It is unfortunate that there is so much poverty in a country
so rich in agricultural resources.
It’s a striking contrast to see the flush green fields and
mountains as a backdrop for the overcrowded city centers of nomadic people
looking for ways to support their families. It was surprising to me to see so
many different ways that people were trying to make money. It didn’t seem to me
like a beggar culture. It seemed like an entrepreneurial culture. Sure there
were plenty of people wanting a few pesos, but it was in exchange for them
doing some kind of service or offering some kind of product for it. Indeed
there were also those who appeared incapable and relied on compassion (or pity)
that begged. But the vast majority of people looked like they were willing to
at least try to earn their peso.
On one occasion I rode a horse drawn cart called a calesa
with my mom. We rode around Manila seeing some of the city sites while dodging
cars in insane traffic. There was a moment when we stopped in traffic and saw a
naked toddler girl who was dirty and probably hungry. Our calesa driver
probably wasn’t a wealthy man either. I’m sure he had his own family to
support. He through a coin that bounced on the ground near the little girl
before traffic allowed us to proceed forward. She quickly ran to collect the
coin which would likely contribute to purchasing a meal.
Poverty is relative.
There is a spectrum of those in extreme poverty, those who
are barely making enough to survive, those who are able to own, and those who
are able to support the livelihoods of others. Yet, even in this spectrum, the concept
of living comfortably can be experienced by anyone. There are those that don’t
know a lifestyle outside of their own context.
The shame in this, I think, is that corrupt people leads to
the taking advantage of others. I heard about it often in the way people talked
about government and law enforcement. Corruption was so common place that it
was assumed by the people. I also saw people taking advantage of service
providers or day laborers or farm workers in that they were paid so little for
such long and hard work. I can also see families taking advantage of each other
in those who rely too much on family members who come from the U.S. to pay for
everything. This was a frustrating realization for me. I discovered that some
of it was cultural to assume that the person with the most cash will pay for
the meals when going out in a group, or pay for the groceries, or pay for the
transportation. My American attitude was offended! However, even if some of it
was cultural, I still thought it was rude.
It was a surprising contrast to see the hospitality of
people and hard-working people alongside the willingness to get something free
for as long as it’s being offered.
With so much agricultural resources, why is there still so
much poverty and pollution? I think it is because there seems to be an overall
lack of vision for anything better. As a student of social entrepreneurship, I
know that creating change will take systemic action. This means that it will
require everyone, in all parts of this society, to shift the way they see their
environment. Those in government will have to adopt an empowerment attitude and
lose the power-grabbing attitude. Those in communities will have to adopt an
ownership attitude and lose the apathetic attitude that it’s someone else’s
problem. Those in business will have to adopt a value for fairness and lose the
value for profit-at-any-cost.
When I went to Davao City on the southern island of
Mindanao, I immediately noticed the lack of trash littering the streets. In
contrast to Manila which had trash everywhere, Davao City actually seemed
clean. I saw billboards and signs and
even a sign in my hotel room discouraging smoking on a city level. It said that
it just isn’t good for us. Clearly, this city had a mayor with vision who was
working to help residents adopt certain values.
Overall, I think the Philippines has so much potential. I
have to keep reminding myself that this is a country that has had its
independence (from the U.S. and from Spain) for less than 100 years. They still
have a lot of infrastructure to build. Globalization brings knowledge of what
everyone else in the world has, does, or can do into a context where government
and technology is just trying to keep up. This produces a tension in people’s
attitudes and sense of culture. Gentrification leads to the building of large
cities while displacing those too poor to live there into the slums or outlying
areas. While at the same time, the allures of technology and industrialized
living environments brings people in from the rural areas to overcrowd the
urban cities.
I think a greater sense of equity would help. I don’t think
social hand-outs are the solution. But creating an empowering model in every
level and context of the Filipino society can create an environment that will
allow so many of the hard-working people to receive real value for their work
instead of the scraps they have been accustomed to.
But I know it’s not that simple. It’s just one piece that
can contribute to some real systemic change.
No comments:
Post a Comment