Visitors sharing grim stories out of Philippines

In so many ways, we live in an amazingly good community. Let’s look at just one Friday afternoon recently.

Four hundred people, mostly men of good will, tottered down George St. in red high heels, some of the shoes attached with duct tape to big male feet. These participants are aware of and stand (walk!) against violence against women. They want to witness against it and to do good in the city.

That effort raised over $100,000 for Crossroads Shelter. Last year, I tried it too and it hurt, but it was so much fun and had such qualities of humour and hope.

Money is all-important for accomplishing good work. I know this fact well. The contraction of the services that Jamaican Self Help could offer in the teeming ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica happened because our federal government at the time, 2012, cut matching funding.

But I also know that more than money is needed. Shelter provides service after the fact; after an abused woman and her kids have sought help. At least as relevant is the effort to prevent abuse, and to educate in healthy relationships. In the vein, a powerful kind of shared experience was offered that same day in this city.

At Peterborough Public Health on King St., a meeting with an international focus and a deep poignancy took place. For two hours, a rich blend of local people, scholars and activists, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, mostly women, social workers and teachers, opened their minds and hearts to two health workers from the Philippines. Carin and Mark had come to show a gripping film about their work in the grim poverty of Manila, tell their stories, win friends and raise awareness.

The Philippines is in the grip of an autocratic president, Rodrigo Duterte, who has declared a war on drugs, and has stated he doesn’t care who dies in the war. Mindanao is under martial law. People in the inner cities are afraid of drug informers and sometimes mistakenly distrust Likhaan.

How then, did this gathering happen here?

The estimable Julie Cosgrove, who for several years has led the Kawartha World Issues Centre, has long admired the work of Inter Pares, an Ottawabased international development agency. Inter Pares approached Julie about their “Women’s Health, Women’s Rights” tour to ask if KWIC would partner in a Peterborough stop. Inter Pares was traveling with two people from its partner group in Manila, Likhaan, that works in women’s health and sexual rights at the grassroots.

KWIC jumped at the chance to give Peterborough an opportunity to meet them, and rallied local partners.

Julie approached Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, the respected medical officer of health here, who once worked in India and has a global heart. The venue was secured.

The film shows Filipina women giving birth in distress, without trained attendants, and then being carried by neighbours on a chair to a hospital, hoping they will be admitted. It showed scenes of marital rape, and counselling in family planning. The resilience of the people and the community was palpable.

The visitors spoke being harassed by demonstrators outside their health clinics, people carrying signs emblazoned “DEATH.” Each initial stands, in English, for a sin it imagines Likhaan is promoting. “D“stands for divorce, “E” for euthanasia, “A” of course, for abortion, “T” stands for “Total Population Control” and “H” chastises homosexuality.

At the end of what must have been a harrowing presentation, one could feel the sympathy and understanding in the room. And a recognition that antiwoman attitudes are global.

Then who should come forward to take the visitors for food and relaxation in their own language, but Carmela Valles, a Filipina-Canadian who was once head of the New Canadians Centre.

Thoughtful, profound and disturbing all at once.

Rosemary Ganley is a writer, teacher and activist. Reach her at rganley2016@gmail.com x