How To Change The World #2.2 Three Questions To Ask in Addressing Extreme Poverty

Question: Imagine that you have been put in charge of allocating a considerable amount of resources to address extreme poverty in one region of the world. Describe the three most important questions you would want to ask to determine how to use these materials most effectively.

Answer: Extreme poverty, while it seems so vast and sometimes hopeless, can actually be broken down into several key problems and, in turn, these problems can actually be worked on if we do it one step at a time.

If I were in charge of a considerable amount of resources to address extreme poverty, the first question I would ask is linked to what Joy Anderson (Founder of Criterion, Visiting Professor at Wesleyan University) said in video lecture 5.3 (Education & Risk Taking): What do people affected by extreme poverty need the most? In Joy’s example, a social entrepreneur decided that what Indian women in a certain depressed area needed were sanitary napkins because not having any was hindering women from participation in social and economic activities of the village. It was a good thing that she went around the village interviewing the women. It turned out that what they wanted was a blender / food processor because cutting vegetables ate up too much of their time. Good things come out of listening to people who need the aid. Many times, where aid goes is determined by the giver or by the organization that is organizing the aid without listening to the beneficiary.

Banerjee & Duflo book. Image from makewealthhistory.og

My second question is linked to methodology or what the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL) is doing (randomized evaluations as cited in the paper by Jessica Cohen and William Easterly, Thinking Big versus Thinking Small): What is the most effective and measurable way to deliver the solution? There are many ways to increase school attendance but which one is the best way, the most effective way? In the account by Esther Duflo of JPAL in her TED talk, Social Experiments to Fight Poverty, traditional ways of increasing school attendance were providing extra teachers, providing school meals or providing scholarships. However, when JPAL did a test that included other interventions like providing iron supplements and deworming to the mix, it turned out that deworming had the highest impact to prolonging school attendance. And now, this experiment has already guided policy for education.

My third question is related to sustainability and Jeffrey Sachs’ Common Wealth, Economics for a Crowded Planet: How can we put structures in place so that extreme poverty no longer becomes an issue in the future? Short-term interventions can only go so far. Long-term sustainability is required so that gains on extreme poverty will remain. This has to do, now, with the way a society is structured, how its government is structured, and how equal citizens are within that society. In Sachs’ example, Nordic countries where citizens have a high degree of equality and where social safety nets are in place, overall wellbeing for these countries are high. I believe, if we change the way we measure “progress,” across the globe, from GDP to human wellbeing, we will make great strides in not just alleviating extreme poverty but also in protecting and nurturing our environment.

To address extreme poverty, three questions to ask are: 1) What do people affected by extreme poverty need the most?, 2) What is is the most effective and measurable way we can deliver the solution?, and 3) How can we put structures in place so that extreme poverty no longer becomes an issue in the future?

Note: I am currently taking up a course boldly called How To Change The World offered by Wesleyan University (offered for free through Coursera.org) and taught by Wesleyan University President, Michael S. Roth. It tackles major issues facing humanity and it is based on discussions brought up during the 2013 Social Good Summit in NY. I am putting up all my assignments on my blog as well.

How To Change The World #5.1 The Fight for the RH Bill: Gender Equality and Reproductive Health Care in the Philippines

Illustrate (using video, slideshow, visual art, song, text, documentation of a direct action, or anything else) an issue of gender inequality either in your neighborhood or in your life. Think about how yours or someone else's assigned gender identity has either opened up or closed opportunities for them, or think about ways in which an institution is structured to favor certain gender expressions.

Assignment 5.1 Gender Equality and Reproductive Health Care in the Philippines from Justine Tajonera

I am currently taking up a course boldly called How To Change The World offered by Wesleyan University (offered for free through Coursera.org) and taught by Wesleyan University President, Michael S. Roth. It tackles major issues facing humanity and it is based on discussions brought up during the 2013 Social Good Summit in NY. I am putting up all my assignments on my blog as well.

How To Change The World #2.1: My Neighbor Behind The Wall, Dyna (Documenting Inequality and The Urban Poor Along My Street)

Assignment: Illustrate (using video, slideshow, visual art, song, text, documentation of a direct action, or anything else) an issue of inequality in your neighborhood. You could document either excess or poverty, but in either case, think about whether the inequality is justified or illegitimate. Consider visiting a community institution (a school, a soup kitchen, a country club) to illustrate the issue.

Note: I am currently taking up a course boldly called How To Change The World offered by Wesleyan University (offered for free through Coursera.org) and taught by Wesleyan University President, Michael S. Roth. It tackles major issues facing humanity and it is based on discussions brought up during the 2013 Social Good Summit in NY. I am putting up all my assignments on my blog as well.

How To Change The World #2: The Failure of Agrarian Reform in The Philippines and a Small Initiative That Can Contribute to Smallholder Farmers

Q: Describe the persistence of poverty in your neighborhood or region. What is the most important thing you can do to alleviate the suffering caused by poverty? Find at least one other person with whom you can take action that makes a positive difference. Describe what you’ve done and why it matters.

A: In the Philippines, 27.9% of the population of around 95 million falls below the poverty line. This is considered high, especially when compared to other countries that were in similar circumstances as the Philippines in the 1980s like China, Thailand, and Indonesia. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_Philippines). There are many probable causes, such as corruption. However, I’d like to focus on just one aspect (though still related to corruption, which seems to touch all aspects of the Philippines). Jeffrey Sachs (Common Wealth, Economics For a Crowded Planet) describes economic development through four basic stages: subsistence economy (mostly agricultural) to commercial economy to an emerging-market to technology-based economy. In the Philippines, one will find all four in various stages and sectors.

I was particularly struck by Sachs’ emphasis on agriculture as a starting point. He cites the Green Revolution in poverty alleviation (case study: India versus Africa). I disagree with certain aspects of Green Revolution: the use of pesticides, the potential over-use of fertilizer and the disastrous outcomes of mono-crops. However, I did see the point of poverty alleviation starting from the basics: moving beyond subsistence.

In the Philippines, land reform has been a failure, starting from the original Comprehensive Agrarian Reform (CARP) in 1986 under President Cory Aquino and the Extension with Reforms (CARPer) in 2009 under President Gloria Arroyo (source: http://bulatlat.com/main/2010/01/01/agrarian-reform-in-2009-more-of-the-same-failed-program/). In fact, Arroyo herself is linked to diverting funds intended for smallholder farmers to her political campaign in 2004 (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer_Fund_scam). This failure of land reform has led to the rising migration from rural areas to the cities, merely transferring poverty from the provinces to urban areas (source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/38217/agrarian-reform-failure-has-led-to-squatter-problem-in-cities-says-urban-poor-group).

So what is one thing I can do as an ordinary citizen that can make a difference in this scenario? It takes more than just one other person. It takes a community of like-minded people. Recently, I joined a group called Good Food Community (http://www.goodfoodcommunity.com/about_us/how_it_works). The idea is to support smallholder family farms by buying their produce in advance. It helps farmers go through the trouble of learning and applying organic farming techniques while they are assured of a market that will buy their produce. This isn’t based on Esther Duflo’s randomized controlled trials (RCT) for the best use of the money that I am investing in this initiative. But what I do know is I am making a difference in a very basic stage of the Philippines’ development: agriculture. It is a small step. But as Pranab Bardhan says in his paper, Little, Big, Two Ideas About Fighting Global Poverty, “there are no general recipes or quick fixes for poverty. In their (the micro-experimentalists, aka J-PAL or Jamal Poverty Action Lab and RCT-proponents like Esther Duflo) judgment, small transfers and nudges can make a difference.” I agree. I’ve joined a small citizen-based initiative for now. But this model is replicable and actionable. I think, with a little more time and a lot of social sharing, this is a step towards poverty alleviation in my country.

Note: I am currently taking up a course boldly called How To Change The World offered by Wesleyan University (offered for free through Coursera.org) and taught by Wesleyan University President, Michael S. Roth. It tackles major issues facing humanity and it is based on discussions brought up during the 2013 Social Good Summit in NY. I am putting up all my assignments on my blog as well.

ModPo 2013 #30 Subversive Prayer: On The Relevance of Lechlitner's "Lines for an Abortionist's Office" in the Philippines

Ruth Lechlitner, "Lines for an Abortionist's Office" (c. 1936)

Close here thine eyes, O State:
These are thy guests who bring
To gods with appetites grown great
A votive offering.
Know that they dare defy
The words of law and priest---
(Better to let the unborn die
Than starve while others feast.)

The stricken flesh may be
Outraged, and heal; but mind
Pain-sharpened, may yet learn to see
Thee plain, O State. Be blind:

Accept love's fruit: be sleek
Fat and lip-sealed. (Forget
That Life, avenging pain, will speak!)
Thrust deep the long curette!

------------------------------------

I found this poem very relevant today, especially in the Philippines. I found Lechlitner's use of the hymn, or the rhetoric of prayer, a subversive use of form. This reminds me of how Filipinos once used the Pasyon prayer (during Holy Week --the Philippines is still largely Catholic even up to today) as a means of subversion as well (there is a book that talks about just this called, Pasyon and Revolution by Reynaldo Ileto). The form can be the protest as it looks self-consciously at tradition and uses tradition to call attention to an irony or an injustice.

In the Philippines, a long-delayed Reproductive Health bill is still stuck in the Supreme Court because of challenges to its constitutionality. It took more than a decade to finally become a law but it's now languishing in debates. It's very clear that the Roman Catholic bloc is still very powerful...even among the judges (who are supposed to be non-sectarian when in the Court due to the separation of Church and State).

Which brings me to this poem...which might have been written for the women of the Philippines today. Abortion happens in the Philippines, illegally. It happens because of ignorance, poverty, a sense of powerlessness. Both Church and State have turned a blind eye. The only difference between the situation in the poem and in the Philippines might perhaps be the use of the curette (in the Philippines, folk medicine or unsafe non-medical tools are used). I like how that second to the last line states: "Life, avenging pain, will speak!)". That was very powerful. No matter if it is acknowledged or not...the conditions of poverty which has caused this pain will be addressed. As the Roman Catholic Pope criticizes the Church's "obsession" over key issues like contraception and calls for poverty to be addressed first and foremost, I hope Roman Catholics, especially those in power, take heed and move towards compassion and concrete programs for the poor (which will lead to the avoidance of the pain, both physical and psychological as cited in the poem, of abortion) rather than debate the constitutionality of contraceptives (and its violation of an infallible Magisterium). It is only fitting that the poem takes the form of a prayer...a prayer that addresses the State, calling attention to both Church and State and how all the victims become necessary sacrifices at their doorsteps, unattended to and trampled.

I also like how "Lines" in the title might refer to lines as in verses (and the power of rhetoric) or lines as in long lines to the abortionist's office. Both work in simultaneity.

All in all, this was a very striking poem. And while it was written in the 1930s, it is still relevant in my country which has still not provided an implemented framework for the reproductive health of its citizens.

Behind the Burqa: On Hosseni's A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A friend of mine lent this book to me several months ago. It remained on my shelf for quite a while. I have to be honest. I didn't want to read about Afghanistan. But this same friend of mine told me a story from And The Mountains Echoed which left me in tears. Remember, she was telling me a secondhand fairy tale and the context for it. But even then, I was crying (actually we were both tearing up). When I told my husband the same story, my voice was cracking and tears were rolling down my cheeks involuntarily. If this secondhand tale was powerful enough to make me cry on recounting it...what more an entire novel? So that was when I plunged into A Thousand Splendid Suns. I was not disappointed.

Yes, it's about Afghanistan. But more than Afghanistan, it's about two women, Mariam and Laila. It's about two women who are brave and strong and unfortunately married to the same horrible man, Rasheed. It's about what two women will do for each other despite all the circumstances. It's about two particular women behind the burqa. It's about child brides and poverty. But it's also about the beauty of friendship and the redeeming qualities of love.

I read another review about how one-sided Hosseini is: Mariam and Laila can only do good and Rasheed can only do wrong. But the thing is...there are such men in this world. There is no explaining their cruelty. There is no explaining the cruelty of wars (and yet they go on). I loved the story telling and the characters. I loved all the little nuances that invests the reader in each character even if some of them are difficult to love. I didn't mind the Afghan words and dialects that were left in, it gives the narrative a sense of place, a sense of character.

There is a breathtaking scene in the book about the Buddhas of Bamiyan in the story. Don't miss it. It gives Afghanistan more cultural history and perspective. It was once a land where Buddhist monks lived (when it was part of the Silk Road). I didn't know that about Afghanistan. All I know of Afghanistan is war and the Taliban. How ignorant I am.

I'm glad I read this book.

View all my reviews

ModPo 2013 #8 What Price America? On Ginsberg's "A Supermarket in California"

Image from dspace.mit.edu.

Note: I am currently taking a course on Coursera.org called Modern and Contemporary American Poetry taught by Al Filreis of the University of Pennsylvania. I will be posting my thoughts on the course discussions here.

A Supermarket in California

          What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for
I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache
self-conscious looking at the full moon.
          In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went
into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
          What peaches and what penumbras!  Whole families
shopping at night!  Aisles full of husbands!  Wives in the
avocados, babies in the tomatoes!--and you, Garcia Lorca, what
were you doing down by the watermelons?

          I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber,
poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery
boys.
          I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the
pork chops?  What price bananas?  Are you my Angel?
          I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans
following you, and followed in my imagination by the store
detective.
          We strode down the open corridors together in our
solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen
delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

          Where are we going, Walt Whitman?  The doors close in
an hour.  Which way does your beard point tonight?
          (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the
supermarket and feel absurd.)
          Will we walk all night through solitary streets?  The
trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we'll both be
lonely.

          Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love
past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?
          Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher,
what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and
you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat
disappear on the black waters of Lethe?

Berkeley, 1955  
From Collected Poems 1947-1980 by Allen Ginsberg, published by Harper & Row. 
Copyright © 1984 by Allen Ginsberg. Online source

I see the passage of time from 1855 (Whitman's "Song of Myself") to 1955  in Ginsberg's "A Supermarket in California." Whereas the "blab of the pave" describes very physical, very outdoor scenarios, Ginsberg's poem deals with an "inside" and an "outside" that describes the America of 1955.

"Inside" is inside the neon-lit supermarket. Inside the supermarket, we encounter the goods from the outdoors: tomatoes, peaches, avocados, watermelons. And these are not merely from the farms of America, these are from the farms of the world. I see this in the questions, "what price bananas?" He asks this not in the sense of "how much are these bananas?" he asks "what price?" which has heavier implications. Where did the bananas come from? Was the distribution of the bananas under the conditions of fair trade?

When Ginsberg says "never passing the cashier," I see here a rejection of the supermarket of America, a non-participation in the commerce. Instead, he chooses to follow this grubber that he has christened Walt Whitman outside, outside to where it is dark and after store-hours, outside where blue automobiles are within the driveways of suburbia. And...like WCW in "Danse Russe"...he talks about the loneliness (perhaps the loneliness of being an artist?) of being on the outside, late at night.

The last stanza talks about a lost America and about death. I think, here, he mourns the passing of an America in Whitman's time.

While America is real and thriving, America is also an idea. For many Filipinos, America is the American Dream. America comes at a price.

I look at this from 2013 eyes as well. The America that produced the supermarket in Ginsberg's poem continues to come at a price. There are rich countries and there are poor countries. There are rich countries that produce the biggest biological footprints and there are poor countries that live below the poverty line. And all of this, of course, comes from an idea, an idea about the pursuit of happiness, an idea about power and commerce and welfare and entitlement and capital. I see the loneliness of contemplating the silent cottage outside the spheres of supermarkets and automobiles in driveways.

I like his question: Dear Walt Whitman, dear courage-teacher, what America did you have when you passed?

What America was inherited by Americans? What America was inherited by this world?

I like looking at this from three levels: against the America of Walt Whitman, the America of Ginsberg, and my America (or America for me in 2013).

L.I.T.E.R.A.L. #6: Whose Career Do You Wish You Had?

L.I.T.E.R.A.L. is an occasional blog meme/writing prompt for authors hosted at Indie Books. Indie Books created it to serve as a support group for participants of the Author at Once workshops, but they welcome all writers (from anywhere in the world) who’d like to respond to their writing prompts!

Here's the question from BronzeAge.ph: When we visualize our success as writers, we usually have "career pegs." Whose career do you wish you had?

My answer: 

Three Js

My first reaction was: J.K. Rowling.

J.K. Rowling reads from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at the Easter Egg Roll at White House.
Photo by Daniel Ogren. 

Why? Because she's rolling in money due to a fascinating story that she genuinely loves. But then I'll have to recant my choice. Precisely because of her fame and success...I don't want to choose her career as my only peg. I need to remind myself that fame and success are nice byproducts but not at all the motivation for my writing. And I bet...neither was it J.K. Rowling's motivation either. Like many other writers...she probably just wanted to be read. And not just by her kids or her family or her neighbors. She wanted Harry Potter to reach every child. I guess...maybe that side of her career can be my peg.

The next writer that came to mind was Jane Hirshfield.

In "Come, Thief," Jane Hirshfield reflects on the landmarks of a life, including the fact that she found true love at age 49. Photo by VOA - A. Philipps.

Why? Because she's a deeply meditative poet. That's what I want my writing to be: a reflection, a mindfulness of my life, of the lives around me, of creation. She not only has a deep passion for writing but also for biology and physics. While her work has roots in Zen and Buddhism, she doesn't want to be stuck in a label. She has been quoted to say: “I always feel a slight dismay if I’m called a “Zen” poet. I am not. I am a human poet, that’s all.” I truly admire her work and I want that kind of life: a life of writing poetry, studying poetry and writing about poetry. That's not what my life is like right now...but it's a career that I could imagine for myself. From Hirshfield, I take the discipline of mindfulness and craft.

But in the end, I'll have to refer to another writer that I've never read: Julianna Baggott...only because she writes so poignantly about being a writer, a mother, and a professional. She says: "Put your elbows out, protect your time. "

This is Julianna Baggott, pen names: Bridget Asher and N.E. Bode. Picture from www.english.fsu.edu. 

She talks about the brass tacks that come with writing: discussions with a partner, grappling with limited resources, going at it with "efficient creativity" (i.e. writing while nursing while vacuuming). Just because she captures so much of the difficulties that come with writing and bringing up children and working...I think I'll go buy her book, Pure. She admits to raising two children under poverty level at some point in her life. This girl has got guts! From Baggott, I'll take the strength, the perseverance, and the cross between optimism and realism that got her to where she is.

Career....calling...I don't know what the right word is. I look at the lives of each of these women (whose names all coincidentally start with J) and I can see some facet of their writerly lives that inspires me.

Once again...thanks for the question Indie Books and BronzeAge.ph. These are great reflections for me and a good way to inspire myself and others to keep writing.

And a big Thank You to Indie Books for featuring my poetry book in their e-newsletter today! :-)

NaPoWriMo#16: Wedding Ring and Nature (Two Poems)

NaPoWriMo or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.

Below are two poems in pantun, a traditional Malay poetry form.

Wedding Ring
by Justine C. Tajonera

The wedding ring sat quietly atop some books.
It quietly disappeared that same afternoon.
Between us, there have never been more than looks,
no proofs of love required, no vows under the moon.

Nature
by Justine C. Tajonera

I watched our pet hamster, Mindy, devour
two of her newborn pups one afternoon.
I ask if war and hunger and poverty are
things we inflict on children who are least immune.

The Pauper, The Prince and The Poet

By Justine C. Tajonera

"Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god." - Francis Bacon

If poverty meant solitude
and solitude meant
beast-like or
god-like
existence,
then the poet
would be a
pauper.

If abundance meant solitude
and solitude meant
beast-like or
god-like
existence,
then the poet
would be a
prince.

Or are there three
people in this story:
the pauper, the prince and
the poet?

For to be a poet,
would it not mean that
he is both pauper
and prince?

Does the weight of a leaf
and the grief
it signifies
have anything to do
with the observer's
pocket?

What would afford
a poet her
vision?

Would it be the lack
or the glut
of coin?

I turn the question
around and around
in my head:

there is no answer.

There is a word for
pauper, for prince
and for poet.

Each one has a meaning
and each one is
meaningless
if I so
choose.

(Jan. 9, 2010)

Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Prince_and_the_Pauper_1881_p20.jpg

Donuts

By Justine C. Tajonera

I see them sitting
by a food stand
along the train station.
I can tell
from the way
they hold their
donuts in their
hands
that they
have been
anticipating
this moment
for weeks.
Though they are
in rags and
smeared with dirt
the space around
them glows.
If I could but
parallel their
divine contentment
for every little
slight satisfaction
in my life
I would be
in Paradise.

(Sept. 22, 2009
Boni Ave. MRT Station, Mandaluyong City)