Obscene Spending

Happy New Year! Last night the Victorian Government set fire to $1,500,000.00. Every year we are told that this year the New Year fireworks and celebration will be the biggest ever. Every year it get's bigger, better, more expensive.

I don't know what other states spend, but I imagine that a conservative estimate could be that the governments of Australia will spend close on $10,000,000.00 on fireworks and celebrations this year.

I may be way out of line and out of touch with reality, but I just wonder if this expense is not just a little obscene. In a country where thousands of people cannot afford health care and adequate housing; in a world where millions of people (1.4Billion) live below the poverty line (US$1.25 per day) we are OK with spending more and more on entertainment - because we can!

(I guess at the least the homeless people in Melbourne could watch the fireworks free of charge, in the rain, wind and lightening. Or maybe they couldn't access their usual 'safe places', which last night became prime property for watching their government set fire to money they don't have to address social issues.)

COMMUNITY ARTS PROJECT – PRESTON

On Saturday (8 November) The Preston Corps, in Partnership with Crossroads and the City of Darebin, launched our latest community integration and support program. This Art Project will continue over 8 weeks as up to 15 people, new immigrants and their mentors, join together to learn how to create a sculptural masterpiece.

Under the direction of internationally acclaimed artist Conrad Clark (www.conradclark.com.au) the participants are encouraged to design or adopt a bold and striking image that symbolises their life journey. After sketching this design each participant will learn how to carve the image from Hebel brick. At the end of the program we will exhibit the masterpieces in the foyer of The Salvation Army in Preston.

This mission initiative of The Salvation Army’s Northern Mentoring Support Program (Jeremiah Temple) is another opportunity for new Australians and their mentors to build relationships and to be introduced to the Corps in a non-threatening and empowering environment.

S4SI

The afternoon started out quiet - but that soon changed as the van I drove quickly filled up with African boys excited about playing their first game of indoor soccer for Preston Salvos United.

Soccer for Social Inclusion (S4SI) is a new initiative of Darebin African Resource Centre (DARC), and we (Preston Corps) have just become the proud sponsors of two of the eight teams in the competition.

Arriving nervous but excited the boys soon summed up their opposition and decided that they had faith - faith that they were about to loose. But as the coach handed out their new strip, a red or yellow shirt with a Red Shield, shorts, shin guards and socks the boys smiles revealed an amazing transformation into confident, proud young people.

The party atmosphere at the venue reached fever pitch as a DJ materialised from nowhere and setup very loud African music, young people danced and sang in between cheering on the competing teams. And as the air in the waiting area became thick with the smells of spray on deodorant and perfume, young boys and girls strutted their stuff - confident, proud and completely accepting of each other.

As each of our teams took to the 'field' the soccer skills (surprisingly) matched the shiny new outfits and Preston Salvos United Juniors and Seniors literally danced away from the venue with a very convincing win each.

And Now The Time Has Come

To all that have been following this blog because it has told you about The Salvation Army's and work and my time away in Taiwan and the Philippines, a warning: this will be the last blog from Manila, and most probably about relief work as a result of typhoons.

After almost 7 weeks and 5 typhoons, I am on my way home tomorrow, but before I go let me give you a synopsis of what The Salvation Army - Philippines has done and will do. The good news for us is that all the supplies are in for the next round of relief distribution, so by the end of November Salvos will have distributed 49,562 relief packages containing food, bedding, medicines and toiletries. They will have supplied 4,000 (family) kitchen kits and provided equipment for 5 mobile kitchens (based at divisions) for future disaster relief efforts (which include portable power generators), not too mention the many hours of voluntary work given to rescue and cleaning efforts in numerous communities throughout Luzon.

But in the next 8 weeks there are forcast to be another 4 typhoons: so whilst the work carried out by a relatively small INGO has been awesome, there are still some anxious times to come. My last request of you would be, don't move on (in your thinking, your support and your prayers) from the Philippines too soon - they would still appreciate your support.

The Aftermath of Santi

Typhoon Santi, was 'a well behaved Typhoon' - or so says the weather bureau. It was labelled as such because it followed the predicted path and pretty much acted as forecast. Just a pity that along its way Santi caused more flooding in areas that were already under water, took out at least one major bridge and cut off numerous roads, destroyed a number of houses, injured a few hundred people, caused the evacuation of thousands of others and killed at least 12. (But at least Santi was well behaved!)Already under water and battling rising morbidity rates as a result of water borne disease the last thing these communities needed was more rain - more misery and more uncertainty.

You may recall I visited Santa Cruz last week, (blog below) and this morning I received this comment:

rizza said...I'm from the town you've visited (Santa Cruz, Laguna). It's just so sad that when we are just starting to recover from typhoon Ondoy, typhoon Santi ravaged our town again and rendered most of the town inaccessible because of still high flood waters. I'm just sad that most of the people in our town will not be able to celebrate Christmas in our homes.

What do you say to people like Rizza? You deliver a food parcel and that will help their stomachs for a while. You give them medicines and that may stop them getting sick. You give them a bed mat and a blanket, but where do they lay it out and sleep - on the roof? You write about their plight, try and explain the hurt and confusion, but what help is that when they watch their belongings float by in the dirty smelly water.

Sometimes what we do seems so futile. And yet we do it - and we will conintue to do it because there is little else we can do. We do it because we can't do nothing. We do it because we must do something.

Signal 2

Manilla is on alert again. Signal #2 (click on the link for details of what this means) has been declared for the city as Typhoon Santi heads for Luzon. All prep schools close automatically when Signal 2 is announced. Colleges and Universities wait for Signal 3.

This is, as always a forecast. The last Typhoon, Ramil, did a U turn just before making landfall in the North. Whilst it is obviously prudent to make preparations, this is not a severe warning. IF Typhoon Santi makes landfall the winds will be strong, but it was not the winds of Ondoy that caused the problems, but rather the rain that came with it. It is the rain that we do not want. Some Metro Manila communities, still under water, are anticipating that they Will be under water for another 2-3 months - unless there is a major rain dump in the meantime!

Let's HOPE that Santi passes without too much damage, and with little rain.

(Manila is around about the left most red dot on this track projection image.)

Bulacan: The first 1,020

The small convoy of two trucks and two passenger vehicles wound its way north of Manila this morning on the road to Bulacan. Loaded with the first delivery of over 1,000 relief packages the trucks proclaimed clearly that they carried Relief Goods in partnership with The Salvation Army – Philippine Territory and the Hong Kong Government (SAR) and the People of China.

We arrived at SM Malls car park in Bulacan where the staff had erected a number of marquis and crowd control measures, to find over 300 people representing their families waiting and cheering as we drove through the park to the distribution site.

Thanks to the Hong Kong Government we are now able to provide a month’s supply of rice, protein and oil as well as some basic medicines, toiletries and bedding to every person in the family. The problem was that the people were not used to getting so much and had not come prepared to carry away over 50kg of rice plus the other things. However, I didn’t hear anyone complain about the problem they faced – instead we witnessed a steady convoy of tricycles loaded to the hilt as hundreds of red shield sacks began winding down the busy roads.

One young woman, concerned about missing out, neglected to mention that she was due to deliver her baby – today. And wouldn’t you know, just as she handed over her ticket to redeem the relief goods, she doubled over in pain as the contractions hit. Thanks to the staff at SM Mall we just happened to have a wheelchair on hand and the lady was rushed up to a waiting tricycle that whisked her off to the hospital.

Over the next month we will repeat this process in 20 different villages throughout the area affected by Typhoon Ondoy until we have supplied 28,000 people with enough rice and goods to assist them over the next month.

As I watched the procession of Salvo Red Shields disappear down the road I heard the news that the next typhoon is due to make landfall tomorrow morning – and once again I am reminded that this relief project is far from over.

Barangay in the Shadows

We wound our way through a maze of unbelievable tight walkways, in a hidden world of shadows beneath the bridges and roads of metro Manila. This is a world that most 'respectable' people would like to pretend didn't exist and certainly not a world that they would visit.

Here in the slums, the shanty towns of the 'informal' residents of Manila live millions of people. The aroma of frying food and fruit stalls mix with the smells of rotting garbage and non-existent sanitation systems. Little children play with mangy little mutts amongst putrid, stagnant water. A young woman washes clothes in a tub of water alongside a stream that seems to slither around rocks and garbage rather than flow. An older man fishes bits of plastic out of the garbage washed down from the outside world - plastic that he may be able to sell for food. Men and women sleep on raised wooden platforms in the shadows of the bridge, whilst over their heads hang all their worldly wears, buffeted in the vehicle wash caused by the unrelenting traffic on the road above.

It seems inconceivable that this world still exists here - a month ago, almost to the day, this flood water canal was about 15 feet under water. If you had been able to walk on the bridge, about 12 feet above our heads, you would have been waist deep in water. And yet a month later, the people are back, the huts reconstructed, the platforms they call home rebuilt and their lives reestablished in the only place they have ever been able to call home.

Their landscape has changed though, now they have the added blessing of the garbage and mud washed down from the homes of those that can afford to wash and clean. But despite the aesthetics and aromas of this barangay of despair, the children laugh and play, glad to see us and waiting for their turn to have a picture taken.

As we leave that place, looking for the bottle of hand sanitiser, we wonder how we can make any lasting difference in the lives of the 'informals'. It may seem such an insignificant thing - but for a few minutes this afternoon a team of respectable, privileged white guys acknowledged that these forgotten people exist. We brought little with us into their world - but what we left (we trust) was that intangible but powerful commodity - HOPE.

Images Worth a Thousand Words

It has been great to have Jerome Green and Ben Knop here from Salvo Studios (Melbourne). They have spent the last few days documenting some of the devastation caused by the typhoons here in Manila. Check out some of the photos taken by Ben (click here):

So far we have visited Santa Cruz and Angono and the video below (click on the image) shows some scenes from these communities and the media boys in action. This video is intended to be more about the boys than the Salvos work - it's a teaser! Watch out for the finished products that will eventually be available. If you want to know when and how they are available contact Salvo Studios.

No Water?

You would think that after all the rain and water that has flowed through the Northern Luzon region that we would not be having to consider issues of water. But, despite the obvious, there is no water for drinking and cooking! It's all very well giving people rice, but if they have no water to cook it in and no means of cooking what are they supposed to do with it?

In the barangays of Karamutan and Lipay (in the municipality of Villasis) the people are surrounded by water. They have at least four new lakes and one former dry river that is now flowing again. The lakes have become a favourite playground of the kids and despite the dangers of stagnant, polluted water parents are having trouble keeping them out.

The villages have a number of deep bore wells that are still suitable for drinking, but no pump heads to deliver the water. On Monday this will change, thanks to a donation from the Rotary Club of Mont Albert/Surrey Hills in Melbourne, Australia, the three new sub-divided villages (divisions caused by the collapse of the dyke) will have one clean, safe water source each. No longer will they have to rely on deliveries of bottled water from agencies that are already moving on to 'worse' affected people - they won't have to rely on others for this most basic of all human rights - water.

Almost There

In case you haven't heard, I'm in the process of identifying 28,000 victims of typhoon Ondoy who need assistance with food and some other items, such as bedding, toiletries and medicine. Sounds like it should be easy when you consider that the typhoon affected over 4 million people in the region of metro Manila.

So today we headed out again, this time to the City of Angono in the Municipality of Rizal. This city is also situated close to the Laguna de Bay that I spoke of yesterday. But here 56 people died in the flooding, 1 more has died as a result of disease because of the polluted water, which is still waist deep in the community, and over 300 are still recorded as missing.

Hundreds of houses remain under water and, like most other lagoon communities, it is anticipated that the water will not recede completely until the end of December, and that is only if the four typhoons forecast to hit the island of Luzon do not dump too much rain in the area.

Following discussions with the local government officials we have agreed that we should be able to meet the emergency needs of approximately 7,000 of the residents of these communities. So now I am almost up to 26,000 people identified.

Hopefully, as we speak, goods are being sorted and packed and on Tuesday the first (for this particular project) will begin to be distributed.

Santa Cruz, Laguna

With Salvo Studios' Jerome Green and Ben Knop, I headed back down to the southern end of Laguna de Bay to meet with the governments Social Welfare officials and conduct a needs assessment. I had been informed that there were villages in this region that 4 weeks after the rains of Ondoy were still chest high in water and without significant relief goods or support.

On arrival in Santa Cruz, the provincial capital, we discovered that the reality was worse than we had heard. Built on the banks of the lagoon, Santa Cruz public market, though still alive with business, was accessed only by a hastily erected wooden walkway that allowed access over the increasingly polluted water to the crowded and busy market stalls. Walking through the aisles of freshly caught fish, newly slaughtered meat and dwindling fresh vegetables we were led to the newly created boat port - where two outrigger canoes awaited our patronage.

The water at the market, located about 1.5km from the 'normal' lakes edge, was waist deep and beginning to take on the appearance and aroma of some exotic soup. We set off on a tour of the CBD and dicsovered many shops and banks, now accessed only by boat, still open and touting for business. From the CBD we headed down the main street toward the 'lake shore', in amongst the houses half submerged with people just hanging around on their roofs. Many of the people in this community stayed, preferring to live on the roof or in many cases the second floor - than go to crowded and distant evacuation centres.

As we floated past the original evacuation centre that itself is now chest high in water, children called out to us and a mum with a toddler floated past in a large plastic tub supported by a rubber ring and dogs and cats, perched on shelves above the water looked at us as if we were the ones out of place.

Some statistics for the region:

• 814,396 people have been affected by the floods
• 26 have died, 20 injured and 4 are still missing
• 89,159 of these people are still living in 239 evacuation centres
• 3,150 homes have been completely destroyed
• 3,918 homes have been partially destroyed

Leaving the flooded area behind we headed out to the local high school sports complex that has become home for 171 families, (855 people including 246 primary school aged children and 1 ten day old baby boy, Leo, born in the corner of one of the classrooms). The familes are separated between ten rooms, about 25m2, and ten 6 person tents - in some cases up to 70 people sleep/live in each room. As Jerome and Ben played with the children (they said they were doing their media job) the adults watched and smiled - loving the fact that the kids were running and laughing.

Despite the tragedy and the uncertainty the people in Santa Cruz welcome us generously - whether it was onto their roof to have a chat, or into their houses to show us the water lapping at the ceilings, or into their space, and onto their mat - people wanted to share their story and thank us for spending some time with them and for bringing hope. Sometimes this intangible hope means more, and is more needed, than a bag of rice!