WTF!

The Asian Experience

Manila's moniker , the "Pearl of the Orient", couldn't be more apt - its cantankerous shell reveals its jewel only to those resolute enough to pry. No stranger to hardship, the city has endured every disaster both human and nature could throw at it, and yet today the chaotic metropolis thrives as a true Asian megacity. Skyscrapers pierce the hazy sky muchrooming from the grinding poverty of expansive shantytowns, while gleaming malls foreshadow Manila's brave new air-conditioned world. The congested roads snarl with traffic, but, like the overworked arteries of a sweating giant, they are what keep this modern metropolis alive.

The determined will discover Manila's tender soul, perhaps among leafy courtyards and cobbled streets of serene Intramuros, where little has changed since the Spanish left. Or it might be in the eddy of repose arising from the generosity of one of the city's 11 million residents. 

Even tho that is a quotation from my tourist guide (Lonely Planet) I would not know how to describe the vivid, strange and somehow surreal atmosphere of Metro Manila in a better way:

The skyscrapers are uncountable, not even considering all the new ones getting built right now. Gigantic malls offer sales specials on every corner, while the shantytowns resist against them like David against Goliath. In the middle of the noisy, chaotic, rushing and crowded urban canyons you can see homeless and naked children, sometimes even orphans, sleeping or begging for money- during horning Jeepneys find there way through the jammed traffic.

Crossing the streets, without signals and cars which would stop for pedestrians is at least as exiting as to walk through the old town of Manila and see the colonial architecture of the past.

Extremes

It is said that Geminis, my zodiac sign, always life in between the extremes: black and white, happy and sad, patient or furious. Perhaps that is the reason why I experience Manila as such an melting pot of emotions- Metro Manila appears to be in the same way disrupted and torn:

While you have an exploding real estate market, with three, four or five gigantic malls in one block, the average of people still fall underneath the level of poverty. When you walk down the streets you will come across houses which do not have running water, electricity or even windows while on the other side of the street Starbucks sells it coffee. In general is the influence of the American way of living very intense: malls, sales, fast food, cars and commercial. Values like gaining wealth and property seem to be omnipresent, however, I have seen only little so far and I am curious how far my first impressions will change...

Getting started 

Tomorrow I will meet for the first time my supervisor from the Urban Poor Associates, the community-based grassroots organization I will intern with. The purpose of the internship is to collect the required empirical data for my Master Thesis while at the same time making important experiences on the ground.

The Urban Poor Associates has defined following goals (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Poor_Associates):

• No one shall be hungry or live in squalor unfit for human beings.
• All families shall have clean inexpensive water, sanitation, drainage, security of tenure and a decent house. Evictions will be a thing of the past.
• All will have access to health care, good schools and employment.
• No one shall feel powerless or left out.
• Families will help one another; community organizations will be vigorous; and urban poor people as a group will work for the common good.
• Those who have less in life shall have more in joy and solidarity.
• Religion will help educate and motivate people to work together for change.

I will support them in a relief operation in a relocation site in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Until now they are submerged in flood water from the recent monsoon. I don't know what to expect or how I can contribute, but I am eager and thankfully to help. I am also nervous and hope to have the required strength and professionally to cope with the suffer and poverty I will  be exposed. 

I'll keep you posted...