All about the upcoming Meaningful Fashion Project aka Mama Pamba

Mama Pamba - Celebrating the many shapes, sizes and ages of beauty

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For the last few weeks or so, I've been hard at work on an upcoming fair trade project for Meaningful Volunteer called Mama Pamba!

What is Mama Pamba?

Mama Pamba is a 100% fair trade fashion label.  Mama Pamba means "Mother Cotton" and was chosen based on feedback from supporters of Meaningful Volunteer.  Check out the feedback and survey results here.

The beneficiaries of Mama Pamba will be ladies living in the rurally poor community of Buyaya in Eastern Uganda.  They will make the fashion items, they will design the fashion items, they will run the fashion label, and they will profit from the organization.

We have big plans for Mama Pamba, but have a whole heap of work to do on it before we take the project to Uganda and hand it over to the ladies in June 2011.  Here are some of the highlights of the Mama Pamba project.

Volunteer Involvement
Mama Pamba is going to be huge and there is no way we can do it all on our own, and so we are looking to get volunteers involved as much as we can.  Here are some of the roles we have identified

• Sewing Trainer
  The Sewing Trainer will work right beside the ladies and teach them how to sew.
  
  
• Fashion Designer
  The Fashion Designer will come up with new designs and teach the ladies how to come up with their own designs
  
  
• Event Planner for the Fashion Show
  We plan to launch Mama Pamba at a fashion show in the nearby small township of Sironko.  It'll be the first ever fashion show in Sironko and will include loud music (that I won't like...), a catwalk, video cameras, photographers, and as many of the local media as we can get.  We're even thinking of having  live internet video streaming for the event!
  
  The fashion models will have different shapes, sizes and ages.  No feeding into the too-skinny idea of beauty here!
  
  The Event Planner will plan the fashion show.
  
  
• Human Resources and Public Relations
  The Human Resources Manager will help us choose which ladies will be involved in the project.  Not as easy as it sounds!  We need to test eye sight; if you can't see, you can't sew (many of the ladies have had their eyes badly affected by HIV/AIDS).  We also need to test for hand-eye coordination, relability, and ensure the ladies are non-corrupt (a hard one...).
  
  The Human Resources manager will also be responsible for interviewing the ladies and gathering their stories for publishing on the Mama Pamba blog and on the Mama Pamba web site.
  
  
• A Photographer/Videographer
  Vlogging (video blogging) is going to an essential part of Mama Pamba and help us to generate some buzz.  The photographer/videographer will help us with the publish the vlogs, as well as help us document the project with some cool photographs
  

Environmental Packaging

Down with plastic!  All Mama Pamba items will be packed in a reusable cloth bag.

Distributors
We know that there will be many people who will love this project and want to support it, but just can't make the financial commitment to volunteer and head all the way over to Uganda.  As a result we'll be providing them opportunities to get involved by becoming a distributor.

A distributor gets

• Their own Mama Pamba business card
  
• Clothing samples
  
• Order Forms
  
• A Mama Pamba video
  
• A distributor pack explaining the best ways to sell the product
  
• A how-to booklet about running Mama Pamba fashion shows and Mama Pamba fashion parties

Ways to get involved with Mama Pamba

• Volunteer!
  We'll need a whole army of volunteers to help us out in June 2011.  Send us an email if you want to volunteer.
  
• Sponsor a Sewing Machine
  The number of ladies involved in this project is going to be limited by the number of pedal powered sewing machines we can get.  Send us an email if you want to sponsor a sewing machine
  
• Vote!
  In the next week or so, we will have some logos for Mama Pamba.  Make sure you vote for your favorite logo

Feedback
We'd love to here your feedback about what you think about this project.  What's great, and what's not so great.

Water and rice campaign for an Indigenous Tribe

This post is from Raymund Villanueva, the Technical Support officer for Meaningful Volunteer.

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Aeta Kids

I spent the previous weekend at an Aeta resettlement area in Barrio Nabuclod in Floridablanca, Pampanga. We visited the area to shoot a video documentary on various Indigenous Peoples around the Philippines we plan to release in August in time for the national IP month.

The Aetas are said to be the original settlers of the Philippine archipelago. They are short, dark-skinned and curly-haired people who live in upland communities throughout the country. They live on farming, hunting, and gathering whatever they could from the forests.

The Aetas of Pampanga from their original settlements by the catastrophic eruption of Mt Pinatubo in 1991. Before then they were self-sustaining in terms of food. They hardly needed interaction with the ‘unat” (straight-haired) Kapampangans of the flatlands except for some medicines, sugar, coffee and salt. Now, most are forced to live on resettlement areas around military camps and detachments where they are closely monitored and regularly harassed. Being mountain people, the military thinks they are natural sympathizers of the communist New People’s Army.

At the Nabuclod Resettlement Area, the Manila government has built a primary school. But the school only holds classes three days a week as the ‘unat’ teachers have to travel far from the low-lands. The town midwife and doctor visits once every two months but they do not have enough medicines even for the most common of ailments. In fact, the weekend that we were there, we filmed an Aeta woman forced to walk to sitios where they may be tricycles that could take her to the nearest hospital to give birth. Blood was already flowing from her and she was already in deep labor pains.

In the past year, a narrow and pancake-thin concrete road was constructed going to Nabuclod. Electricity was also installed. While the Aetas are grateful for these, the real reasons for these soon became obvious—rich folks from Manila started snapping up land deep within the Aeta ancestral domain to build hilltop vacation mansions surrounded by tall concrete fences. What used to be their traditional hunting grounds are not private playgrounds of some elite ‘unat’. Lowland traders and middlemen followed with their offers of cash loans the Aetas could pay for their agricultural products are onerous prices. For example, a sack-ful of vegetables are bartered with two gantas of rice. The Aetas are now deep in debt and they ask how could they ever repay their loans if their produce are bought at such low prices. “We have never experienced being in debt before, until now,” they said.

It is not that the Aetas are without friends. In fact, last year, a group of Korean missionaries brought relief food items to feed the malnourished Aeta children. But as soon as the Koreans left, the military confiscated the donations, saying the goods may just find their way to the communist guerrillas the Aetas are supporting.

Such is the current lot of the Aetas of Pampanga—they who are were represented in Congress in the past six years by Presidential Son Mikey Arroyo and now call immediate past President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo their Congresswoman.

One of the most striking experiences we had the previous weekend was accompanying a frail Aeta woman as she fetch water from a spring nearest the resettlement area. The spring was about a kilometer away from her shack but it was on a deep ravine hundreds of meters below the barrio. It was accessible only by trekking through slippery footpaths littered with boulders. She had to carry a five-gallon water container on a basket balanced on her head. When full, the water container could be as much as twice her body weight and she is just slightly over four feet tall. And while we needed several rest stops along the way, she carried the water without ever taking the container off her head. She stopped only to chat with other women on their way to the spring themselves.

Tragically, just a few meters from her shack is a broken pump well that has stopped working for nearly two years already. When they consulted Floridablanca’s water engineer, they were informed that a relatively inexpensive part is broken and needs replacement. For a price of a town council’s regular meal, the pump could have been repaired and it could have continued to give clean and accessible water to a community of 400 households or 28,000 individuals. With clean water comes health, sanitation, wellbeing. With accessible water comes more productivity for the women who do not have to spend hours on a back or neck-breaking errand of fetching what most of us take for granted.

While interviewing the menfolk one night, they also said they already want to try farming their abandoned rice fields. They reckon that after nearly two decades, enough lahar would have been washed off their rice fields already and they could try reviving upland rice farming. They said that if they could be rice self-sufficient again, that would eliminate their subservience to rice traders who buy their vegetables and forest produce from some measly amount of rice. “If we are not forced to buy rice from the unscrupulous ‘unat’ traders, perhaps we could stop being beggars,” they said. They said they want their traditional “kinumpanya’ upland rice variety but no longer have it and must but it from other Aeta communities in Sierra Madre.

I did a quick computation in my head and I estimated these are projects that CERV, its volunteers and alumni can do. Ten thousand pesos may be enough to buy the broken pump component and hire a water engineer to repair it in two days. Another PhP10,000 to find, buy and deliver two sacks of ‘kinumpanya’ traditional upland variety to restart the rice planting activities of 400 households. Throwing in a 10 percent contingency amount, we need 22 thousand pesos or, at the going exchange rate, about US$488.00.

Such benefits for such a relatively small amount. CERV does not have that amount on its own but we are confident that its alumni and friends would want to be part of this worthy undertaking.

Let’s do this!

For donations, Western Union it to me:

Raymund B Villanueva, 
83 Adrian Street, 
North Fairview Park Subdivision, 
North Fairview, 1121, 
Quezon City, 
Philippines.

And email the transaction numbers after sending your donation to cerv_philippines@yahoo.com.ph

Meaningful Volunteer is also accepting donations directly through our Paypal Account: contribute@meaningfulvolunteer.org

Note: CERV is Meaningful Volunteer's partner NGO in the Philippines - Malcolm

Anne Eichmeyer on Meaningful Volunteering

June 30th, 2010

Hello! I am thrilled to be starting with Meaningful Volunteer. I have volunteered in many capacities, before, including a volunteer stint abroad in Ghana, through another volunteer agency. Although the experience of going abroad and meeting like-minded people changed my life, there were specific criticisms I had about the volunteer agency.

Having met Malcolm through this volunteer stint and knowing that he was also frustrated with some of the same aspects, I was ecstatic to hear that Malcolm was beginning a new volunteer agency: Meaningful Volunteer! Meaningful Volunteer, with its incredible staff and important projects improves upon and exceeds what I had previously known as a volunteer abroad agency.

Here are the three main ways I feel that Meaningful Volunteer improves upon my previous experience with a volunteer agency:

1. Preparation: Other than a couple quick emails about where I’d be picked up at the airport and what items it was suggested I bring, I really did not feel prepared in going to Ghana. If I would have known ahead of time, the curriculum of the students I would encounter, I probably would have been more effective in tutoring them.
Meaningful Volunteer provides individualized care as you prepare to leave to your project abroad. Although nothing and no one can completely prepare you for the dynamic experience you are about to face, Meaningful Volunteer wants you to be successful and get what you want out of your volunteer experience, so Meaningful Volunteer believes your project starts the minute you decide you want to volunteer.

2. Corruption: The local organization I was working for had a corrupt leader; in fact, he bought (another) car with the money from the volunteers. I remember participating in a camp clean-up day and he drove by slowly, yelling through a megaphone at the volunteers and other members of the organization to keep working!
Meaningful Volunteer has a No Corruption Policy. Not only are all financial statements broken down for each volunteer to see (you will know EXACTLY where your money is going), Meaningful Volunteer doesn’t partner with local organizations that have their own policies and procedures- it hires locals to be the staff of Meaningful Volunteer. This means that first and foremost, all staff must adhere by the “No Corruption Policy.”

3. My talents not being utilized: When I volunteered in Ghana, I was never asked, “What are your talents? What makes you special and unique? What can you bring to the table?” Instead, I just tried to fit in with the already-existing projects... Although I felt a big impact was had on me as a volunteer, I’m not sure any impact was had on the people on the camp.
Meaningful Volunteer thinks you have something unique to offer. We won’t just fill spaces, we’ll ask you about interests, values, and talents, and help you align those with the opportunities of Meaningful Volunteer. You have ideas and suggestions? Great! We want to hear them.

I encourage you to challenge yourself and do something different. I believe that traveling abroad and experiencing new ideas and cultures is an amazing way to grow as an individual. I joined this organization because I have thought long and hard about the act of volunteering abroad; from experience, this act needs to be done carefully. Meaningful Volunteer prioritizes making the most out of each volunteer interaction; for your next learning opportunity, adventure, and project, consider Meaningful Volunteer!

Until next time-
Cheers!
Anne Eichmeyer

Speaking Engagement Override

One of the great things about being based here in South Korea is the opportunity I have to engage in speaking events.  In the last couple of months I've talked at the Amnesty International G48 group (Facebook link here), the Seoul Global Study Group (Facebook link here), and be the keynote speaker at the Model United Nations conference at Indianhead International School.

The message at all three events were similar. They told of my time in trenches during 2009 and the successes and failures of Meaningful Volunteer during that time.  I also talked about how hard it can be to actually do "good".

Take Grassroots Uganda as an example.  Grassroots Uganda is a collective of approximately 100 women making paper based jewelry.  The products are sold all around the world and through the Meaningful Shop.  On the one hand, Grassroots Uganda has been a huge success.  A whopping $US40,000 was raised in 2009 and we are hoping for more in 2010.  So many Ugandan women have been empowered by this project.  Alasia Nandudu's - one of our beaders - has had great success and has built a house with her Grassroots Uganda money. Check out her story here.

Even within the success of Grassroots Uganda there have been some serious problems. Take the case of Flavia Anyang. Flavia Anyang is another one of our beaders. She was brutally attacked by her husband with a machete.  The reasons for the attack were multiple, but Flavia's success within Grassroots Uganda was a contributing factor.  You can check out more about Flavia's story here.  The good news for Flavia is that she is well on the road to recovery thanks to some generous donations through individuals and Meaningful Volunteer.  Here is a recent picture of Flavia and her wounds (be warned, it is a little gruesome).

I also talked about the successes we have made with many of our projects. Project Lifecycle was given extra attention and the success we've had with it. To date, approximately 15 villages have had the product rolled out and dozens of healthcare workers have been trained in its use.  One of the keys things with Project Lifecycle is that we didn't do anything clever!  We merely followed the best practices as set out by the Institute of Reproductive Health^* (the creators of the product based out of Georgetown University in Washington DC).

One important factor that I emphasized at the talks was the importance of looking after oneself when you're in the field. This is something I am very bad at.  There are the obvious things - like my recent brush with death at the hands of malaria, but also the mental side of things.  All up in 2009, I think I took 2 days off for R and R.  The rest of the time was getting stuff done in the Philippines and Uganda.  As a previous sufferer of clinical depression, this is not a recipe for good health!

It is so hard to have good mental health and take care of yourself, especially in places like Buyaya where you're surrounded by so much misery and there is so much that you can see that needs to be done.  As we all know, a broken activist is not really an activist, but just another problem.  Hopefully the budding young activists can learn from my mistakes.

At the two of the three events, money was donated to the Malaria Operation mosquito net fund.  The Model United Nations conference had a t-shirt fundraiser where a whooping $US1,000 was donated to the fund!

2011 will see me head back into Africa.  One thing that I'll no doubt miss from Korea is the amazing opportunities I get to speak to groups of amazing people.

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^* Meaningful Volunteer gets a mention on the IRH homepage!

Burma Night June 2010

Meaningful Volunteer is a way of life and how to live your life to the fullest.

Visiting different countries has always been exciting and fun. I've realized that the places I have visited have meaning not simply because of the location but mostly because of the people.

Although l have never been to Burma, the Burmese people I have met here in Vancouver, are so proud of the beauty of their country, with rolling hills and vast amounts of green space, that their country seems amazing to me. You can almost feel the serenity while some elders talk about where they grew up.

Elders often speak of such things as the spirit of kindness and dedication, the spirit of fortitude, as well as loyalty and family values. They stress the importance of passing these values on to the next generation.

They dedicate their lives to serve others, especially their family. They will put their lives on the line, creating a better future for their sons or daughters. One feels their palpable kindness wrap around you like a warm blanket.

The parents will often go without, in order for their children to have a better life. The happiness of parents is based on fulfilling their children’s happiness and ensuring a successful future.

The adage to find something more meaningful than yourself, to dedicate your life to it, is something Burmese people demonstrate on a regular basis, in how they care for their families and their country.

Last night, preparations for ‘Burma Night For Aung San Suu Kyi’ started off chaotic, just like any other fundraiser event. Lots of “things” to be done before the guests arrived. One can feel the pressure of “too many things to do with so little time” but somehow, this time, it was different. It was peaceful, even though things didn’t go exactly according to plan. Some people were late. Some items that should have arrived didn’t make it. It didn't matter though because everyone just moved forward and did what needed to be done.

Once everything was decorated and in place, the guests started to arrive one by one. A few opening speeches were made by Burmese representatives followed by various performances. The food was delicious. There were varieties of vegetarian dishes but also some food for non-vegetarians.

Most of the songs were sung in a different language. That didn’t matter. Their passion and expressions on the faces of the singers along with their body language conveyed how proud the Burmese performers are of their heritage and nationality. Through their music & expression, they helped me envision what Burma must be like. Burmese people seem to understand how to live their life to the fullest, with kindness and compassion, which is a reminder of what Burma’s Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was all about.

I feel so fortunate that Meaningful Volunteer was there for Burma Night, because as our organization grows, this is exactly the kind of ideology, principles, and direction that we are striving toward. Meaningful Volunteer is not just about a unique travel experience, it’s about making a difference in the way we live our lives to the fullest. It’s about having shared beliefs that bring us together and help us care for each other in a meaningful way.

Meaningful Volunteer at the Filipino Independence Day Festival

The day started out sunny and hot just like in the Philippines, but today we are in Coquitlam, British Columbia getting ready to participate in the Filipino Independence Day festival.

I set up a booth for our Meaningful Volunteer Organization which was really easy. It consists of a table, my banner bamboo stand and my face painting kit. As I looked around, I saw the other booths setting up with piles of “stuff” – free stuff! Filipinos sure love receiving free “stuff” and today was jack pot day of freeness!

There were all sorts of free food: Lichon (roast pig), Filipino barbeque stick, sticky sweet rice, smokies, and hot dogs, and there was even a cotton candy machine! The different venues gave away free water bottles, key chains, pens, note pads, Filipino style spaghetti sauce, pancit noodles, and pineapple juice. There were also free prizes such as pots and pans, air conditioners, and concert tickets. The generosity of the businesses that participated in the Independence Day Festival was amazing.

Meaningful Volunteer didn’t have any physical items to distribute, some would call me korepot (thrifty), but we did offer something just as fun and maybe even more meaningful. I spent time with the kids, painting their tiny Filipino/Filipina faces and just talking. They asked me to draw Dora, Thomas the Tank Engine and Spider Man but I told them I would draw something better. I drew and painted red hearts and drew the flag of the Philippines. And while coloring their tiny faces I asked them “do you know why I am drawing a heart and painting the flag of the Philippines?” Some kids said “it’s because it’s Filipino Day” but most others said “it’s because we love being Filipino”. I was really pleasantly surprised by their answers and quite touched that they were proud of their roots. I was really waiting for one of them to say “because you suck at face painting, you don’t know how to draw!” That didn’t happen because Filipino children are quite respectful!

“Love being Filipino” was one of the main reasons I wanted to set up Meaningful Volunteer at the Filipino festival, as a reminder that even though we were born here or were raised here in Canada, we still are Filipinos and we owe it to ourselves and our children to keep our heritage and culture alive by staying connected and having meaningful connection with other Filipinos. The whole day was spent doing just that; talking, eating and visiting with each other. It was a hot sunny day just like in the Philippines but today we were in Coquitlam, BC.

Meaningful Volunteer may not have had physical “stuff” to give away but we did make lots of friends and I think they all walked away with meaningful smiles.

Meaningful Volunteer's Growth

Malaria Operation Logo

After a couple of months of hard work and careful planning, the Malaria Operation project is all set to go.   I am very excited about this project.  It is going to give volunteers that chance to tackle the problem of malaria in Buyaya in a systematic way. The project should - and will - have a positive impact on so many people.

The beauty of the project is that we can copy-and-paste to other areas that Meaningful Volunteer is based.  In fact, anyone is free to use the material from the Malaria Project in anyway they see fit: All Meaningful Volunteer resources are freely available to everyone.  It's not as if there isn't enough poverty to go around...

The hard work and rigor that has gone into the Malaria Operation is yet another sign of Meaningful Volunteer's growth since it started up more than a year ago.  It's come along way since Steve and Ingrid - the first Meaningful Volunteers - and I arrived on the island of Romblon in the Philippines.

I'm especially pleased with staff that is now working within Meaningful Volunteer.  We have the Meran Chang as our volunteer coordinator, Eden Navia as the district manager for the Philippines, Scarlet Nabwire as the district manager for Uganda, and Raymund Villanueva providing technical support and gentle prodding when needed.

The support from people outside the organization has also been phenomenal. Meaningful has received over $US 1,500 for the care of Flavia Anying: a member of Grassroots Uganda who suffered a vicious machette attack at the hands of her partner. Flavia is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kampala.  Check out this picture to see how she is recovering from her wounds.  The picture is a little graphic, so be warned if you get a little quezzy from such pictures.

Another kind soul is also giving 10% (!) of his income to Meaningful Volunteer.  We are using this money to support our education programs in Uganda.  The money is used to support about 18 students every month including all their educational materials and a decent meal at the start of the lesson.

So what's next for Meaningful Volunteer?

Meaningful Volunteer is about to send out a job description for the marketing manager position, as well as hiring a financial officer from the Philippines to take over the day-to-day financial running of the organization.

New projects on the horizon include an HIV project for Buyaya.  This one is going to be especially cool and will include education campaigns, ARV programs and day-to-day support.

Exciting times ahead!