“Sometimes I am so disgusted by the state of the world that I can’t even finish my second piece of apple pie”. Banksy, Wall and Piece.
Most days I can sit down and bash out a blog post in a matter of minutes. This post on the other hand has taken me hours to compose. The reason for this is that my first couple of days here in the Philippines have been a real emotional rollercoaster, and there is just so much I want to say about the place that it has been a real struggle to put it all together in some sort of coherent fashion. In a nutshell the Philippines is a fascinating country that encapsulates everything that is amazing and shockingly awful about the world that we live in.
I want to start by providing a bit of background info about the country. The Philippines is an archipelago made up of some 70,000 different islands. Over the past 600 or so years the Philippines has been heavily influenced by Spanish and US imperial rule that has shaped its people, culture, and politics. For example, the majority of Philippinos are Catholic, a result of Spanish rule from the 16th century until 1898.
Philippinos are considered the most westernised of all South East Asian people. The excellent standard of English spoken in the Philippines is a result of American attempts at spreading education during the years when the US claimed ownership of the Philippines. The general idea was that by educating young people in the Philippines, the population would be less susceptible to the recruitment efforts of rebel groups fighting for independence, such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and the New Peoples Army. The number of languages spoken throughout the archipelago was a huge barrier to instigating a program of effective education however, and the task of publishing text books and delivering lessons in so many languages just wasn’t feasible. For this reason, the American teachers adopted English as the language of the classroom, and American English became the standard language in schools throughout the Philippines.
The fact that Philippino school children are taught in English from a young age means that most literate young people speak and write in English incredibly well. This excellent standard of English, coupled with the low cost of living (and therefore relatively low wages), has made the Philippines really popular among internet entrepreneurs looking to hire fulltime staff members for the purpose of outsourcing tasks such as link building and article writing. It’s possible to hire a college graduate in the Philippines (who can speak and write in excellent English) full time for under $400 per month.
In addition to the outsourcing possibilities, the Philippines is also a fantastic destination for working vagabonds because of the relatively low cost of living/travelling, the fascinating people and cultures, as well as the vast number of activities that are on offer to budget travellers. The Philippines boasts world class diving and snorkelling, good surfing possibilities, fantastic kite surfing spots, as well as trekking, island hopping, and much much more besides. Getting online while on the road is also easy and affordable. Remote workers can purchase a Globe Tattoo USB mobile internet device which facilitates internet access wherever there is a Globe mobile network signal. Rates for surfing are less than $0.50 per hour and the speed is also pretty good.
As well as all of the fun activities and good times that can be experienced while working and travelling in the Philippines, a visit also exposes travellers to some very sad realities of human life. The gap between the rich and poor of the Philippines is truly immense, with just 60 of the country’s 15 million families controlling virtually all of the wealth. 60% of the population (and rising) live well under the poverty line, and an estimated 1.5 million children lived on the streets in 1998 (increasing by over 6,000 per year (www.childprotection.org.ph)). Many of these children scrape by sifting through rubbish dumps for things to sell, or by engaging in petty crime and prostitution. An estimated 60,000 street children are engaged in prostitution (increasing by 3,000 per year), a problem that is exacerbated by the sex tourism phenomenon.
The Philippines is a popular destination for paedophile tourists, with an estimated 15,000 Australian men visiting the city of Angeles, north of Manila, on sex tours every year (www.catw-ap.org). The root of the problem is poverty, and it’s not unknown for children to be drawn in to prostitution just to obtain food and water. Street children are generally seen (and treated) like scum by the more affluent classes. There have been several high profile cases where death squads have killed street children thought to be petty criminals. Many other street children are rounded up every day and imprisoned without any charges being made against them.
The plight of the street children here in the Philippines has stirred up lots of uncomfortable emotions in me. These kids had no control over where they were born, and it makes me sick to know how they are treated and the suffering that they endure every day. It’s not their fault that they have to sleep rough, engage in crime and prostitution in order to eat, and sniff solvents to fend off hunger night after night.
As well as the anger and sadness I feel about the plight of the street children here in the Philippines, I also feel incredibly guilty that my life is so comfortable. When I think about the problems in my life, they seem completely inconsequential in comparison to what these kids go through every day.
After doing a bit of research, I have found a couple of charities who are dedicated to improving the lives of street children by providing food, clothing, shelter, and basic education (such as www.bahaybata.org). As I have mentioned in a couple of previous blog posts, I am here in the Philippines volunteering with a marine conservation organisation. I’m on a pretty tight schedule, and all of my time is taken up working on the project site. Unfortunately this means that I don’t have any spare time to spend working with any of these other charities on this trip. This is a real shame as I really want to get involved. I guess I will have to come back again in the near future. I am also planning on raising some money for Philippino street children when I get back to the UK, perhaps putting on a few fund raising events (maybe a charity dinner and a collection on my local high street) and trying to raise awareness of their plight.
In summary, the Philippines is a fantastic destination for remote workers, although it can definitely be an emotional rollercoaster. My experience here so far has really helped to motivate me to work harder at achieving my online income goals so that I have more free time to dedicate to voluntarily working on worthwhile projects, rather than being stuck at home in the UK earning money for myself and worrying about things that really don’t matter.
I started this post with a quote from the British graffiti artist Banksy. I have owned some of his books for years and love flicking through them every now and again. I just happened to pick it up the day before I got on a plane to come to the Philippines, which is why some of his witty yet profound quotes have stuck in my mind. The quote at the beginning of this post seemed appropriate to the situation here in the Philippines and how I personally feel about it. I can also remember another of his pieces of social commentary that would provide a fitting end to the post:
“The human race is the most stupid and unfair kind of race. A lot of the runners don’t even get decent sneakers or clean drinking water. Some runners are born with a massive head start, every possible help along the way and still the referees seem to be on their side. It’s not surprising a lot of people have given up compeating altogether and gone to sit in the grandstand, eat junk and shout abuse. What the human race needs is a lot more streakers.” Banksy.
