Buhay Ko Article in Manila Times: Smokey mountain kids into bloggers

Smokey Mountain kids turn into bloggers

By John Constantine G. Cordon Researcher

AT 17, Edmon has experienced hard labor and a harder life.

Being young and tall makes him unfit to work in a boat filled with sacks of rice that brawny and much older men must lift, carry and heave all day for scant wages.
But life in Edmon’s neighborhood was tougher. On May, he went with his brother to work in a barge. They helped transfer hundreds of sacks of rice from the boat to a delivery truck waiting at the port of Pier 18 in northern Manila.

It was a tiring, round-the-clock work from 5 a.m. to 5 a.m the following day. Edmon and his brother would dump hundreds of sacks of rice into a huge net that a crane would then lift. Men waiting at the port would pile them in a truck, ready to be delivered to dealers or placed inside a warehouse.

But he endured exhaustion. His arms grew sore during the first few days that he wanted to quit. But his brother told him that the job would actually make him bigger and that resting or sleeping would only worsen the pain. For P700 a day, he stayed.

During a month of toil and even after being found too young to work, he and his fellow laborers finished piling thousands of sacks of rice nearly three stories high. For the whole month of May, Edmon was tired, spent and sleepless.

Despite the torture, he admitted that he was grateful for the job since the money he earned allowed him to save for himself and help his mother win their daily battle against poverty.

Edmon’s story is actually available online for the whole world to read. He is just one of the 21 teenagers who are allowing other netizens to take a peek at their lives through blogs.

With their online narratives, they share shards of their lives as they grow up in one of Metro Manila’s most maligned places, Smokey Mountain.

Their posts give readers a chance to read first-hand accounts of their struggle with poverty, their wishes for themselves and their families, and even their thanksgiving for small blessings they receive even if a mountain of trash stands tall at their backyard.

The 21 kids, trained under the Buhay Ko sa Smokey Mountain (Buhay Ko) program, a joint program of Philippine Junior Chamber International and Young Focus Foundation (YFF), are taught how to write, blog, take photos, edit videos and manage their mini-sites, among others.

During an interview with The Manila Times, Edmon is much exuberant in person, gamely answering and retelling his story above without hesitation. More than interest in technology and the Net, he wound up in Buhay Ko out of curiosity.

After seeing an announcement on a blog workshop, he asked his coordinator, “What is a blog?” And the answer piqued his interest that he joined.
Edmon said that keeping a blog is more challenging than just sharing stories with friends because with a blog, the whole world is out there to see what he writes and so decided to publish online.

When his life was yet unknown to bloggers, he preferred to tell what his day was to select friends. Be it matters of the heart or just silly daily adventures, at least with his friends, he said, he knows who he is talking with.

For his first blog entry, Edmon said that he did not know what to write about because he was thinking that there could be hundreds of eyes that would read it.

Aside from maintaining privacy, language was also a challenge to him at first. His first post in English paled in comparison with his second in Filipino—Ang Unang Trabahong Naranasan ko (The First Job I Experienced).

But more than just typing away what was on his mind or thinking about privacy, Edmon now says: “Mas ok kung marami ang makakabasa ng blog ko. Mas marami din kasi ang makakaalam at mas marami din ang pwedeng magbigay sa ‘kin ng lakas ng loob [It’s much better when more people will read my blog. That way, more people will come to know about it and more people can inspire me].”

This is exactly what Buhay Ko aims for, said Ibba Bernardo, the chairman of the program—to teach students skills that would fuel their creativity, bolster self-confidence and fill in the gap that has been lacking in the many outreach projects conducted for Smokey Mountain.

“Why don’t we empower them by teaching ‘geek’ skills like blogging, taking pictures, video editing and let them tell their own stories. Content creation is important nowadays,” said Bernardo, a self-confessed geek himself.

“Usually projects of different foundations focus on health or medicine. They forget about the mental and intellectual aspect. We want the students to be confident because part and parcel of success is confidence,” added Howard Paw, one of the Buhay Ko team members.

Through a series of sessions, Buhay Ko is introducing blog writing, photography and video editing, among others, to these teenagers who grew up in a family of scavengers.

Their workshops, held Saturdays from June 19 to August 7, invited well-known speakers, among them Vince Golangco, editor in chief of WhenInManila.com; Aids Tecson of the Under Ground Logic; and Jun Valbuena, a celebrated wedding photographer.

Bernardo calls today’s era as generation upload, where kids get connected and go online. Along with it is an information divide, he says. It is either you are connected or not. And getting connected while sharpening creativity is what Buhay Ko wants the students to learn.

Ronnel Golimlim, the executive director of YFF, says the kids have talent waiting to be tapped. He recalls that the photographs the students took gave hints of artistry.

Pictures taken by a student, Jovelyn, made Buhay Ko believe that she has what it takes to be a photographer. Jovelyn, naturally shy as how Golimlim describes the young girl, is volunteering during workshops and is actively participating.

YFF wants the students to experience and learn new things, while honing their creativity and building self-confidence in the process.
And how are the 21 students faring?

Bukay Ko Vice Chairman Alvin Tsoi said, “Sa simula, makikita mo na takot sila mag-blog. Tumatakbo na kami ng 2 to 3 sessions, ang kaunti pa rin nang nagpo-post. After sometime, bigla na lang nag-pick up. They got over their inhibition. Gumaganda na rin yung mga kwento nila. [At first, you’ll see that they’re scared to blog. We’re already into 2 to 3 sessions, but only a few were posting entries. After sometime, they suddenly picked up. They got over their inhibition, and their stories werre getting better].”

Golimlim is proud of the students for the progress that they have achieved and is overwhelmed that the program, with a little fine-tuning, can be replicated in other areas.

Now that they see the kids are learning before their eyes, Paw himself “feels good that he is helping and that the effort was all worth it.” The positive results, he said, make him more willing to help and do more for the students, who have become close to them.

As for Tsoi, “Wala pa kong anak, pero feeling ko parang may inaalagaan ako. Na kahit nasa office ako o nasa school ako, tsine-check ko yung blog nila. I comment. Nandoon yung support. [I still don’t have a kid but it feels like I’m taking care of someone. Even though I’m at the office or at school, I check their blogs. I comment. The support is there].”

For Bernardo, it’s so hard to find a word for the success of the project and the overwhelming support people have given them. He does “feel good and ‘yun ‘yun! [that’s it] I’m really happy about this.”

As the lectures came to a close, Edmon, given the time, would want to write more about himself and about his life in Smokey Mountain, and share what he learned with his siblings and other students in YFF.

“Ang turo nga sa amin, kaya ka nagba-blog kasi gusto mong magkwento. Gusto kong maraming nakakabasa at gusto ko pang magkwento para mas maraming ma-inspire. [What was taught to us was you’re blogging because you want to tell a story. I want more people to read and I want to tell more stories so that more will be inspired].”