httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQaYssxHWNw
Our man for Laguna
While in flood-devastated Laguna, Philippines, I met a group of Filipinos who were determined to learn to help themselves. I had the privilege of meeting one of them when he was in Singapore for a brief visit. He had been invited by a friend of his to visit Singapore.
During his stay in Singapore he was lost and asked me for instructions how to get back to his friend’s house. As I was going to drive in the direction of where his friend lived, I told him to hop into my car. In the car, I asked him what he did and he told me the many interesting things that he was doing and planning to do.
The car ride was barely five minutes and when he I dropped him off at his friend’s house we exchanged emails. Though I was quite impressed with what this young man (aged 27 at that time) was doing, I didn’t think much about him because I did not think that I’d ever meet him again.
Shortly after I received an email from him and photos of the projects that he had told me about. I am used to receiving “impressive” reports from overseas – and have become a little sceptical because many of such reports are exaggerated and sometimes downright dishonest. So I didn’t bother much with that email.
However, he persisted in sending more reports and photos of his projects. I began to think that maybe he was really as creative and productive as he claimed to be. So I decided that on my next trip to the Philippines to visit him.
When I visited him in Laguna, I was impressed by what I saw – the team of earnest young people that he had, the network of friends that he had cultivated, the livelihood projects and potential projects that the had for the poor. That was two years ago. Since then I make a point of visiting him each time I visit the Philippines (say about 3 times per year).
This young man graduated as a civil engineer in a top university in Iloilo, Philippines but decided to give up his profession to help the poor and needy. He has built up a team of young men and women who have the same dreams as him.
He has the ability to reach the poorest of the poor and also to make friends with the rich and powerful. He mobilizes the resources of the rich to help the poor – often holding seminars for poor kids in top resorts for free. He knew how to be the voice of the poor to the rich and a channel of the rich to the poor.
After several visits and many hours of dreaming together, I was convinced that he was to be our Goducate man for Laguna’s poor and helpless.
Living in the aftermath of 3 typhoons
I believe that there are many kind people who will readily give to help the hungry and helpless but do not know how to reach them.
As I drove around the flooded province of Laguna, Philippines, I saw people carrying on with their lives in their flooded homes. Their homes had already been flooded for a whole month and according to the governmental authorities the flood waters would not fully subside for another 4 months because the outlet of the large lagoon (from which Laguna gets its name) into the South China Sea is obstructed by illegal housing and garbage which hinder the outflow of flood waters into the sea.
It was indeed a strange sight to see a housewife wading waist deep in water in her own house carrying a child and watching her TV which is set on a table that is placed on another underwater table. I presume the whole family sleeps on that elevated table since it is the only part of their house that is not submerged. An enterprising lady pulling a little boat laden with daily necessities goes past the house but no one seems to buy anything, probably because no one has money to purchase anything.
As a doctor, I know that these waters are not a mere inconvenience but a deadly danger to the entire population. The filthy water is a perfect media to carry many types of deadly bacteria. There are already outbreaks of dengue fever and leptospirosis (a potentially deadly disease from the urine of rats, etc).
But even more deadly to the population is the contamination of their water sources (eg. wells). The poor cannot afford bottled water, nor can they afford fire-wood to boil their water and many young children will die from diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, etc. Because of malnourishment many young children and babies will perish after a short bout of untreated diarrhoea.
I was told that the local authorities were already out of vitamins, medications and food for this area. When I asked a local how the people got their food since most of their sources of livelihood (ie, the farms) were destroyed, he answered me “Whenever a good Samaritan gives them something.”
In our experience with feeding children in poor countries, we have found that for about US$0.15 to US$0.20 cents per child, we can provide a simple meal of chicken flavoured rice-porridge with bits of chicken in it.
Two large buckets of rice porridge with chicken (costing US$20.00) can provide a meal for a hundred hungry children!
I believe that there are many kind people who will readily give to help the hungry and helpless but do not know how to reach them.
Goducate must be the voice of the helpless to the helpers, and the channel of the helpers to the helpless!
More photos (click thumbnail to view photos):
[nggtags gallery=typhoon2,typhoon1]