I may sounds ridiculously snobbish but living a very comforting life makes you lazy. You forget how to take risks, you are more likely to have fear doing new things, and less motivation of taking up new challenges. Having two kids doesn't help either as your hands are constrained by holding older one's hand and a buggy... Sigh!
When we first arrived to Philippines, to say that I felt uncomfortable is to say nothing. I felt more than uncomfortable. I felt way out of my comfort zone. The traffic is mad, the air pollution is ridiculous, the people seems friendly... but... once you get to know the levels of poverty here, you get suspicious, and your trust is simply not there..
Seven weeks down the line, and I feel better. I can see the bright sides, I can relax and accept that this is how the things are done here, and this is how people choose to live.
I still haven't stepped outside with my camera so most of my shots are from the back seat of the car. I want to show the two opposite sides of life in Philippines and tell little stories. So I will be updating and writing more in this section, as I want it to be one big story, rather than a mix of few little stories.
Challenge of next two weeks - try to shot every day with my camera. And for now, let me start with first chapter.
Chapter 1
Kids in Philippines
The image of Philippines which I had no chance to capture but it will forever stay in my memory. It was raining cats and dogs and we were in taxi going back home from Makati, the business district of Manila, capital of Philippines. The car took a turn and we appeared on the side road under one of the highways. As the car slowed down, I saw a few boys right in the middle of the road, taking showers under the stream of the ran water stocks which discharged water from highway above on the road we were taking. They laughed, they danced, they had more fun than I probably ever had in my life.
Poverty in Philippines is appalling! According to The World Bank data, more that 25% of population live below the poverty line. That is 25,000,000 people who don't have enough money to make living. And given that the population of the Philippines is increasing at a rapid rate of 1.7% per year, the government plans to eradicate poverty doesn't seem realistic.
I spoke with one yaya (nanny) who is working as a living-in nanny for one of the families in our apartment tower. She lost her husband 5 years ago to heart attack, and had three kids to take care of. Her oldest son is 17 now, while her youngest daughter is only 12 years old. She works 6 days a week as a living in nanny and only visit her kids on Sunday. In the UK it's illegal to have children of such young ages even walking to school by themselves, yet she is glad she has a job, which pays rent and bills, and allows her children to attend school.
Many children start working from very young age, and whilst the legislation prohibits this, noone is really looking into the problem, and offers any kind of solution. Again it is just so wide-spread, no one understands where to begin.
So whilst poor children learn how to be independent from very young age, their richer peers are typically looked after by a few yayas. One of my biggest shock was to witness children at age of 4 and 5 years old being spoon-fed in the restaurants and nurseries. Any sign of independence is being eradicated. The Chinese 4 year old boy in my son's pre-school had not only his mother but his yaya as well sitting beside him during lunch time, spoon-feeding him with such amount of food which is likely to be enough to feed my family of four.
To Be Continued...
