Hoping, Dreaming in Payatas

PARTNERSHIP WITH NGO CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT Hoping, dreaming in Payatas eople living near it say the Payatas leap in consciousness among the residents, Dumpsite, at a seldom-seen edge of says Divina Cardama, the head of Sikap P Quezon City, was once a nice valley, Pangkabuhayan ng mga Nanay sa Payatas says Yukiyo Nomura. Bluish mountains are (SPNP — Mothers Working for Livelihood visible in the distance. Improvement in Payatas), which ICAN has People living near it say the Payatas since organized with JICA support. “Doon Dumpsite, at a seldom-seen edge of Quezon nag-umpisang mangarap ang mga residente,” City, was once a nice valley, says Yukiyo she says: That was when the residents began Nomura. Bluish mountains are visible in the to dream. distance. With JICA assistance since 2007, the Now the open dump has two gray Center has grown into a three-floor, multi- mountains of garbage, a tragic “symbol of function building with a bigger clinic and dolls, candy, and tarpaulin bags, among other poverty” where a decade ago 200 people more activities for mothers and children. such products. Its beneficiaries include some died and 200 others disappeared in a The clinic gives residents free regular out-of-school youths, but most are mothers, typhoon-triggered avalanche. consultation with doctors and midwives. some of whose husbands are jobless. The village came to be when Payatas was It also provides special services like Pap’s “Malaking tulong,” Divina says emphatically: turned into an urban-poor relocation site in smear, de-worming, and health education. The skills are a big help. the 1970s. The first mount of trash emerged Many residents come on clinic day, says The women, who at the time were plain sometime in the 1990s after Metro Manila’s Yuki, and many have been cured especially housewives, also learned basic business previous poverty symbol, the Smokey for tuberculosis. and management skills. Divina herself, after Mountain dumpsite, was closed down. A community pharmacy has opened at training at SPNP, was hired by ICAN to make Permanent closure is the prospect the Center, income from which can be used stuffed toys that were exported to Japan. approaching the Payatas Dumpsite. That to support the clinic. Today, she is an independent producer who could mean immediate loss of subsistence There is also a daycare center with 32 sells to ICAN and other NGOs and participates for at least many of the 20,000 people from pupils, and a feeding center that opens twice in market bazaars. inside and outside the village who gather weekly. Every Saturday, 70 children come for Their organizations and their acquired recyclable materials and sell them to the soups, lessons, and games. capabilities, Yuki says, have brought out a numerous junkshops that line the narrow “Maybe they come here because there is something significant in the Payatas mothers. roads. little space in Payatas for children,” says Yuki. “Through the commitment of mothers,” she It is in the part called Phase 2 Payatas B “Sometimes they even knock and call out to says, “we see empowerment.” — its 4,000 residents call it “Lupang Pangako,” come in.” Meanwhile, the needs of residents continue or Promised Land — that Yukiyo, or Yuki, is The daycare center teacher, Minda Biñas, to grow. The clinic, even though enlarged, has involved, particularly with the women and a mother of four, says former pupils — now become too small for them, Divina says. A children. teenagers who otherwise might have become bigger one is a dream for the future (“pangarap With a house-turned-office a short drive drug addicts or criminals — come in to teach para sa balang araw”), she says. away from Payatas B, Yuki serves as the and play games with the little ones. For now, Divina adds, she and the Manila head of Inter-Communication Center Minda also heads the Payatas Integrated other mothers are living proof of the for Asia and Nippon (ICAN), a Nagoya-based Cooperative Operation (PICO), which JICA good intentions (“kami ang katunayan ng NGO that has programs in different parts of helped ICAN to organize as the vehicle for magandang layunin”) of ICAN and JICA. the Philippines. sustaining the Center over the long term. The JICA program with ICAN will end in In Payatas, ICAN began its aid 10 years ago Minda points out that “pico” is vernacular late 2010, and ICAN is preparing to turn the by giving out boots to people who climbed for a pick, “used to open earth for planting.” Center over fully to PICO. At first the members up and picked through the daily deliveries At the JICA-assisted Center, PICO is the tool were reluctant to accept the responsibility, of fresh trash. Later, in a small, rented house, of 150 member-women to acquire livelihood says Yuki, but they have begun to realize that it set up a medical clinic called Community skills that will help them especially when the they can do it. Care Center. Payatas Dumpsite closes down. “Ito na po ang kasagutan,” says Divina: All Having the Center in their area triggered a It teaches them how to make foodstuffs, these are the answer to the dream. 15 JICA Philippines Office.

Load more