Environment

Well folks, I can now add another natural disaster to the list of things I’ve survived in my life, which currently includes:

1.  Tornadoes
2.  Blizzards
3.  Golf-ball-sized hail storms (hurts the car every time)
4.  Typhoons/Hurricanes
5.  Near-volcanic eruptions
6.  EARTHQUAKES

Yes, that’s right.  I lived through my first earthquake.  It was a crazy little thing.  Shook the floor for about 30 seconds.  I later learned that it was a 6.2 on the Richter scale – WHOA, huh?  It sounds worst than it felt.  In fact, I thought it was all kind of exciting.  Here’s how it played out:

It was roughly 1:30 in the afternoon and I had just arrived at the 6th floor of Carewell, where I volunteer with the Cancer patients.  I was saying my hellos when all the lovely ladies started praying loudly and clutching their chairs.  I didn’t realize it was an earthquake at first, just thought there was some construction nearby, so I jumped right into the prayers in an attempt to “fit in”.

10-15 seconds in I heard the word Earthquake and everything clicked.  What was funny was that I had no “flight or flight” response programmed for earthquakes.  So I just found myself standing there smiling, a bit in awe.  I even screamed a bit for fun just to feel a part of the chaos!

Now, in retrospect, I realize that this was NOT appropriate behavior.  I should have been getting in a doorway (I think) or going to the roof (so as not to be crushed by the collapsing building).  Did I do any of that?  NOPE.  I danced around like a 6 year old instead.

Note to self: don’t zone out in the future at Emergency Disaster Preparedness Training!  Happily, I lived to tell the tale and I can now say that I survived a 6+ earthquake!

Can someone please walk me through an Earthquake drill, because all I’m programmed to do, I realize, is:

-go to the basement
-get away from the windows
-get into a tucking position
-bring my head to my knees

Not proving to be overly effective for typhoons and earthquakes…

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Here are a couple of great videos about Tondo that aired on TV in London last week.  Lynie, who led our tour is featured.  You’ll recognize many shots from my pictures.  And I promise, no more posts on Tondo awhile…

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I’m having a hard time letting go of this experience, feeling that my sharing is still incomplete.  I’m hoping that in doing one last post, I’ll feel like I did Tondo the justice it deserves.

Over the last 24 hours I’ve been noticing the impact that Tondo had on me.  First there was the physical toll – the burning eyes from the methane, the exhaustion from being out in the sun and then the inability to sleep.  It was hard, no doubt, but insignificant compared to the emotional toll that came next.  I am fairly certain that I experienced true despair for the first time in my life.  It was compounded by a sense of hopelessness and desperation; a fear that perhaps I couldn’t handle being with sorrow and pain of this magnitude.

Surprisingly, the vastness of the problem made me want to shut down instead of stepping up, which is not a typical reaction for me.  Once the overwhelm passed, I was still left feeling disturbed but also discovered a deep sense of gratitude that radiated to the core of my being.  I realized that I may not be able to make a large difference at Tondo, but I have the skills and the will to make an impact somewhere else.  My thoughts turned to my Coaching and I felt myself being called forth to step into something bigger with my life, to better use the education and resources that have so abundantly been given to me.

I do not  know what the final impact of Tondo will be, but I can already sense that it has changed me, that I can no longer be the same person given what I have now experienced.  Big stuff, I know.  No idea what I’m supposed to do with it yet, so I’m going to let it incubate for awhile.  I will keep you posted as things develop…

I want to leave you with a few last images that I feel compelled to share.  The first is of the swimming hole.  Kids floated around on scraps of foam while children swam unabashedly in the nude.

Here is the scrap wood area, where lumber and tree parts are collected and either re-purposed or sold.

This area was where charcoal was being made, also to be sold.  I couldn’t get over the soot-covered toddlers running right by the fiery coals.

Mmmm, appetizing.  This appears to be a stew made of chicken that was scavenged from the trash, with the addition of some fresh veggies as well (or those might be scavenged too).  I was amazed to realize that almost everything gets put to a second use.  It was truly incredible…

I leave you with this last vignette, which was perhaps the most impactful exchange I had the entire day.  I was photographing a young girl who was fiercly clutching a giant m&m’s bag.  She pulled some smashed, dirty m&m’s out of the bag and handed them to the boy that was with her.  He ate a few and then extended a hand to offer me some.  That soot-covered hand generously offering to give me half is the perfect metaphor for what I have come to know about the Filipino people.

Even those stripped of their possessions or overtaken by disease will still have the grace to offer you a smile and half of whatever they have left.  I truly believe that such radical generosity could start a movement that would change the world.  I am grateful to be learning these lessons hands-on, as I know they will stay with me the rest of my life.

I leave you with one of my favorite Filipino sayings, “Bahala na, God will provide.” Translated, it becomes: Happen what may, God will provide.

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Picture from Rage.com

Instead of engaging in my typical St. Patrick’s Day activity of beer drinking and social events, I had the opportunity to do something vastly different this year.  I was invited to go on a tour with the Philippines Christian Foundation (PCF), an organization that is helping the poorest of the poor that live in Manila’s garbage dump called Tondo.  There are currently over 1.5 million people that live and scavenge at Tondo, roughly 12% of Manila’s entire population.

PCF has designed a variety of initiatives to help this population move beyond life at Tondo.  Their most recent project is a brand new school facility located on the dump site.  What’s so innovative about this school is that it was constructed entirely of donated shipping containers, which were then coated in concrete, as you can see in this next picture (which is how we viewed it).  Incredible, isn’t it?

Because there is a lot of pressure on the children to bring in income for the family, parents were forcing the children to scavenge instead of going to school.  To combat this, PCF designed a points system in which various amounts of rice and canned goods are given out each week to kids based on attendance, good hygiene, and clean uniforms.  This has dramatically reduced the attendance problem, as the children are now able to bring home their contribution by going to school.  Again, sheer brilliance!

There is also a daily feeding program on the site that provides all children with breakfast and lunch.  The children are weighed each day and if found to be underweight, given an additional afternoon snack.  Opportunities can be found at the PCF website to sponsor a child to eat.

Health is also of top concern.  Kids receive a vitamin each day and de-worming treatments are given out several times a year.  A recent birthing center was added at the dump site as well, to assist with pre-natal care and deliveries.  Housing initiatives are in full swing too and sponsorships of $300 can provide a new home for a family of 3 on the site, getting them out of the squalor of their shanty.

The final component of PCF is a livelihood project that teaches them how to make items out of trash.  Bags are made out of juice cartons (my sisters each got one for Christmas) and beaded jewelry is made out of magazine pages.  I was able to get some stunning jewelry to take home with me.  It is truly incredible what they are doing, as it teaches them new skills beyond scavenging.

The school is located on the land of a previous dump site that is affectionately titled “Smoky Mountain”.  As you can see in the picture above, there is constant smoke rising from the mountain.  What you may not have guessed though is that the smoke is actually methane gas, caused by all the garbage deteriorating below.  My eyes were burning and tearing up after just 10 minutes near it.  Imagine living there day and night?

I nearly gagged when I saw this.  Contained in these bags are chicken bones with small amounts of meat still on them.  They were pulled out of garbage bins, re-cooked, sauced and sold for 50 cents a bag.  I wonder how many pieces of my leftover Jollibee chicken scraps have ended up in these bags?

So I’m sure you’re wondering why so many people end up at the dump.  The cycle works something like this.  The dream for most Filipinos is to move from the provinces to the big city of Manila and then eventually get a Visa and move to the United States.  What happens though is that they leave the province and come to Manila, attempt to find a job without success and then eventually end up at the dump to make their living by scavenging.

So why don’t they just go back to the provinces where life was better?  Well, the Asian concept of “saving face” comes into play here and unless they’ve made something of themself, they do not feel that they can return (in shame) to their home.  And so the population of the dump continues to grow….

As you can see in my pictures, the Tondo children really captured my heart.  I will never forget the moment captured in this picture above as two children scurried up the garbage pile with their trash bag, fighting over who got to hold the bag.  My heart still remains heavy 24 hours later and I feel compelled to do one final post on Tondo tomorrow.  I hope you will continue reading about these courageous people and think about what you may do to fight poverty in your own community.

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