From scavengers to blogging geeks
The mere mention of Smokey Mountain in Tondo, Manila conjures images of a gigantic heap of garbage, of dirty children scavenging for food and anything of value that they can sell for a few pesos.
While this picture still exists, more and more children are slowly breaking free from the chains of poverty to give themselves a chance for a better life. With the gradual metamorphosis of Smokey Mountain into a livable surrounding is the transformation of its young residents who have discovered the power of education and the Internet.
Geek to the rescue
Learning a whole gamut of skills from blogging or writing online, photography, to videography, cinematography, and multi-media editing, the young people of Smokey Mountain are discovering all these under the tech education project initiated by a group of tech-savvy, idealistic, and socially aware young professionals led by Ibrahim Rasul Bernardo, a freelance tech writer and new member of the Manila Junior Chamber International (JCI).
As part of their contribution to Manila JCI’s outreach program, Bernardo’s group thought of giving a voice to the youth of Smokey Mountain through the internet, via blogging.
“If you’re a lawyer or doctor madaling tumulong. Pero if you’re a geek what can you do? I am a geek, so I thought of teaching the Smokey Mountain youth to be geeks. More importantly, it’s empowering the marginalized sector to share the story of their lives to the world through blogging,” says Bernardo.
In partnership with the Young Focus Foundation (YFF), a non-government organization dedicated to uplift the lives of children living in Smokey Mountain, the Manila JCI established the “Buhay Ko sa Smokey Mountain: Naka blog ka na ba sa Bundok ng Basura?” project to teach these third-generation scavengers how to be blog through a series of short courses on various disciplines.
Some 25 high school and college participants who are scholars of YFF are attending the Saturday workshops which began in June. The teachers are volunteer professionals like cinematographer Rody Lacap, writer-editor Art Ilano, bloggers Hannah Viallasis, Vince Golangco and Aids Tecson.
The students are also provided with digital cameras to help them capture photos and videos that are visual aids for their blogs.
MoAnima animation studio country manager Lyshiel Valencia has likewise volunteered to hold a workshop on drawing and basic animation to encourage the youth to consider a career in game development.
The blogs of the participants can be viewed at www.blogspot.com withwww.buhayko.org as the portal.
Reaching out
Bernardo revealed that the students were quite apprehensive and reluctant to blog at first.
“Connecting with the world is kinda daunting and scary kaya medyo kinakabahan pa sila. But I can see that there is an eagerness to learn. During workshops, they focus on their teachers and the lesson. They even ask intelligent questions. They’re such a productive class,” relates Bernardo.
Ronnel Gulimlilm, executive director of YFF, on the other hand, lauds the project for its relevance and as a worthy and powerful tool to help empower the poor.
“The project is very much welcome, very inspiring and very doable. The youth of Smokey Mountain really need to find themselves. They need to find who they are and they need to express themselves in their point of view. It’s what we call championing the students,” he adds.
Bernardo says the poor people of Smokey Mountain have very interesting and inspiring stories to tell, and can even serve as an eye-opener to the public. This same reason has urged him to opt for a higher goal which is to create a curriculum that can be used to reach out to other marginalized groups. He intends to replicate the project in the mountains with the tribal communities.
Standing tall and proud
One of the participants, 17-year-old Maria Jovelyn Andia, finds blogging a whole new world where she can express herself and connect with other people.
But this IT freshman from the Unibersidad ng Maynila admits she fell in love with photography and is determined to further hone her skills to be a professional photographer someday.
Andia is also looking forward to the time when her friends would be able to read her blogs and get inspired by her simple stories.
“Sa Smokey Mountain 1 (the original dumpsite which has undergone major transformation) may mga Internet shops din. Sa isang building (permanent housing where she lives) may apat na internet shops kaya mahilig mag computer ang mga bata. Seven years old pa lang, may Facebook na. Sa pag-aaral namin nitong mga iba’t ibang skills sa workshops, nais ko na mai-share din ang kaalamang ito sa mga bata sa amin,” she discloses.
Rameses Banzuela Jr., meanwhile, wants to change the negative image associated with residents of Smokey Mountain through blogging and through his achievements.
“Pag taga Smokey Mountain ka, ang naiisip kaagad ng mga tao, sobrang baho at dumi sa lugar mo. Pero ako po, ipinagmamalaki ko na taga Smokey Mountain ako. Gusto ko ishare sa pagblo-blog na hindi lang puro kahirapan at puro pangit ang nakikita sa amin. Dito masaya ang mga tao kahit may problema.Balang araw pag nag tagumpay na ko sa tulong ng mabubuting tao, maipapakita ko na dapat din ipagmalaki ang mga tulad namin, na may karapatan din kami gaya ng iba,” ends 15-year-old Banzuela.
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