Crunch Predicted in Nonprofit Sector

Groups Are Not Nurturing and Retaining Tomorrow's Leaders, Study Says

From the Washington Post:

The nonprofit sector is facing what experts call an unprecedented crisis in leadership, with organizations in the Washington region and across the country struggling to recruit and retain talented staff.

Even as baby boomers retire, nonprofit groups stand to lose ambitious young employees who feel underpaid, overwhelmed by long hours and demanding responsibilities, and frustrated by a lack of career progression, according to a major study to be released today.

The sobering report, "Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out," could shake up the nonprofit sector, which has been successful at recruiting recent college graduates but not always at keeping them. Many leave for jobs at private companies and in the federal government that often offer better pay and more comfortable lifestyles.

The trend is exacerbated in the Washington region, which has more than 200,000 people working in nonprofit groups and is considered the national hub for the sector. Local leaders anticipate a leadership void could have a dramatic effect on groups that offer essential social services such as shelter, food and after-school activities. Jobs in those fields traditionally have the highest turnover, experts said.

People are drawn to work in the nonprofit sector because of the social change mission and the potential to make a positive impact on the community, and the survey finds that such workers remain deeply committed and inspired. But nonprofit organizations are not doing enough to retain them, said Patrick Corvington, a co-author of the report and a senior associate at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. "Next-generation leaders are finding ways to get involved in social change and do good work," Corvington said. "But they're finding ways to do that outside of the sector."

The report, which uses data from a survey last fall of about 6,000 nonprofit employees, is the largest national study to date of emerging nonprofit leaders. It was conducted by the Casey Foundation, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and the online job site Idealist.org.

The study found that 69 percent of respondents feel underpaid. About two-thirds reported they had financial concerns about committing to a career in the sector, and nearly half of that group said they would not make enough money to retire comfortably.

One in three respondents aspires to become the head of a nonprofit organization, but only 4 percent said they were being groomed for top leadership positions.

The study's authors recommend that nonprofit groups provide mentors and help employees meet leaders of similar organizations. They also suggest that nonprofit groups offer better salaries and benefits when possible and restructure organizations to give younger staff members more responsibility and create a more evident career track.

This could help lessen the frustrations felt by people working in the sector, said Russ Finkelstein, associate director at Idealist.org. "I think it's incumbent on organizations to go and treat people like they matter, show them that they care about them and treat them as leaders, and I think that's always been a challenge," Finkelstein said.

Read the full article

Bill Gates on Creative Capitalism

A Creative Capitalist- Social Enterprise at Work



From PBS:

BRAZIL- Fabio Rosa is a charismatic, charming Gaucho -- a guitar-playing cowboy with the energy and vision of a corporate titan who is determined to bring electricity and new farming opportunities to millions of rural Brazilians, allowing them to enjoy sustainable livelihoods while preserving the environment for future generations.

Rosa first came to the Brazilian state of Rio Grande Do Sol in the early 1980s, when much of the rural population lived without electricity because they could not afford the installation costs. He saw that by using a single wire system instead of the ususal three wire he could bring affordable electricity to most the people in the region and create a model for bringing it to all Brazilians and people of other countries. Rosa's first effort in the countryside outside the town of Palmeras was wildly successful — bringing hundreds of families electric powered pumps, refrigerators and lights for the first time in their lives. Rosa spread his idea to thousands of families, and eventually to more than half a million Brazilians.

Recently, in one of Rosa's most unexpected victories, the Brazilian government announced it will use his single wire model to bring electricity to millions of Brazilians.

From How to Change the World by David Bornstein:

When asked why he does the kind of work he does and why he doesn't want to just make a lot of money, Fabio responded:

I am trying to build a little part of the world in which I would like to live. A project only makes sense to me when it proves useful to make people happier and the environment more respected, and when it represents a hope for a better future. This is the soul of my projects.

Looking back, many times I have asked myself exactly the same question- since there are easier things to do. But this has been the only way I feel happy. And I also believe that persistence and coherence are virtues and I like to see that I have them.

Working on the kind of projects I do means to dream with a new world in mind. My projects always renew my faith in an harmonic way of living, without misery. With our intelligence, knowledge and culture, it is not necessary to destroy the environment to build. When people work together they are powerful; there is friendship. In the end, there is peace, harmony, tranquility, optimism.

If there is a deeply human motivation in all of this, it is that my projects are related to practical, doable work. We need to actuate and cause change. Even if the inspiration is romantic, it desires material results, a re-colored reality.

About money- I need money. Money is very important to accomplish my projects. But money only matters if it helps to solve people's problems and to create the world I described above. My projects help people around me to acquire wealth and in some ways this comes back to me.

It has been an intellectual and creative challenge to build models that can be used by excluded and deprived people, to create sustainable livelihoods and promote social inclusion.

Creating projects, implementing them and succeeding, witnessing one's dreams come true, is happiness. Money just makes it easier.

For all these reasons, I work the way I do. I am a slave to my dreams, thoughts and ideas.

That is all.

Education Push Yields Little for India’s Poor

From the New York Times:

LAHTORA, India — With the dew just rising from the fields, dozens of children streamed into the two-room school in this small, poor village, tucking used rice sacks under their arms to use as makeshift chairs. So many children streamed in that the newly appointed head teacher, Rashid Hassan, pored through attendance books for the first two hours of class and complained bitterly. He had no idea who belonged in which grade. There was no way he could teach.

Another teacher arrived 90 minutes late. A third did not show up. The most senior teacher, the only one with a teaching degree, was believed to be on official government duty preparing voter registration cards. No one could quite recall when he had last taught.

“When they get older, they’ll curse their teachers,” said Arnab Ghosh, 26, a social worker trying to help the government improve its schools, as he stared at clusters of children sitting on the grass outside. “They’ll say, ‘We came every day and we learned nothing.’ ”



Sixty years after independence, with 40 percent of its population under 18, India is now confronting the perils of its failure to educate its citizens, notably the poor. More Indian children are in school than ever before, but the quality of public schools like this one has sunk to spectacularly low levels, as government schools have become reserves of children at the very bottom of India’s social ladder.

The children in this school come from the poorest of families — those who cannot afford to send away their young to private schools elsewhere, as do most Indian families with any means.

India has long had a legacy of weak schooling for its young, even as it has promoted high-quality government-financed universities. But if in the past a largely poor and agrarian nation could afford to leave millions of its people illiterate, that is no longer the case. Not only has the roaring economy run into a shortage of skilled labor, but also the nation’s many new roads, phones and television sets have fueled new ambitions for economic advancement among its people — and new expectations for schools to help them achieve it.



That they remain ill equipped to do so is clearly illustrated by an annual survey, conducted by Pratham, the organization for which Mr. Ghosh works. The latest survey, conducted across 16,000 villages in 2007 and released Wednesday, found that while many more children were sitting in class, vast numbers of them could not read, write or perform basic arithmetic, to say nothing of those who were not in school at all.

Among children in fifth grade, 4 out of 10 could not read text at the second grade level, and 7 out of 10 could not subtract. The results reflected a slight improvement in reading from 2006 and a slight decline in arithmetic; together they underscored one of the most worrying gaps in India’s prospects for continued growth.

Education experts debate the reasons for failure. Some point out that children of illiterate parents are less likely to get help at home; the Pratham survey shows that the child of a literate woman performs better at school. Others blame longstanding neglect, insufficient public financing and accountability, and a lack of motivation among some teachers to pay special attention to poor children from lower castes.

“Education is a long-term investment,” said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and the government’s top policy czar. “We have neglected it, in my view quite criminally, for an enormously long period of time.”

Looking for a Way Up

Education in the new India has become a crucial marker of inequality. Among the poorest 20 percent of Indian men, half are illiterate, and barely 2 percent graduate from high school, according to government data. By contrast, among the richest 20 percent of Indian men, nearly half are high school graduates and only 2 percent are illiterate.

Just as important, at a time when only one in 10 college-age Indians actually go to college, higher education has become the most effective way to scale the golden ladder of the new economy. A recent study by two economists based in Delhi found that between 1993-94 and 2004-5, college graduates enjoyed pay raises of 11 percent every year, and illiterates saw their pay rise by roughly 8.5 percent, though from a miserably low base; here in Bihar State, for instance, a day laborer makes barely more than $1 a day.

“The link between getting your children prepared and being part of this big, changing India is certainly there in everyone’s minds,” said Rukmini Banerji, the research director of Pratham. “The question is: What’s the best way to get there, how much to do, what to do? As a country, I think we are trying to figure this out.”

She added, “If we wait another 5 or 10 years, you are going to lose millions of children.”

Money From the State


India has lately begun investing in education. Public spending on schools has steadily increased over the last few years, and the government now proposes to triple its financial commitment over the next five years. At present, education spending is about 4 percent of the gross domestic product. Every village with more than 1,000 residents has a primary school. There is money for free lunch every day.

Even in a state like Bihar, which had an estimated population of 83 million in 2001 and where schools are in particularly bad shape, the scale of the effort is staggering. In the last year or so, 100,000 new teachers have been hired. Unemployed villagers are paid to recruit children who have never been to school. A village education committee has been created, in theory to keep the school and its principal accountable to the community. And buckets of money have been thrown at education, to buy swings and benches, to paint classrooms, even to put up fences around the campus to keep children from running away.

And yet, as Lahtora shows, good intentions can become terribly complicated on the ground.

At the moment, the village was not lacking for money for its school. The state had committed $15,000 to construct a new school building, $900 for a new kitchen and $400 for new school benches. But only some of the money had arrived, so no construction had started, and the school committee chairman said he was not sure how much local officials might demand in bribes. The chairman’s friend from a neighboring village said $750 had been demanded of his village committee in exchange for building permits.

The chairman here also happens to be the head teacher’s uncle, making the idea of accountability additionally complicated. One parent told Mr. Ghosh that their complaints fell on deaf ears: the teachers were connected to powerful people in the community.

It is a common refrain in a country where teaching jobs are a powerful instrument of political patronage.

The school’s drinking-water tap had stopped working long ago, like 30 percent of schools nationwide, according to the Pratham survey. Despite the extra money, the toilet was broken, as was the case in nearly half of all schools nationwide.

From Development As Freedom by Amartya Sen:

For a variety of historical reasons, including a focus on basic education and basic health care, and early completion of effective land reforms, widespread economic participation was easier to achieve in many of the East Asian and Southeast Asian economies in a way it has not been possible in, say, Brazil or India or Pakistan, where the creation of social opportunities has been much slower and that slowness has acted as a barrier to economic development.

A poor economy may have less money to spend on health care and education, but it also needs less money to spend to provide the same services, which would cost much more in the richer countries. Relative prices and costs are important parameters in determining what a country can afford. Given an appropriate social commitment, the need to take note of the variability of relative costs is particularly important for social services in health and education.

The Different Paths of India & China
Beijing, China

The contrast between India and China has some illustrative importance in this context. The governments of both China and India have been making efforts for some time now (China from 1979 and India from 1991) to move toward a more open, internationally active, market-oriented economy.

While Indian efforts have slowly met with some success, the kind of massive results that China has seen has failed to occur in India. An important factor in this contrast lies in the fact that from the standpoint of social preparedness, China is a great deal ahead of India in being able to make use of the market economy. While pre-reform China was deeply skeptical of markets, it was not skeptical of basic education and widely shared health care. When China turned to marketization in 1979, it already had a highly literate people, especially the young, with good schooling facilities across the bulk of the country.



In contrast, India had a half-illiterate adult population when it turned to marketization in 1991, and the situation is not much improved today. The social backwardness of India, with its elitist concentration on higher education and massive negligence of school education, and its substantial neglect of basic health care, left that country poorly prepared for a widely shared economic expansion.

*During my research in the Philippines I repeatedly came face to face with the vulnerability created by low education and unemployment. While the majority of higher education is privatized in the Philippines, and therefore inaccessible to all but the wealthy, there exists an under funded, yet functioning lower, middle and secondary school system.

The reality for a young child, however, is that rather than attending school, he/she will seek a job to help their family, which then creates a large population of young people with no skills desperate for jobs who are vulnerable to trafficking. One of the common frustrations of the NGOs I worked with was the inability to help trafficking victims once they were rescued, rehabilitated and finally reintegrated back into their home communities. What often ends up happening once they arrive home is they will go and apply for another job and take the risk of being trafficked all over again because the economic need is so great.

At the end of the day the lesson is simple economics- school is not an option when there is no food on the table. At the same time, an educated population is one of the cornerstones of development that will ultimately lead to increased jobs, higher quality of life, and decreased susceptibility to trafficking.

More
Read “Cooking Up Profit” for more about the relationship between development and trafficking.

Read “International Labor Migration & Human Trafficking” for more on how education can help stimulate development and decrease vulnerability to trafficking.

Making a Difference One Word at a Time

A friend told me about this ingenious website the other day.

It's called Free Rice.

It does two things:

1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on the site.

Fun. Simple. Effective.

ADDICTIVE.

I love how a game can be utilized to a) feed the hungry, b) entertain you and c) benefit corporations through advertising.

Although not the Achilles heal to end world hunger, efforts like Free Rice are effective, tangible methods of supporting those who address the world's socioeconomic issues (in this case the rice is donated to the United Nations World Food Program).

How can this creative, out-of-the-box thinking be used to address human trafficking?

Any ideas?

I'm all ears.

Why I Work

A trafficking survivor in the Philippines hides behind her doll at a halfway house run by the Visayan Forum Foundation, Photo by Kat Palasi

The Issue
According to the U.S. State Department, 800 thousand people are trafficked around the world each year for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, and other forms of exploitation. This does not include trafficking within a country’s borders. An estimated 17,000 victims are trafficked into the United States each year. The International Organization for Migration estimates there are 250,000 women and children trafficked every year in Asia.

Human trafficking is connected to poverty, corruption, unemployment, and migration. It evokes strong emotions. It can be overwhelming.

Creating a Connection
Because of the massive scope of the issue, it can be difficult to think about and connect with the actual people who are victimized. It can be hard to imagine the real people who are enslaved and forced into prostitution or forced to work in a factory. Although the issue itself raises eyebrows, if people cannot connect with actual victims it makes it easier for them to forget, to move on, to change the channel and live another day ignorant of the reality of modern day slavery.

It is important that people connect not only to the issue, but also to the people it victimizes. Only then will the need to create change fully present itself. Then we will no longer be able to turn our backs because the issue has been personalized.

In human rights work, building this personal connection between the victims and the public is crucial to creating long-lasting change. Without it, someone might still be motivated to give money, but without a personal tie to the issue the support will fade over time.

Lasting Change
We need the public to wake up to the truth behind trafficking. We need to recognize the misery and suffering and acknowledge the lives that hang in the balance while we live in our comfortable, air-conditioned bubbles. Only then will we be motivated to create long-lasting change. Only then will we take serious action to end modern day slavery.

Money plays an integral role, but we also need life-long advocates and supporters who understand what’s at stake, who understand the degree of evil and injustice at work.

The Organization
The Human Trafficking Project will forge this personal connection between victims and the public by creating trafficking-related art that presents the massive issue of trafficking through the eyes of the very people it affects. Think music, film, photography, clothes, blogs, and more- this is the Human Trafficking Project.

The art projects will be merchandised and sold to the public to raise awareness. All profit will go towards anti-slavery work.

Specifically, profits will be used to:

• Develop further trafficking-related art projects to raise awareness
• Fund educational scholarships for trafficking survivors
• Operate the Human Trafficking Project

Guest relation officers, or hostesses and sometimes prostitutes, are typical in bars across the Philippines. The commodification of women contributes to an environment where trafficking flourishes, Photo by Veejay Villafranca

The time to act is now.

Help stop modern day slavery! Help defeat human trafficking!

To get involved e-mail justin@traffickingproject.org

This Week in the Philippines #6

Kickbacks, economic gains, kidnapping, Doogie Howser, and remittances...


Source: Corbis

Corruption mars broadband contract
Once again, corruption reared its ugly head under the Arroyo administration with kickbacks galore amounting to way over $100 million, divided accordingly among a high-ranking poll official. “Kickbacks” in the contro-versial broadband contract with Chinese firm ZTE Corp. practically ate up the project’s cost and ended up 300-percent higher than the original or proposed amount, with highly-placed public officials and public figures said to have pocketed the “loot” amounting to over $200 million.

Government to boast of economic gains at APEC meeting
The Philippines will show off the Arroyo government’s so-called “long-term economic achievement” during this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Sydney, Australia, despite a poor investor index rating by the Apec. In his departure statement, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo yesterday commented, “our performance has shown the resiliency and robustness of our economy. Our fiscal and economic reforms have taken root and are showing concrete results. We have had consecutive quarterly growths since 2001.”

Kidnapping cases decrease in the Philippines
Director General Oscar C. Calderon, chief of the Philippine National Police, reported yesterday a 45 percent decline in the number of kidnap-for-ransom cases recorded in the country from July 2006 to June 2007 as compared to July 2005 to June 2006. Calderon said there were 27 kidnap-for-ransom cases from July 2006 to June 2007 as compared to the 49 recorded from July 2005 to June 2006.

Youngest doctor in the Philippines ready for work
At 22, Adrian Paul Rabe is the youngest member of Class 2007 of the University of the Philippines' seven-year Integrated Liberal Arts-Medicine (Intarmed) program. He passed the medical licensure examinations this month. When he was young, his family lived in Kuwait. His father, Pete, an engineer, was a contract worker while his mother, Zenaida, also an engineer, took care of him and his four siblings. He was six years old when the Gulf War broke out in August 1990 and the family decided to return to the Philippines.

Cheaper remittance system developed for migrants
A nationwide federation of cooperatives launched on Tuesday a one-dollar remittance scheme for overseas Filipinos. Dubbed as National Cash Card program, or simply N-Cash, the new remittance system offers overseas Filipinos a much cheaper option in sending money to their loved ones in the Philippines. It is a project of the National Confederation of Cooperatives (Natcco) in coordination with the government-owned Development Bank of the Philippines. Natcco executive officer Cresente Paez commented, “Filipinos in all areas of our island nation will now be able to conduct many financial transactions without having to go to their nearest urban center which is often many kilometers and many hours away."

The Do-gooder's MBA

Source: Corbis

Social enterprise is an emerging field that has great potential to fight global issues like poverty and human trafficking through generating financial and social capital.

From Business 2.0:

Several organizations, including for-profits, give B-school graduates real-world experience in the trendy and growing field of social entrepreneurship. The pay is lousy, but the benefits to the host countries and the graduates are worth a fortune.

For MBAs with global ambitions and a willingness to get their hands dirty, working in a developing country does more than feed the spirit. Graduates aren't just examining case studies; they're creating new ones, jump-starting real businesses, and bringing the gospel of entrepreneurship to places where it's never been preached. It could take years for a young person to get that kind of power in the developed world.

Read the full article here.

11 Photos from My Travels

I have spent a good deal of August trekking around the Philippines getting away from the crowded streets, smoggy air, and noise pollution of Manila to bathe in energizing springs, greet powerful mountains, and devour (organic) food grown a few yards away from the kitchen.

Here is what I saw:
























A month and a half left in the Philippines.

How time flies...

The Feast Returns

ALL DAY BUFFET

Before I left for the Philippines I helped start All Day Buffet, an organization dedicated to connecting young adults to important humanitarian issues throughout the world.

It's a simple idea: Inspire Action. Change the world. Have Fun.

I'm happy to announce we're back and better than ever! We have a new website and a growing community in the Big Easy. And now we are starting a series of happy hours called 'Cause for Drinks.'

Come join us next Wednesday, Aug. 22nd, for our very first one at Gallery Bar in NYC and LePhare in New Orleans. $2 from every drink purchased will go towards school supplies for kids in under-resourced schools in NYC and helping to educate veteran child soldiers in Ghana.

When:
Wednesday, August 22, 2007, 6:30 - 8:30 PM

Where:
(NYC) Gallery Bar, 120 Orchard Street (Between Delancy & Rivington) - Map

(NO) Le Phare, 523 Gravier - Map

Being in the Philippines I am unable to attend, but I will be there in spirit.

Hats off to those who organized this event and have various surprises and treats in the pipeline. Although I'm on the other side of the world I'm overjoyed to see your hard work come to fruition- congratulations and thank you for keeping the idea alive!

Cheers!

Misguided Charity

The Controversy Behind International Food Donations

Why does CARE turn down $ 45 million of food aid from the US? Can food possibly hurt more than it helps?

From Manila Bulletin:

CARE’s Alina Labrada pointed out that donation of wheat and other crops does not help in regions where people consistently go hungry because local farming has been weakened by international competition (globalization). She told AP’s Katherine Houreld that the "mechanism" is more hurtful than helpful.

Read more

From Alertnet:

If you flood a market with cheap food, prices tend to fall. While that's good for those buying the food, collapsing prices can hurt poor farmers who are struggling to make a living. This has a knock-on effect on the whole agricultural sector. Say wheat prices drop and people start buying wheat instead of maize. Then maize producers suffer.

There is also a danger when food aid arrives too late that it will disrupt the market for the next season's harvest, making it harder for local farmers to recover. Many experts say this happened to Malawi in 2002, and could become a problem in Niger in 2005.

Read the full article

This Week in the Philippines #4

The war on terrorism, politics, linguistic technicalities, medical tourism, and sustainable development...


Marines on patrol (Source: Corbis)

More Troops Deployed to Destroy Abu Sayyaf
The presidential palace has given the military blanket authority to finish off the Abu Sayyaf, a Philippines-based terrorist faction with alleged ties to Al Qaeda. At least 3,500 soldiers are stationed in Sulu for the renewed campaign.

Congressman Asks Pres & VP to Call it Quits
Results of a recent Pulse Asia survey showed President Arroyo’s trust rating slipped to 25 percent. In the survey conducted from June 28 to July 10, military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. also got a low trust rating of 19 percent while Philippine National Police chief Oscar Calderon posted an even lower trust rating of 17 percent.

Pilipino, Filipino, or Tagalog?
The 1973 Constitution, through Article XV, Section 3, made a distinction between “Pilipino,” which together with English was made an “official language,” and “Filipino,” which was envisioned as the “common national language.” But what is the difference between Pilipino and Filipino? When is one used over the other? How are they viewed under law?

Medical Tourism will Retain Doctors & Nurses in the Philippines
"Once medical tourism in the country is in full stride, local salaries will become competitive and nurses, doctors, and people in the health profession would prefer to stay in the country," said a director of the Department of Health.

Vietnam's Economic Boom & the Philippines
Vietnam successfully revitalized its moribund economy starting in 1986. Since then it has powered ahead with an average annual growth of 8 percent while reducing poverty, thus achieving the elusive goal of sustainable economic growth and equitable income distribution. How can the Philippines learn from this?

This Week in the Philippines #3

Graft, international trafficking to Iraq, and the Peace Corps...


A Filipino worker applying for a job in Iraq, lights candles during a rally in Manila (Source: Corbis)

Corruption rampant in GMA regime
In a recent survey, seven out of 10 Filipinos, or 71 percent, gave President Arroyo a failing grade in her anti-corruption efforts

New batch of Peace Corps volunteers arrive in Philippines
Fifty seven new volunteers arrive in the Pearl of the Orient for a two-year stint

11 Filipinos trafficked to Iraq to help build US embassy
Kuwaiti company illegally recruits Filipino workers despite Philippine govt travel ban

Lack of enforcement mechanism blamed for trafficking to Iraq
NGO accuses Philippine government of doing too little to prevent trafficking- more important than issuing a travel ban, enforcement mechanisms were absent

Filipino migrant workers share stories of life in Iraq
There are an estimated 10,000 Filipinos in Iraq despite the standing government ban on travel to the war-torn country

Glimpses of the Past Month

Photos from my work & travels in the Philippines...

It's been a while since my last post.

The past few weeks I've been sucked into a whirlwind of activities that have just now died down long enough to post new content before I get swept back up.

Once again my work and personal interests have taken me to disparate regions of this archipelago. Whether hanging out in the province with relatives, snapping photos of girlie bar culture for my upcoming website on trafficking, recording music in a high rise home studio for my album on trafficking, or attending workshops on social enterprise in rebel-infested rural areas, each day brings a new surprise and a new lesson.

Let's begin:


Jeepneys decked out in garrish colors and designs blaring loud music are an inseparable part of the Manila landscape.


70 students + 1 teacher + 1/2 a classroom + tropical heat + 1 fan = high school in the Philippines. And yes, the students in front are literally touching the front wall.


High school marching band in Capiz


Piles of beef, pig, and goat are chopped and prepped for a massive feast in the countryside


Hostesses, or guest relation officers, entertain customers with conversation and sometimes more at bars across the country.


Standing up for worker's rights at a GABRIELA event


Hip hop meets human trafficking- in the studio working on my album


Making the (trafficking) documentary- cameras draw crowds


Hoop dreams Philippines style


Music festival in Malate, Manila


Camiguin- hot & cold springs, hidden waterfalls, volcanoes, and lush jungles.


White Island, a spotless sandbar surrounded by crystal blue waters 15 minutes from Camiguin.


Monument to Andrés Bonifacio and the Katipunan (or KKK)- Philippine revolutionaries who fought for independence against Spain.


Staff from social enterprise NGO Unlad Kabayan gather in Iligan to discuss community development in the Philippines.

Big article coming late next week, smaller articles before then...

Table Scraps

An update on my most recent activities:

1) Trekking through the jungle barefoot braving armies of biting ants, gigantic centipedes, river spirits, muddy slopes, and tropical heat to film for my documentary on trafficking. Despite multiple near-death experiences it was worth the wild baked mini-crabs (just pop them in your mouth), the shower in the mountain spring, and being swallowed by the jungle far away from cell phones, iPods, and my computer.

2) Trekking through the inner city down streets choked with colorful patoks (jeepneys), cruising police paddy wagons with lights flashing, sixteen year-old prostitutes, and gangs of irate city workers wielding wooden clubs who harass the working girls, again to film my documentary.

3) Interviewing government officials on the efforts, successes, challenges, and frustrations of combating trafficking in the Philippines for my research project.

4) Recording the final tracks for my album "Beat Down Human Trafficking," which will be available on the Human Trafficking Project's soon-to-come website late July.

5) Working with a web designer to create said website that will house my various trafficking-related projects.

And much more... but I have been neglecting the blog.

Article of substance coming soon, plus some surprises in the near future...

This Week in the Philippines #2

Vote-Rigging, Medical Tourism, and Human Trafficking: Shaken, Not Stirred

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo shows her finger marked with indelible ink after casting her vote in her hometown of Lubao. (Source: Corbis)

Philippines Probing Election Cheating
After the dust settles from the May 14th elections, allegations of vote-rigging abound.

The Philippine Peso Gains on the Dollar
Remittances and foreign investments are credited.

The Emerging Industry of Medical Tourism in Asia
High-quality medical care on the cheap, and afterwards you can get a facial and relax on a private beach.

Four Jailed on Human Trafficking
The Philippine justice system lives up to its name.

UN Criticizes Japan on Sex Slaves
Japan denies involvement in government-sanctioned forced prostitution of women across Asia for its soldiers during WWII.

This Week in the Philippines #1

Election Season: Let the Madness Begin...

*This Week in the Philippines is a new section that will provide a weekly glimpse into the political and cultural climate of the Philippines.



Vote Osama Bin Laden
Educator, environmentalist, peace advocate?

Nation goes to polls today
What's at stake: 12 senators who will serve for six years and 250 congressmen and partylist representatives, 81 governors, 81 vice governors, 770 provincial board members, 118 city mayors, 118 city vice mayors, 1,510 municipal mayors, 1,510 municipal vice mayors, 1,322 city councilors, and 12,092 municipal councilors.

Police form task forces to curb election violence
173 election-related violent incidents, 113 dead, and 121 wounded

Politicians and their private armies go overboard
Pistol packin' politicos, high powered rifles, and unlicensed firearms

Election fraud
A recent survey shows that 70% of the public in Metro Manila expects there to be cheating in vote-counting

Until next week...

Pacman the Politician

Manny Pacquiao: Boxing Hero, National Icon... Politician?



Jorge Solis falls in eight rounds to the whirlwind of oddly angled ferocious hooks, upper cuts, and never-ending combinations launched by the Tasmanian Devil of boxing known as Pacman.

Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao is a national hero of the Philippines who has toppled dozens of contenders, including legendary Mexican fighters Erik Morales and Antonio Barrera, with his flurries of non-stop punches that drop his opponents to the canvas (his current record is 44 wins, 3 losses, and 3 draws).


Pacquiao vs. Solis- Sunday, April 15th, 2007 in San Antonio, Texas

In the Philippines you can see Pacman in advertisements ranging from karaoke machines to ice cream, soy sauce to socks, sports drinks to beer (including a new commercial with former rival Erik Morals). In short, his smiling mug is plastered on just about any billboard space available. A Pacquiao fight is like an undeclared national holiday in the Philippines. The country shuts down, the streets are empty, and everyone is huddled next to their television sets anxious to see their chosen son bring one more victory home for the pride of the Philippines. When he returns from fights Pacquiao is greeted by screaming fans and politicians alike and treated like royalty. He is also sent congratulatory messages from the president.


The new San Miguel Beer commercial starring Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales

On a sunny Sunday morning in April I watch the Pacquiao-Solis fight in a packed movie theater. The audience cheers with each Pacquiao punch and gasps as his opponent, the relatively unknown but previously undefeated Mexican fighter Jorge Solis (32 wins, 2 draws prior to the fight), connects with his own punches. More details on the fight from ESPN.

After Pacquiao is announced the winner to his adoring masses, the lights have dimmed, and the gloves are cut off, Pacman must now prepare for a different kind of fight. Manny is running for a congressional seat in his hometown of General Santos City, Mindanao in the upcoming May 14th election. The opposition candidate for reelection, Rep. Darlene Antonino Custodio, is the youngest legislator in the country and a member of one of the elite political families from Mindanao.


Darlene Antonino Custodio- Pacman's competition

With political and financial power hanging in the balance, elections in the Philippines are a dirty business.

From In Asia:

Though the highest office in the land is not on the ballot, citizens will vote for 17,889 different positions at different levels: Senators (twelve elected nationwide), Members of Congress (both district and party list), provincial governors, vice governors, and board members, and city or municipal mayors, vice mayors, and councilors.

From Reuters:

So far [in 2007], 95 people have been killed since campaigning started in January, including two gunned down last month when police acting as bodyguards for rival politicians exchanged fire at a road block. In the 2004 presidential elections, 189 people were killed and 279 wounded.

"Elections in the Philippines have always been violent," said Benjamin Lim, political science professor at Ateneo de Manila University, adding mid-term polls were more bloody due to intense rivalry among local politicians. "The stakes are much higher. If they lose, they will lose prestige, money and connections because political offices have been a source of good income for our politicians."

Recently Pacquiao has openly accused Ms. Custodio's camp of offering P 100 million (2.1 million US) to have him killed, a charge which Ms. Custodio vehemently denies. Pacquiao has responded by doubling the size of his personal security detail and rallying the support of actors and entertainers for his candidacy.



As election day draws closer, please browse the following articles to get a taste of the cult of Pacquiao, his entry into politics, and the inevitable drama of election season in the Philippines:

1. Pacland- The Official Manny Pacquiao Website
2. In the Philippines: The Build-up to May 14th Elections (In Asia)
3. Election Violence Escalating in the Philippines (Intl. Herald Tribune)
4. Pacquiao Announces His Decision to Enter Politics (The Manila Bulletin)
5. Pacquiao Accuses Political Rival of Assassination Plot (GMA News)
6. Rumor of Pacquiao Ambush Spreads (GMA News)
7. Pacquiao Hires Additional Security (ABS-CBN News)
8. Pacquiao Supporter Switches Sides (GMA News)
9. Split Personality: Pacman vs. Politician (The Manila Times)
10. Election Season Violence In the Philippines (Reuters)
11. Yet Another Victim Linked to May 14th Elections (Asia News)

Ready, get set, vote!