INQUIRER Global Nation

MANILA, Philippines?One may never run out of places to shop in Metro Manila?from the cheap stalls in Divisoria to the posh malls in Makati. But for two British Members of Parliament (MPs), the perfect place to do their Christmas shopping was in the garbage dumpsite of Smokey Mountain.

During their recent trip to Manila, United Kingdom MPs Mark Pritchard and Kenneth Clarke visited the community around the dumpsite areas of Vitas, Tondo.

The MPs went to the PCF Community School, where they bought handicrafts made by the school?s Livelihood Income-Generating Program. The products?ranging from bags to stuffed toys and even jewelry?are all made from recycled materials such as old magazines, soda can tabs, and empty tetra packs. Most of PCF?s products are exported to the UK, but it has also placed some of its merchandise in local shops around Metro Manila.

The PCF Community School is a brainchild of British charity worker Jane Walker of the Philippine Christian Foundation (PCF) to improve the plight of impoverished children and their families who make a living off scavenging the garbage dumps.

Currently, the school is being funded by private sponsors and donors, but Walker hopes someday the school will become independent of outside help. For this purpose, the Livelihood Income-Generating Program was set up to help the parents of the student-beneficiaries generate enough income to eventually run the school by themselves.

?PCF wants to give these children all the needs that they deserve in order to make better, more informed choices to live fuller lives. We want to eradicate child labor through education and eventually alleviate all our beneficiaries from the negative effects of poverty through our holistic programs. In the long run, we hope that through our organization, our beneficiaries can start life anew outside of the dumpsite,? said Jane Walker.

The school presently houses between 400 and 500 students in two shifts, morning and afternoon. All the students are given free school supplies, uniforms, and even shoes. A feeding program provides nutritious meals for the students each day, cooked and served by the beneficiaries? parents.

Construction is already ongoing in a nearby lot to house the new school that will offer services to 1,000 children from elementary to high school. Walker took the British MPs to the site of the new school building made out of shipping container vans, which was designed by volunteer architects and engineers from the expatriate community in the Philippines.

PCF hopes the new school building to be operational by June 2010, and a topping off ceremony has already been set in January. Expected to attend are former British Ambassador Peter Beckingham and his wife Jill, with the latter having recently completed a 60-mile charity walk in England to raise about ?4,500 (about P333,000) for the new school.

Next year will be a busy time for PCF. In the first quarter of 2010 they plan to build a communal toilet block made of shipping containers to address the lack of facilities in the area. They are also set to put up a birthing clinic beside the community health center that will offer free seminars and health services to expectant mothers, including free ligation. These projects will benefit the 2,000 families in the dumpsite.

?I hope in the future, all of PCF?s projects can be turned over and fully operated by our beneficiaries,? said Walker.

Pritchard and Clarke congratulated PCF for its exemplary work, and promised to spread the word when they go back to the UK. During their stay in Manila, the MPs came to see various government departments, universities, and British firms operating in the Philippines. They also went to Subic for some bird-watching, a popular pastime in Britain.