember watching a movie called “Charlie Wilson’s War” which was all about the time when the US helped Afghanistan defend itself against Russia back in the day. The movie ended with a strong quote:

“These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world… and then we f—-d up the endgame.”

Guys, let’s not screw up the end game. If we’re here to help, let’s make sure we follow through. This is where I shut up and let you guys do the talking. Use the comment box below to share your ideas and thoughts on the matter. Before I do shut up let me leave you with one last thought- I truly believe that we have everything it takes to make all the changes we say we want in this country. There’s no resource, talent, skill, or connection that is unavailable to us. The question is this- will we make it available to them?

Please Reply.

UPDATE: What’s Next? Click here.