Health and Safety at Work

After all the amazing capacity building work we saw at the Red Cross, the MMDA and Gawad Kalinga in the Philippines this week's health and safety training was a bit of an eye opener.

In a global context our environment is pretty safe (see Philippines; in the top 12 countries most prone to natural disasters) but the trainer managed to make people feel like they'd face death as they went to the next room to get the sandwiches. In comparison to people who go to work every day in a city of potholed pavements, less than controlled traffic and the ever present threat of earthquakes and flooding the risk to our health of tripping over a cable kind of seems insignificant. 

However the real contrast came in the attitude we're taught. In a hierarchical list of how to deal with a hazard training came around 6 or 7 (if I'd realised I was going to write this I'd have made more notes). This is despite it being clear that in order to carry out actions 1 to 5 or 6 someone would have to have been trained. But this was what the message seemed to be: other people are responsible for keeping you safe at work. What came across was that your employers responsibilities outweigh your own. 

When schools in the slums of Manila are teaching primary age children to spot the warning signs of TB and the Red Cross are training people how to deal with serious flooding and earthquake this doesn't seem right. 

Yes our employers might have a responsibility to make sure we don't come to harm at work but we do too and maybe the training should look more at how we can practically identify and prevent risk rather than looking at horror stories and reporting procedures. 

If we're getting down to details such as bad backs and poor posture why not suggest that the employee use a bit of initiative and raise their monitor with a book? Or if their chair isn't right use a cushion. For some the solution might not be that simple but it often is. 

Maybe we should look at teaching people common sense first? Or at least assume they'll be using it on a day to day basis. 

Visit to the Red Cross

A visit to Quezon City’s Chapter of the Philippine Red Cross involved another serious conference setting and a presentation including all their volunteers dressed up in uniform. Kindly arranged by a Rotarian I met at one of the meetings a long presentation didn’t even begin to cover the amazing work they do in the Philippines.

I think sometimes we forget in the UK how spoilt we are. If we have an emergency, a fire or a car accident we call the emergency services and know they will come. In Manila that might not be the case. While the Chairmen wasn’t critical of the government provision of emergency service it was clear that these were not meeting the need and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) were filling in the gap.

In addition to the services that are remarkably similar to the British Red Cross (BRC) in terms of support for the homeless, first aid training and family tracing to name a few, there is also an additional massive scope to their work in Manila. As well as the disaster relief, a vital service with the Philippines being the top most disaster prone country, there is massive work in capacity building for communities as well as filling in for the emergency services. If this wasn’t impressive enough the fact that there are almost no paid staff and this work is carried out by volunteers should do it.

Although they do have an emergency number and a call centre is manned 27/7 they are also called out by the Philippine National Police when they attend emergencies. But the main point of contact with the public is through their astonishingly comprehensive network of volunteers. Ambulances, dinghys and fire engines are donated by their supporters.

Recognising that the usual support systems we rely on in the UK might not be available or affordable to most of the population the PRC, like the MMDA and other organisations we’ve seen focus on training people to help themselves in an emergency. Thousands of members of the public are trained in not only first aid but disaster preparedness an water rescue and they have a great volunteer retention rate with the volunteers around the table averaging a seven year involvement.

Each chapter fundraises and is given a target and a budget. Quezon City’s is 65m pesos and they regularly exceed fundraising expectations. Each chapter has its own board of trustees and paid staff and the national PRC sits over the top with its own board. Interestingly this board includes 6 representatives appointed by the president perhaps representing the key role the organisation plays in the country. However the staff we spoke to were keen to assure that they didn’t see this as compromising the independence of the organisation as with them representing only 20% these six could not have a majority vote.

Following the visit to the Quezon City Chapter we were lucky enough to be able to visit the national headquarters where after the rest of the group made it clear my list of questions was too long the briefing session was cut short and we went for a look at their monitoring centre where everything from the levels of La Mesa Dam to the levels of deportees from Saba. All this work is done on simple excel spreadsheets regularly updated by staff.

To put into context the severity of the risk the PRC are facing an overflow at La Mesa Dam could kill two million people if evacuation is not quick enough. 

Like most organisations we’ve seen whilst we’re here this type of risk gives so much more significance to their work. With so few resources the work done here is stunning and I’ve written in previous posts really simple, practical economic solutions go so far to mitigating these risks.

Following my donations

It’s not often you get to know how the money you donate to charity is actually spent but today I was able to meet Jun Perez, President of SEED Finance, the Filipino partner of Lendwithcare. I’ve always thought the whole concept of Lendwithcare is fantastic and was keen to find out more about how the scheme actually operates on the ground.

I didn’t think when I emailed the general email address that they’d actually be able to arrange the visit but within a couple of days they’d put me in touch with Jun. It’s always a concern that when you learn more about an organisation you find out about the issues and problems but nothing was further from the truth with SEED Finance. At the risk that I’m beginning to sound like this is written by their PR company I can assure you that I’m fairly cynical generally and have this week been accused of cross examining the Chairmen of the Quezon City Red Cross in a manner that was apparently more like an interrogation than a Q&A session.

So at the SEED offices we were shown to the small meeting room and given a history of their involvement with CARE International. Jun was friendly, well informed and enthusiastic as well as keen to talk about their work. Photos on the wall have the caption ‘Micro no more’ underneath and a map has pins showing their coverage of the country.

For anyone else who lends with Lendwithcare I can assure you from what I’ve heard your money is being well spent. The individuals we see on the website are all members of co-operatives in the provinces and this is how their loans are administered. Jun made it clear that their loans were not the cheapest in the market but that they offer an extensive support service that extends beyond the loans themselves. This includes technical assistance and training so not only are the loans protected but a sustainable business is created. It seems like these measures are helping contribute to their 97% overall repayment rate, up 57%.

Loans are targeted in the most deprived regions and in places where mainstream banking is difficult to access. Practicalities such as having to get a boat to another island can mean entrepreneurs have to take time away from their business to carry out simple administrative tasks. Mobile banking has been utilised incredibly effectively to address this issue and people can now order supplies, pay utility bills and send money to kid overseas all through their mobile phone and the co-op money card. This is backed my Mastercard and linked to their phone account.

Having introduced this scheme in a fishing village a complaint was made by an entrepreneur that he was unable to access his money one weekend when the cash desk was closed and the ATM wasn’t working. SEED and the co-operative decided to address this by installing mobile card swipe machines in small businesses on the island. This meant there was no need for people to withdraw cash in order to buy materials for their business. Simple solutions like this and utilising the latest technology mean are great for making the lives of the beneficiaries easier and allowing them to maximise productivity.

Another example of this is how it allows the organisation itself to work more efficiently. At a conference a request was made for funds for a co-op to Jun. He text someone in the office, they made the necessary approvals and the money was available in around 2 hours.

The governance of the organisation reflects the client focus and on the Executive Committee two out of the five members represent clients. There is regular dialogue with area, regional and national conferences to share ideas and best practice.

One of the clever engagement tools used by Lendwithcare is the updates from the entrepreneurs. Being of a sceptical nature I’m not sure I quite believed before that these were so accurate as to be about your money. Having heard about their systems and the fact that each beneficiary is visited monthly I’ll now be much more interested in these updates.

Currently only 5% of their income is from individuals with the majority of investment coming from companies. I know after visiting SEED I’ll be happy to put more money in and be confident it’s being well spent.

Printing, waste management and kids. Just another day at the office

Our final ‘proper’ day starts with a trip to a publishing company owned by one of the members of our host club and an introduction to their integrated approach from printing the books to training the teachers. The visit included our shortest drive yet – the previous record was set driving across the street – maybe 70 yards. This was into the van, out of the gate and into the gate next door. To the same building.

Next in true  varied form it was off to the city dump for some briefings.

Its easy to think that waste management might not be that interesting but as with all these visits once someone starts talking we suddenly become fascinated with the talk. Work on the site began after 250 people were killed in trash slide 11 years ago. The city council got involved and engineering solutions were put in place to ensure this wouldn’t be repeated. As with every initiative here the work being carried out is founded on extreme necessity and the risk of loss of human life giving each project an urgency that might not be found elsewhere.

Despite this there are ambitious plans for the future taking the project forward and including incorporating the government tree planting programme, an eco park and a housing scheme.

A large proportion of the waste is processed by hand with 490 trucks a day coming into the plant from around Quezon City. 8 groups of 75 scavengers  go through the waste sorting for reusable or recyclable materials. The workers are not paid and instead split the income from the materials that are sold from their work.

A savings scheme endorsed by the government is a rack of tiny piggy banks where once a week workers put in 15 pesos or more if they can afford.

Another income generator is the refuse derived fuel produced from the organic waste. James from Harrogate showed us round the plant in which the material is autosegmented before the metal is manually picked out. Organic waste is then baled and sold as fuel for use in place of fossil fuels. When James arrived in August last year the plant was non existent and has been designed, built and made operational in this time in an indication of how quickly things move here.

Similarly the Biogas project began 2008 and now has 90 gas wells over the site producing electricity for 3500 families and generating income for the city.

Although this is a government project there is still a CSR angle. This covers all the key areas and is delivered in partnership with their private sector partner. As with most we’ve seen so far there is a holistic approach covering education, livelihoods, housing and disaster management as well as healthcare and nutrition through the Patayas Poverty Alleviation Foundation.  

Welding courses are offered with employment opportunities with the private secor partner after completion and ‘jumpers’, the kids that climb onto rubbish trucks looking for things to sell have been organised into a football team to get them off the streets.

Another massive lunch and then onto a feeding programme (ironically) where the Rotary club hosting us have created a community corps with resident to create a partnership and feed the local children. Having picked up some tricks from the Aussies we took along sweets, pens, chalk and bubbles and were mobbed by the children once they realised what we had. After some awkward conversation where I tried miming to the kids and writing and drawing in chalk on the pavement they revealed they actually spoke perfect English and I think were laughing at me a little. Or a lot. Basically at four they can speak two languages and I couldn’t even remember the Tagalog word for pretty. 

Big presentation and the governor's ball

The day of the big presentation dawned and I went down to the conference centre to catch the Aussie’s 9am slot. As always they gave an impressive performance although with it being their last day this had a sadder element than normal with the sections on their highlights drawing tears from three of the five team members.

Having sussed the logistics and picked up some tips for our own slot later in the day I headed back to the hotel for some finishing touches which turned out to be a complete rewrite as the WiFi failed to let us download Prezi at the last minute.

Blazers on and back to the auditorium for our slot. Excited by our surprise finale we scanned the audience for people we knew. The presentation went almost exactly to plan but sadly our final video – worked on until the early hours of the morning failed to play correctly. Luckily the audience didn’t know that we’d spent hours making the footage in time with the music and enjoyed it anyway.

Our first free time was unfortunately spent in a fruitless search for Dan’s iPhone before it was time to get ready for the ball.

Some faffing, photo taking and stops at the off licence made us pretty late an awkwardly there didn’t seem to be a table for us. However one was hastily put together and we made attempts to disguise the excessive amounts of wine by hiding half the bottles under the table. It being the Aussie’s last night we snuck out to get some group pictures taken of the 10 of us and get a final Gangnam filming in. Duties over it was back into the ball for some final ‘fellowship’.

As always entertainment was provided and it was lovely to spend time with my first host family, Dennis and Karen and also to see Dennis take part in the performance with his classmates. Never people to leave a party early we were the last to leave with our hosts from the first week, Camp Crame. It seems difficult to believe that a month ago we’d never even met these people and as it was when the Aussie’s left it will be sad to leave them. 

Special action forces and cheese

A change of pace today from housing to the Special Action Forces (SAF). Natalie and I got in a jeep driven by two uniformed police officers making us feel like celebrities and set off on the long trip the Philippine National Police camp where the SAF are based.

I don’t know whether it was our uniformed escorts but we were admitted to the camp with no checking of our identities or bags. There’s a law here making joking about terrorism an offence but it is difficult not to at times. The presentation on their work was a bit overwhelming for someone who knows very little about the SAS at home. Again the questions were tricky as we were presented with an impressive array of uniformed officers but thanks to Dan and Natalie we managed a good showing before getting off to some presentations of their skills.

First presentation slightly uncomfortable with some serious guns displayed on a table including a grenade launcher and some machine guns. Although it’s really interesting it’s easy to forget what these are actually used for and the situations that these people face in their routine work. It’s also difficult to forget some of the human rights issues I’ve heard discussed around the PNP and their practice although this seems ungrateful to the people who are giving up their time to show us around.             

 Next was the explosive sniffing dogs, their first ‘trick’ was finding the explosives under plant pots. To ensure a fair test the dog was taken away whilst the little pot (probably of actual explosive here!) was hidden. The dog was quick and efficient but even more impressive was the trick where he was able to pick out the pot that had had the explosive in it previously.

On to the unit shows and a great effort with a tank on show and two units in full uniform standing in the baking sun. Each team member introduced themselves and their roles – one of which seemed to mainly involve wearing an outfit resembling leaves. He seemed a bit bashful – I don’t know if they have to draw straws or something to decide who gets this position. Getting in next to them for the photos I asked one of them whether his assault rifle was loaded. He nodded smiled and encouraged me to stand closer. When he turned his back I did quietly step back a step away from the muzzle whilst the pictures were taken.

Photos taken with the tank and then off to the shooting range where they’d discussed letting us shoot all manner of weapons making me really nervous. Having never been to a shooting range before I don’t really have a point of reference but I would say security was lax. Bearing in mind they’d checked no ID there were guns, unloaded but with bullets on the table ready for loading. One alarming moment was when one of the Rotarians we were with picked up an M4 and started pretending to fire. I’m going to pretend she was sure it wasn’t loaded but I’m not sure that’s true.

Having expressed an interest in shooting I decided a handgun was as far as I was going and after no instruction I was pointed towards a target by a guy dressed in gym kit and given 17 shots. After realising I wasn’t going to accidentally shoot myself or anyone else it was quite fun although better if you try not to think about what they’re actually used for.

A quick round of burgers and then back in with our policemen for a trip to an organic farm. One of them Robert, had been on a the return leg of the GSE to the UK and understood how we felt so after showing us some sights told us to get a much needed hours sleep on the drive. At the farm our second lunch was organic  and accompanied by some slightly dubious medical advice. Its common here to not really know what in your food but the fruit salad at the end of the meal had something very strange in it. Waiting for a break in conversation to ask about this new and ‘interesting’ fruit I tried to work out what it was until Dan piped up with ‘Is there cheese in this?’ to which our host replied ‘Yes its organic cheddar’ as if it was completely expected. Getting down to the bottom of the bowl there was something that looked suspiciously like squid. Deciding that might be too much of a surprise I waited to check it was coconut before eating it!

Then off to a local police station where again open access to photograph logs of reported crimes, their paperwork and people in the cells. You haven’t felt uncomfortable until you’ve stood in front of prisoners in cells whilst the custody officer tells you what they’ve done. Basically within touching distance I wasn’t sure how close to get and was picturing the scene in Silence of the Lambs when she’s grabbed through the bars of the cell.

Anyway on from that mixed day to a lovely meal with my amazing host family who I’ve had such a good time with. It makes such a difference being able to come home, chat and feel able to relax and I really appreciated the chance to do this at Jorjie’s house with her family. 

Close encounter with nature

Another amazing day out with Sally and Homer and their kids. This time we went for a more relaxing take on volcanic activity with a trip to the Hidden Valley Hot Springs. We were warned there would be a hike up to the waterfall but as Filipino style hiking goes this was along a signposted walkway and only about half a kilometre easily done in flip flops, or slippers as we've now all begun to call them.

As you can see from the photos the scenery was stunning and jungle like bar the lack of any nasty creepy crawlies. The waterfall was worth the walk and we made our way up to underneath rescuing stray flip flops a they cam off on the rocks and got washed downstream. At this point Richard left the group and after few minutes of playing 'Where's Richard?' it was agreed we he's probably wandered off rather than perishing in the foot deep slow moving water. On the return journey was a bit of an 'incident' and some shrieking from Harvey and Sharney. Startled by the sudden attack by nature there was much commotion and thrashing of bags to remove the killer cockroach from Sally's back. Water bottles went everywhere and sun cream flew off the bridge until Dan stepped in to remove the completely harmless insect with his hand. Following his success he saved the empty sun cream bottle from the wilds of the grassy ditch and we carried on along the path unscathed.

After this deeply traumatic expedition we were forced to spend the rest of the trip relaxing in the many pools nestled in the forest. Starting in the unexpectedly warm 'cold' pool we moved on to the 'soda' pools, which to Richard's disappointment didn't taste like Fanta (Thanks again to Dan our resident taste tester of water pools) and finally to the 'warm' pools where little plumes(?) of warm water rose through the volcanic gravel of the pool floor. If you've not experienced it its a little like someone's had a wee in the water. But nicer because you know there is good bathroom provision and this is not the case.

As always we were delighted to see salad at lunch and stocked up on vegetables - before a quick dip and then back to Quezon City. Returning home to my host family the statue of the Virgin Mary was being decorated in preparation for the 4am procession followed by my first Catholic Mass. Looking forward to dinner with the family, karaoke and hopefully an early night before the early start tomorrow!

Old Manila, Coconut Palace and the guessing game

Luckily a slightly later start to day two with the chance to see Quezon City’s rush hour in full swing. I think only a clip from an on board camera or birds eye view will be able to justify the chaos of six lanes of traffic interweaving, undertaking and using the u-turn lane.

Manila’s premier tourist attraction (according to Lonely Planet) was a lovely old fort with a uniformed guard on a bike and some hot looking horse pulling tourist carts. There was a brief delay in the cultural tour whilst we posed behind the historical cut outs and with the statues but luckily our hosts were just as keen to get what the Australian team call ‘wacky shots’ as we were. We might need to look at cutting down on the cameras at some point though as waiting for seven photos in the baking sun might not be sustainable.

From the walls of the fort there were views over the Pasig river and down into the ruined cell where Dr Jose Rizal was imprisoned before his execution in 1866 for his part in starting the revolution against Spanish colonial rule. Brass footprints marked his path to the execution spot and his final poem, smuggled out of prison in an oil lamp, put our Spanish to the test. We all missed the explanation in English inlaid in the floor as we puzzled over the poem.  

Sadly Imelda Marcos’ coconut palace turned out not to be made entirely from coconut as billed. Built in the 70s and designed by Francisco Manoso there was an impressive amount of coconut involved from the chandeliers to the furniture. 20,000 coconut trees were used in the construction and originally made up 70% of the building. A table for 25 had a stunning inlay pattern made up of 40,000 coconut shells  and was put together by 60 small fingered children aged between 8 and 12.

Luckily enough trees were spared to provide some shade from the 40 degree heat on the patio whilst we heard about Richard getting left in the Korean demilitarised zone by his tour bus.

All facts in this are hastily scribbled and may not stand up to any kind of internet checking. Links are to help you find the right information…

I can remember a lovely meal with the GSE team that came to the UK who did their best to resolve my 3G issues and drinks, snacks and a live band with my lovely host family and their daughters who have stopped being shy and have moved onto testing my knowledge of flags. No I didn’t guess the Filipino one. Very embarrassing.

Flag raising, meeting the major and Rotary Hour

Our first proper day began with a very early start. (although apparently 5am is normal to allow Filippinos to get through the traffic to begin work at 8). The flag raising ceremony at City Hall was attended by hundreds of workers in their purple shirt uniforms and we were ushered onto the stage as the mayors guests with our host families.

This ceremony takes place every Monday morning and included and address from the Chairperson on Women and Family Relations which I think was linked to women’s month being celebrated here at the moment. A documentary filmaker was awarded a scroll and the best performing TB task forces were presented with certificates. As the ceremony was almost entirely in Tagalog it wasn’t always that easy to understand the standing up / sitting down / applauding ettiquette but as we were on the second row I hope the crowd didn’t notice our confusion.

When the mayor arrived on stage I think he was slightly overlooked by the UK team who were expecting him to be older and more formally dressed. No suits, chain or minder here, just a youthful looking man in his early 40s happy to be sorting his own chair out for the signing of a paper on TB. Perhaps our mayors could pick up some tips here although perhaps it is representative of the younger demographic; 40% of the Quezon City are under 20.

After a short breakfast where I managed to knock the table and spill four cups of coffee simultaneously onto the white table cloth it was off for tours of the memorial and museum (I’ll get Dan to write something interesting about the architecture here as he completely outdid me on this)

A whirlwind tour with our host club South Triangle included a drive round the university where there was a student demonstration about tuition fees following the suicide of a student over this recently and lunch in a rice restarant where we has (I later discovered from my host) what basically is pork scratchings in blood. I’ll have to check the details on this but tasted good before I knew what it was!

It was then off to UNTV to film a segment for the ‘Rotary Hour’ programme. It was the first outing for our formal group uniforms (yes that is the blazers and no there are no pictures) and I think given that we weren’t given any advance warning of the questions I think it went pretty well. Dan the ‘media face’ of policing and Richard’s smooth policians answers definitely helped us out.

Final trip of the day was to the mall and for a type of exercise I seem to remember being described as ‘mall walking’ in Modern Family. The malls are endless and include every shop you would see on the British high street and I imagine every chain you’d find in the US as well. If you’re struggling on scale think of the Trafford Centre stacked over 5 floors with a fairground in the top.

Tomorrow a lie in for a 9am start and a cultutural tour. 

Meeting people in supermarkets

As it is now just over two weeks until we leave for Quezon City, Manila it might be a good time to explain how all this came about...

So...  in August I spent three days standing in the foyer of Morrisons collecting for the charity. If you've never done this before I can't explain how incredibly boring it is and how it saps your enthusiasm for both your cause and human kind simultaneously.

If you have done this you can imagine how nice it was to meet someone who had time to stop for a chat, and was both interested and interesting. Peter turned out to be a member of Bury Rotary club and as we stood in the way of people getting their trolleys he gave me some tips and shared experience from his time managing the Rotary shoebox scheme.

It was a few weeks later Peter got back in touch and introduced me to the Rotary Group Study Exchange. This is to quote the website 'a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity' a chance for people working under the loose remit of 'local government' to stay in Manila for a month, make visits to work places similar to their own and gain an understanding of a new working culture.

After completing the forms and Peter securing the sponsorship of Bury Rotary club for my application I was put forward, interviewed and accepted for the exchange in December.

There's been a lot to do since then, with minor panic around my having to apply for a new passport, then visa and only getting the visa through this week, and the departure date has really crept up quickly. Still I've had almost all the jabs I need, have put my shiny new passport in a safe place and am beginning to think about what it might actually be like.

Again through Peter I've been able to meet a lovely couple who have lived and worked in Manila and get tips on what I need to do and see along with advice about what to take with me which has been great. The vocational visits are lined up but with no social housing as such it will be interesting to see how it all works.

Visits include the Quezon City Urban Planning Department, National Housing Department housing projects and the International Red Cross along with UNTV for Rotary Hour.

Having never been that way before I'm not sure what to expect but I'm going with my normal plan of do no research and hope for the best. I have however been promised excellent 3G signal so am hoping I'll be tweeting and blogging throughout.

If anyone does have any 'must see's in Manila please let me know.