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. 

International relations and 'inspirational' speakers

Discon 2013 got off to an unexpectedly exciting start with a parade of various groups of Rotarians led in by men wearing traditional dress consisting of a piece of cloth barely covering their crotch and not covering their bums.

Concerned that we didn’t have enough time to have finished our presentation for the next day we were anxious to leave and get on with our work. After watching a lively dance display the urge to leave was increased by the guest speaker Dr Carl. His ‘inspirational’ speech was nothing of the kind and included some bady put together pneumonics.

The final insult was in his reference to Kristel Tejada a student at a Manila University who committed suicide due to being unable to afford her tuition fees. He used her death to illustrate his point on ‘Tenacity of Purpose’ – apparently she didn’t have any. Given how recent her death was and the likelihood that someone in the three hundred people watching knew her it seemed at the very least insensitive and at worst arrogant and condescending.

To give him the benefit of the doubt I will concede that I can’t confirm he didn’t know her and her family and have sought their permission to discuss her in this way. But I’m guessing he didn’t.

Anyway we were rescued by Dan and taken to see Sally and Homer on the family stall. After dressing up in some more traditional dress for a photo opportunity (over our suits) we had a quick break for some games before dutifully heading back to the hotel to finish our work.

Presentation almost completed it was a quick change and back out to the first fellowship event an ‘international evening’.  Held in a marquee behind the conference centre the ‘international’ element was in the form of fancy dress with clubs having a theme and a parade for best costume. The event got off to a shaky start when it was beginning to look like there was no bar. A quick surveillance exercise revealed that ironically the table dressed as Arabs were the only ones drinking wine.

Entertainment followed the parade and the Aussie team performed the coconut dance and held an auction to raise money for the district’s End Polio Now fund. Not wanting to be outdone we got up for some Zumba and with Natalie in the lead and her three uncoordinated back up dancers doing their best to keep up we led the room in some Zumba.

We were rescued from our ‘dry spell’ when one of the guys we’d been drinking with in Boracay with invited us to his table for some whiskey and soon the evening got into full swing as we caught up with people we’d met over the last three weeks and showed how Brits and Aussies can hold their own on the dance floor. Assuming that they consider enthusiasm to mean more than rhythm.

As my team mates went home early I stayed out with the Aussies and carried on the drinking with a nightcap with Steale at the piano bar in the hotel next door. Heading back to the hotel my knocking failed to wake Natalie and I had to seek the help of the night porter who showed massive concern at my having bare feet. He showed visible relief when we got to the bedroom door where I’d left my heels but sadly couldn’t open the door with any of his keycards. It took quite a bit more time before finally I was able to get in and get to bed.

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.

Off to the Philippines

I will admit there is something that has spurred me on in getting up and running on the whole blogging thing. In December I was accepted onto Rotary International's Group Study Exchange, a fantastic opportunity to spend a month in Manila learning about how people work out there.


More to come on this but for now thankyou very much to Bury Rotary club for sponsoring my application.