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" Supporting Asian and Minority Businesses" |
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AABR’s Focus in Alleviating Suffering in the Philippines
More than1 billion people live in absolute poverty, with 700 million living in slums, 500 million on the verge of starvation, 93 million beggars, and 200 million children exploited for labor. The total Christian income in the US is $5.2 trillion annually, nearly half the world’s total Christian income.
There is no way we can make the sufferings in the world to disappear, whether they are man-made or part of the natural disaster that we have no control over. AABR has selected the Philippines (RP) for this project because it is the only Christian country in Asia as well as its ties with the West (almost 400 years under Spain and 50 years under the US). RP is the first country where the US experimented on empire-building, and benefited from what historians called “benevolent imperialism.” For our purposes, AABR will focus only on the following areas: · Poverty – Poverty is an emotionally charged issue, not only in the Philippines (RP) but worldwide. It is the key development issue in Southeast Asia, where RP has one of the highest incidence rates: 15.5% which is lower than in Laos (39%) and in Cambodia (34.1%) but higher than 13.1% in Vietnam and 7.5% in Indonesia.
The Philippine government defines the poor as those who fall below the per capita poverty threshold of 32 pesos a day (.54 cents). That is 40% of the population, about the same figure 20 years ago. In absolute numbers, this is a significant increase, given the leaps and bounds in population growth. In 1985, there were 4.36 million families who were poor; by 2000 the estimate was 5.14 million families or over 31.2 million people.
The official poverty lines (the threshold income anyone falling under is considered poor) have not kept up with inflation. If they were fully taken into account, more people would have been classified as poor.
. 2-bedroom house: $1,300 (Gawad Kalinga Project)
· Malnutrition – A recent World Bank (WB) report says RP is reducing malnutrition much slower than most of its Asian neighbors. WB defines malnutrition rate as the prevalence of underweight children under 15 years of age. It reports that RP is reducing malnutrition by 0.6% annually, lower than the figures posted by Cambodia (1.1%), Laos (0.9%), and even Burma (0.8%), which is an international pariah outside Southeast Asia.
The Asian Development Bank reports 15.2% of more than 80 million Filipinos live in extreme poverty and survive on less than US$1 or 56 pesos daily. For an average, this means each member has about 3 pesos (.16 cents) for every meal. How they can juggle that much to make an emergency trip to the hospital is beyond one’s imagination. A case in point was that of Nanay Erlinda of San Juan, Batangas who endured a week of stomach pain before consulting a doctor. She died from blood poisoning a week later because the doctors discovered her ruptured appendix too late.
Malnutrition occurs when a person’s diet is lacking or in excess of one or more of the basic nutrients that include protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins & minerals. In a poor country like RP, the problem is largely undernourishment. Malnutrition reduces the working capacity of adolescents and adults and makes them vulnerable to chronic illnesses, such as hypertension and tuberculosis. It affects young children the harshest, retarding their growth. Children who suffer from growth retardation are, in turn, prone to infectious diseases, such as diarrhea and pneumonia.
Malnutrition takes a heavy toll every year from among the young. How many malnourished children, huddled with their parents and siblings under bridges or on sidewalks, and subsisting on instant noodles on good days and discarded food on bad ones, die unnoticed because they weren’t treated for diarrhea, the leading cause of morbidity in the country? How many mothers, fathers and children in the countryside die every day because they don’t have access to medicines and antibiotics?
The Philippine Health Insurance Corp (Phil Health) has an indigent program covering the poorest 25% (6,037,956 families = 30,189,780 beneficiaries) in 181 cities and provinces nationwide. It costs 14,400 pesos a year for a family coverage which is less than $30.
. Food supplement for family of 4: $15 a month
· Hunger – Moderate hunger, defined as experienced once or a few times in the last 3 months, declined to 9.1% in December 2004, from 11.8 in August. President Gloria M.Arroyo vowed to eradicate poverty within a decade. The government initiated the food-for-work program in the provinces, under which first-graders, in exchange for attending classes, would be given 1 kilo of rice daily, a program that would hit 2 birds with one throw, reduce the dropout rate, and reduce hunger.
It is the women who suffer most when their husbands who only have marginal jobs are shut out of the labor market. On the wife’s shoulders falls the responsibility to be the sole breadwinner. In many parts of the world, including RP, women, especially mothers, are the last to eat when the family faces starvation or food shortage. This was true in the late 1990s when RP reeled from the effects of the East Asian economic crisis. In a report published by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), it chronicled the “female famine.”
Ill health among women is already evident in studies done by the Food & Nutrition Institute (FNRI). Anemia continues to impair 43.9% of pregnant women and 42.2% of lactating women. Severe anemia among pregnant women is the leading cause of death during childbirth; low iron in lactating women, in turn, manifests is similarly ill health in the child.
. Food support for family of 4: $25 a month
· Healthcare - According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, RP ranked 9th in tuberculosis incidence in the world, with 237k cases of TB a year. India ranked 1st with 1.7 million a year, followed by China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ethiopia and South Africa.
The use of barangay (community) health workers to treat and follow up patients has been a very beneficial national policy that has helped to achieve high treatment success rates. More funding will involve medical schools and private physicians in these services which is a government priority. Outside help is sought as the cost shouldered by the government for poor TB patients has come down from $26 to $17 a year in 2005.
. Healthcare Center in Rural Community - $1,000 a month
· Education – There are thousands of youth with no education or with poor quality education. Without education, it is difficult for them to find employment. RP’s education system cannot cope with the educational standards of the times, and a fast-growing population is putting further strain on the government’s limited resources.
Meanwhile, kids are dropping out of congested schools without anybody noticing, much less caring. Further consequences include drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, crimes and domestic violence which are rampant. The poor live like animals because of lack of education, lack of meaningful and productive employment, lack of attention by family and society, lack of resources to plan for the future and reduce their lives to those of the subhuman.
. Construction of a School House - $5,000
· Typhoons/Flooding – The frequent annual occurrence of typhoons, and its consequent flooding, always bring destruction and death to RP, due to flash floods and landslides. Damage to property and crops is always in millions of pesos. Products badly affected include rice, corn, coconut and high-value crops. These calamities cause fluctuation in prices of agricultural products, particularly when roads and other transport facilities are destroyed.
Supply of major agricultural commodities, e.g., fresh vegetables from the lowlands, fish from private ponds, show an increase in prices due to logistics and storage after a typhoon. Prices of consumption goods always go up, such as rice, corn, eggs, fish, fresh fruits & vegetables, meat, canned goods, beverages, other fish products, particularly shrimps, crabs, shells and mollusks.
. Help to be made available to victims on per occurrence basis: $4,000
Why be generous? 1. Everything comes from God; we are stewards of God’s blessings and must generously share them with those in need. As we read in Psalms 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it., the world, and all who live in it.” 2. God’s posture towards us is one of generosity. As St. Paul says in II Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that, though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor so that you, through His poverty, might become rich.” His son Jesus gave up the riches of heaven for the poverty of earth to give us life, is the ultimate model of generosity. 3. Acts 20:35 repeats the very words Jesus himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” God’s grace not only precedes and motivates our generosity: it also follows and rewards it.
Much as been said and written on the subject of generosity in the Bible. Both the Old & New Testaments teach that generosity is a way of life for God’s people. It behooves to remember always: · Leviticus 25:23 – “The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.” · Deuteronomy 8:18 – “Remember the Lord your God, for its s He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” · I Timothy 6:17 – “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
Indicate which area(s) you would want to help us: __ Poverty __ Healthcare __ Other __ Malnutrition __ Education __ Hunger __ Typhoons/Flooding
As we get closer to Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays, remember to be generous to those who have very little or nothing at all. Most of all, keep in mind that your generosity will not go for naught, because God will not allow His creatures to exceed Him in generosity. Your contribution is tax- deductible: AABR Overseas Project, PO Box 2443, Germantown, MD 20875-2443.
Thank You!
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