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July 08, 2008
The Story and The Plan
I took my first warm shower this morning, one week into my stay in the Philippines. I wanted to wait longer—perhaps two, three weeks (for dramatic effect)—but the opportunity presented itself, and I decided to end my winning (?) streak, however prematurely. In fact, “shower” is a euphemism for the more accurate ‘bathing process’, as virtually everyone uses the ‘tabo’, a small pail with a handle, to pour water onto themselves from a larger bucket. That being said, I’ve realized warmth in this country is in excess anyway, and switching back to cold water will prove more refreshing and economical.
I got way ahead of myself last time, discussing themes and lessons and values when I should have first explained this summer’s agenda. Though I have much more to share, let’s cover first things first.
I am interning for two months with Kamay at Puso (KAP), an organization based in California, which has a center in the community of Madapdap, located in the Pampanga region of Luzon (the largest island of the Philippine archipelago). KAP is the main funding body of the center, bringing medical treatment (mostly physical therapy) to the town’s children and those of neighboring barangays (‘neighborhoods’; the smallest units of government in the Philippines). These children, ages 2-12, suffer from cerebral palsy and other degenerative diseases, contracted from what most believe was contaminated drinking water that their mothers ingested before the children were born. The recent history of this area is long and painful, starting in 1991 with the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. The eruption itself killed hundreds of people and destroyed the infrastructures, local economies, and relative peace of the surrounding communities. Their inhabitants were virtually refugees—dispersed, in constant search of safe land on which to settle, and in constant flight from ash emissions, lahar, that continued to flow into the area’s rivers and valleys. In response, the Philippine national government relocated them to Clark Air Base Command (CABCOM), part of one of the two main American bases left in the Philippines, abandoned by the U.S. military following the natural disaster. The square footage of the former base was vast (around the size of Singapore), physical space a non-question in deciding whether all these families would literally “fit” onto CABCOM. However, after a couple of years, when stability and re-growth seemed imminent, individuals—many—started to get sick. These sicknesses ranged from heart disease to skin cancer to respiratory problems to organ failure. Turns out, CABCOM was also a former motor pool, where the U.S. military during its occupation improperly dumped toxic waste produced by jet-fighters, submarines, and other war-related equipments. (Read this.) Finally in 2000, reacting to several years of bad press highlighting the plight of the settlements’ victims, the Philippine government again moved the communities to where they are currently situated—outside of CABCOM, but not far from its ominous borders.
Then came the next generation of babies. Not old enough to have experienced the disaster, they are nevertheless feeling the health effects that resulted from displacement. Kamay at Puso starts at this level of engagement—children—and partners with mothers and the local community to make medical treatment and health information accessible (and free). Uniting families of Madapdap, San Isidro, Santa Lucia, and others (all resettlement sites) around their children, KAP aims to make community involvement and empowerment more palpable, despite a situation that is immobilizing, defined by heartache, and distracting (to say the least).
The main problem the organization has, however, is lack of capital. Money comes in from individual donors and from fundraisers held by Filipino-American (Fil-Am) organizations in the States, but those funds vary in size and are often inconsistent sources of consistently needed money. My job is essentially to fundraise, but to do so in a way that solves for this organizational and financial conundrum. The project is threefold:
1. Grant-writing
I have started to write many grants this summer and have many more to go. The idea behind this aspect of the project is that large sums of money are needed to fund expensive x-rays, hospital visits, medications, leg braces, rolling walkers, et cetera. Some of the children’s conditions even require surgery. However, in most cases, physical therapy is applied because it is cheaper, and it is a less invasive and risky form of treatment. At this point, all of the physical therapists, rehabilitation doctors, and surgeons work with the kids for free. Yet as a result, they can only donate their services for a few hours each week, the center serving only a fraction of the children and families it could. And of course, there is always the problem of consistency, when after six months, doctors either leave to do something that actually makes money (why wouldn’t they?) or succumb to the increasing pressures of ‘brain drain’ on professionals in Third World countries. The children are left to adjust to new doctors and therapists, enduring treatment that is painful for their fragile limbs, and the process repeats itself again.
If granted, these new sources of funding will help KAP move beyond sustenance and reliance on the goodwill of medical professionals towards a stable operation. So far, the money that comes in only covers operational expenses (electric, water, salary of the center’s one full-time staff member), other expenses being paid for out of pocket by the coordinator here in the Philippines or by an unexpected check from the States. Grant money would help the center transform and grow, retaining doctors for a longer period of time, treating more children, and embarking on various programs (health and hygiene educational seminars, livelihood projects, speech therapy programs, and dental care initiatives) that correspond to the principal physical therapy program.
Undoubtedly, this is the most important part of the project.
2. Livelihood
Madapdap and the other barangays in this area suffer notoriously from high unemployment. Some joke that when you’re in Pampanga, you always see a bunch of people on the streets, just hanging out in front of their ‘sari-sari’ stores (where they sell small snacks), chilling out leisurely in front of large fans. An outreach project of KAP to help ameliorate this situation (of money basically circulating within) is the livelihood project, employing the children’s mothers and relatives to make low-cost products to be sold abroad for more money. There are multiple benefits to this approach, raising money for the center and employing the unemployed, but also building a sense of community around the cause of children. The idea is to get the people of Madapdap involved and really let the mothers and families direct such initiatives—less finger-wagging, more handholding. Additionally, this project would likely increase the flow of money to the center and into the town, creating a more dependable source of funding.
My job is to help Susan, the center’s coordinator in Manila, come up with product ideas that would be appealing to American and European markets (consumers of Fair Trade products), and to contact Fair Trade retailers regarding wholesale purchases. So far we have thought of these dolls that are pretty easy to make and are sewn using all local materials. But beyond that, I will need some creative guidance, so I’ll ask my mom (she loves to shop). Or better yet, send me some of your ideas (Belinda_Navi@brown.edu)!
3. Networking
I am continuing with networking efforts made by those currently and previously involved with KAP. Beyond its moneymaking capabilities, networking helps get groups and individuals, especially Fil-Ams and Filipinos living abroad, invested in the issues from which they are geographically removed. There are countless organizations in the United States, even if only at the college and university level (Filipino Alliance at Brown, Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue or FIND, Samahang Pilipino at UCLA), that have enormous fundraising and networking capabilities (I should be posting on Facebook!). Word of mouth spreads like wildfires, if you have enough fuel or offshore winds. Don’t know about those winds, but I hope rising fuel prices won’t hinder me from undertaking this task (HA!).
There’s The Story and The Plan. I’m off now for some coconut juice (my favorite!), so don’t wait up for me…
(For some good, short, pertinent reading, check out yesterday’s New York Times article on the Bhopal disaster of 1984: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/world/asia/07bhopal.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin.)
Posted by Belinda Navi at July 8, 2008 05:55 AM