Tagalong with Valli to the Philippines: Buklod Tao Livelihood Assistance Project

August 31, 2012

recycling and reusing tetra paks, sewing them into bags

After our snorkeling excursion the first day to that beautiful spot, the second day’s excursion was a stark contrast. We visited a livelihood assistance project site funded by a Christian non-profit organization, Buklod Tao, Inc. They are working to help poverty stricken people affected by the 2009 Typhoon Ketana (Ondoy). The barangay is in Manila and sits between two rivers that flood regularly. The people are squatting in what’s called the salvage zone of the rivers. Just like hundreds of thousands of people that live along the coasts in the ‘salvage zone’ as squatters. They’re not supposed to be there but they have no where else to go. What we saw was the aftermath of yet another flood from the big storm we experienced two weeks ago.

One of the organic gardeners

the kitchen waste container and composting

pots made from recycled tetra paks

First we toured the project site where the composting and organic gardening take place as well as fiberglass rescue boat making and the work they do recycling/reusing tetra packs and the process of sewing them into bags. People who collect the tetra packs are paid 25centavos for each. The center has produced their own money in the form of chips. It’s a barter system in which they can take the chips to their local sari-sari store and purchase rice, coffee, sugar, etc., but not cigs or alcohol. Another way they can earn money is to bring their compostable kitchen waste to the center. At the center women earn money sewing the tetra packs into many styles of cool bags which the center sells for a profit.
Then we visited the actual site where the people live which was flooded two weeks prior during the storm that caused our evacuation from Sabang, not because we were flooded there but because of the power outage and bad water.