Terri Gonzales was born and raised on this tiny
island of Bongao (pronounced Bung-gao), Province of Tawi-Tawi in the
southernmost part of the Philippines. Terri grew up in a community with no constant electricity and their only source of drinking water has always been the rain. It is the
only gift of nature that has always been constant in their lives as a coastal
community.
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"In 2010, the United Nations
declared safe and clean drinking water a human right "essential to the
full enjoyment of life and all other human rights."
The Philippines, in the age of wifi connection, does not even target
100 percent access to safe water – the commitment is merely to halve the number
of those without access by 2015, aiming for an access rate of 86.5%."
(http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/267109/news/specialreports)
The United Nations has declared over the recent years that internet is a basic human right, but in this part of the world, electricity in most island municipalities is still a dream, and computers are luxuries not many can afford.
Tawi-Tawi is a province of 11 island municipalities in the southernmost frontier of the Philippines, in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The National Anti-Poverty Commission tagged these island municipalities "waterless". It is also considered one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines.
It may be such an irony to say at the very least that for a
"water world" community, Tawi-Tawi is "waterless".
In
Sitangkai Municipality, electricity can only reach the 1km stretch floating
market from 6pm-6am the rest of the communities would have to make do with the
starlit sky at night.
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However, Tawi-Tawi
is very rich in natural resources. Tawi-Tawi is one of the top
producers of carrageenan in the country including the neighboring countries of
Malaysia and Indonesia. It is also one of the centers of marine biodiversity in
the world and is currently one of the focus areas of the Coral Triangle
intervention in Southeast Asia.
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Bongao
Peak is one of the center of conservation effort in Tawi-Tawi (photo: Rodel
Jocson)
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Like any other communities around the globe, Tawi-Tawi faces
degradation of its natural resources by the rising market for live seafood
products and byproducts and exotic seafoods that endanger the coral reefs;
illegal fishing practices; inappropriate solid-waste management practices;
climate change and lack of education of the people in the community brought
about by poverty, thus putting our lifeblood at risk.
As a community development team-player and environmental
education advocate, Terri has reached the far flung areas in Tawi-Tawi, working
for a non-governmental-non-profit organization and as the Information and
Education Campaigns Officer of the Coastal Resources and Fisheries Conservation Project, she realizes the importance of
Information and Education Campaigns on Environmental Conservation.
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Explaining
the mission, vision and goal of Y4N, Community Solutions Program Leader, Terri Gonzales gave emphasis on passing on the
knowledge and Paying it Forward to the community.
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Information and Education are twin key aspects of
conservation that are both practical and doable in addressing issues on environmental
concerns. Strengthened information and education campaigns can raise
awareness and help locals prepare an adaptation plan for climate change and its
adverse effects to coastal communities. As a Community Solutions Program Leader, Terri believes that Information and Education will
aid us in reviewing how we see the world and says that the best bet is not in actually
changing it but in changing it eventually. She says that influencing a positive attitude towards how we see the world is doable.
This is the inspiration for the birth of Youth4Nature.
At ZERO budget and
relying only on donations and support from concerned movers in the community to
make this Project a reality, we hope to inspire, more and more people
particularly the youth, to volunteer their time, skills, talents and efforts
toward achieving one goal, that is to increase awareness on environmental
conservation.
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Dr.
Filemon G. Romero, Ph.D is my mentor in community development, an educator,
environmental scientist and a true Tawi-Tawian spared his time to lecture on
the biodiversity potential of our coastal community.
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One of the biggest
apprehensions one could ever have in starting a project is how to fund
it. Terri wanted to initiate a movement of change in the community and to prove that zero creates possibilities and that people
can come together to do a common goal without counting the costs. Youth4Nature did not receive monetary donations but we did
receive contributions in kind and pooled together our time, skills, and
expertise to realizing this project. Where a former schoolmate donated
t-shirts, another one donated pens and papers, local government units gave us the avenue to conduct our plan of action. In an act of "bayanihan" from and with the community, Youth4Nature became a possibility to help encourage the youth to take part and be involved in the community's efforts to raise awareness on climate change, to educate and inform the people of the importance of caring for nature.
Now, after our
successful trainings and workshops for the Tawi-Tawi core group of volunteers
in 3 different schools, we have 3 radio programs in 3 different community radio
stations we have tied up with. Some of our Y4N members and officers have
volunteered to serve as watchdogs in the upcoming elections. Some of them
have volunteered in assisting the coral restoration project of the community
together with other sectors and stakeholders. We also initiated the
biggest celebration of Earth Hour in Tawi-Tawi. We are currently
producing radio plugs, stingers and mini radio drama with the youth volunteers
themselves as talents to promote our cause over the radio to be able to
reach out to more people. We are looking forward to getting registered as an
official community-based environmental volunteer group for coastal communities
with the Securities and Exchange Commission and eventually tie up with other
recognized youth groups within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and
maybe other provinces in the country.
With these posibilities, Tawi-Tawi is no longer the only concentration of Youth4Nature but our pilot community at zero budget, proving true that things can definitely be done without costs, relying only in the spirit of "Bayanihan", of working together and helping one another. We envision to have more people participate in small environmental-related projects in different communities all over the Philippines, thus creating that ripple that would surely create those waves of change eventually, giving hope to a better future for our coastal communities and for people to actually care for nature.
"Since returning home from United States to participate in the Community Solutions Program to implement my follow on project, I have realized that when you come up with a community solution, you just have to act as if what you are doing makes a difference, because it does, no matter how small it is. " - M.Terri Gonzales
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