Traffic is real. But lack of education is a bigger roadblock.
People’s Solidarity and Education Tours (PSET) was tasked to deliver a set of books donated by CANVAS, a non-profit aiming to deliver 1 million books to 1 million Filipino children over the next few years. A team of three traveled from Quezon City to Calaca, Batangas to deliver the books, in addition to learning about the local conditions affecting the community.
After around a 3 and half hour travel by bus—thanks to EDSA traffic—we arrived at Lemery, Batangas, where we were picked up by our local guide in order to go to Calaca, Batangas—our target community. More specifically, we were to stay at Barangay Quizumbing, which is primarily a fisherfolk community, with some sugarcane workers in the area as well.
For three days our group stayed with local families and learned about the local conditions before facilitating the book-giving activity. We believe that it’s important to understand the environmental factors affecting a community, especially in terms of the impact they may have on educational access and opportunities. Each member of our group stayed with a different local family in order to get local perspectives in regards to raising families and maintaining livelihoods.
Local Livelihoods / Tabing-Dagat
For the most part, families in the area relied on the ocean for their livelihoods. They called the areas outside of their homes tabing-dagat, or literally “next to the ocean.” Families would wake up as early as 4am in order to cast out their nets in the morning. Since the labor required multiple people, it was a common sight to see children as young as 8 years old working alongside the adults—pulling in nets and organizing their gear.
While staying with the local families, we talked about the changes throughout the years, especially in terms of their livelihoods as fisherfolk. We learned that in 1984, the Philippine’s first coal-fired power plant was built in the neighboring barangay—San Rafael—that began an influx of industrialization and development in the area. There are currently 3 power plants in the vicinity, with one more scheduled to be build. A cement factory, a steel processing plant, and an alcohol distillery are also located next to the ocean.
As per reports from the fisherfolk, the quality of the water and their ability to catch fish has severely diminished over the decades, alongside the increasing industrialization.
On three separate mornings, we watched one family cast out their nets before sunrise, all along the coast. Two out of three times the family didn’t catch anything to sell. The one time they did catch enough fish to sell, they only caught less than 2 kilos, bringing in around 360 PHP (~7 USD) which had to be split among the 6 people who helped with the work..
This context is important to understand the specific factors affecting education in the area. If the financial situation of a family is unstable, the opportunities for the children to attend school is greatly affected. One family we stayed with had three children, but only one was able to attend college. At the cost of around 17,000 PHP a semester, in addition to the worsening environmental quality—also taking into context that the local minimum wage positions at factories only pay around 350 PHP a day—the privilege to attend school is greatly limited to only a few.
The Right to Education
Our main objective was to deliver books donated by CANVAS, one specifically titled Karapat Dapat, a book inspired by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Written in a child-friendly language, both in Tagalog and English, this book aims to expand the awareness of the rights of children, especially to the youth themselves.
The book is meant to be interactive, with multiple drawing activities for each child to fill out and personalize. The first page requests the reader to write their name and age, alongside this message:
Ikaw ay bukod-tangi.
Mula ulo hanggang paa,
isa kang pambihirang nilikha.
You are one of a kind.
From your head down to your toes,
you are extraordinary.
During the distribution phase, a good number of kids were actually surprised that they would be able to draw in the books and keep them. Their eyes lit up when we told them to write their names, draw themselves, and share who they are—that there is no else in this world just like them. This simple act of giving them the personal liberty to express their unique selves through a self-portrait brought about giddy excitement and energy. The noise level steadily rose as the kids finished their drawings and started showing them to each other. A group of boys huddled around a fallen tree trunk, laughing with excitement, proudly showing their creations to one another.
Our general program for the book-giving activity was to present one of the drawing prompts in the book, allow some time for the youth to complete the task, and then open up the floor for sharing—giving the mic to whoever was willing to explain their drawing. After that, we would ask for volunteers to read one of the pages in the book, sharing some of the specific rights of children, and asking them to explain what it meant to them. At first, some of the kids were shy to speak on the mic, especially in front of the crowd, but we eventually got a steady supply of readers. One volunteer interestingly wanted to read the English translation instead of the Tagalog—she spoke with clarity and confidence.
More Books Needed!
Seeing the excitement and joy on the faces of the youth definitely validates the need for more children’s books and educational support, especially in these rural and marginalized areas. The need is definitely there. We brought 75 copies of Karapat Dapat and were planning to keep the event within those numbers, but news travels fast — by the time we started our programming, there were at least 90 youth waiting for us to start. We ended up splitting the children into 8 groups, with a mix of younger and older kids. Since we didn’t have enough copies for every individual child, we decided to prioritize the children who could already read and write. We instructed these kids to act as Ates and Kuyas by sharing the book with the younger ones. This worked for the most part, especially when siblings were paired together, although it would have been ideal to have a copy for every child.
Reflections
As an organization, we were humbled by the honest enthusiasm the children had for the books. There was a sincere interest and excitement over the activities and illustrations within Karapat Dapat—one that is not necessarily seen within large urban areas. For example, a few of us have grown up in metropolitan areas with more access to infrastructure and technology. It has become the norm for the well-off to have smartphones, computers, and tablets—somewhat diminishing the intrigue and appreciation for physical books. The contrast in this community was stark—the kids were excited and focused on the book, taking as much time as possible to work through the drawing activities.
Additionally, it’s important for us to reflect on the environmental factors that are affecting educational access and opportunity. With the neighboring power plants and factories affecting the livelihoods of fisherfolk families, it becomes increasingly difficult for parents to send their children to school. When the home environment is unstable, the ability for children to excel within academia is severely limited. More and more children have to work alongside their parents to help provide for the family, with some completely stopping their education in order to work full-time. While solidarity trips like these are useful and important, it’s also necessary for organizations to address the surrounding ecological and economic issues affecting these communities.
