Helping the poor help themselves

JUST BE By Bernadette Sembrano
The Philippine Star 05/21/2006


About a hundred children gathered under the trees in a depressed community in Novaliches, Quezon City. Nursing students, as part of the school requirement, organized a seminar to teach the community about the importance of hygiene. My older brother, Kuya Jun, was one of them. He asked me to give a talk on the importance of community involvement in the area of sanitation and hygiene.

I studied Community Development in UP for a semester (I didn’t finish my Masters) and one of the challenges in teaching communities is getting people involved. First of all, the need for change should come from the local community, not outsiders. What may seem as a problem for one, may not be a problem for another.

This was the third time that students have visited that area in an attempt to educate the community, but there have been little development. A group once discussed the importance of family planning but some residents felt there was no need for it regardless of their growing families. True enough, the area abounded with children.

The poor community in Novaliches and the nursing students conducting the seminar have similarities. We see the migration of health professionals as serious problem. I try to advocate love for country but it’s easier said than done. I am getting paranoid because all my doctor-friends are considering work abroad; one is already a registered nurse. But medical practitioners and those about to enter the profession have strong reasons for applying abroad: the medical malpractice bill and higher salaries abroad. In a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), some nurses in the provinces earn only P2,000 a month while a nurse in London can earn as much as P500,000 in just five months! That is not merely a disparity but an injustice! How dare I even ask them to stay?!

Several bills have been filed in congress seeking the mandatory service for nurses, but the fact also remains that most of our nursing students are in the profession, not because of service but because they need to earn a living.

Back in 1993, I applied for nursing at UST. My reasons were the same as that of most Filipinos nowadays. I wanted to earn dollars, and I had shared the American dream. Nursing was my ticket to the US. Did I consider the demands of the profession? No. I passed the entrance exams and I have relatives abroad so that were enough reasons for me to go. I would have been one of the 90,000 nurses who have left the country since 1994 and part of the more than eight million Filipinos abroad! (That is, if I survived the loneliness. )

When I was in New York for Nagmamahal, Kapamilya, I encountered quite a number of Filipino nurses. They reminisced about their first time in the United States: the stomach-turning experiences with Caucasian patients, and being alone without a family in the big city. While most of them have adjusted well to their new life, they still miss home terribly. Remarkably though, the nurses I’ve met have developed a desire to help the country now that they are in a foreign land. They ramble about the absence of health care for most Filipinos, the benefits that American citizens have; about corruption in our government and what ought to be done for the country. And there are a number of doctors and nurses based abroad who conduct medical missions for the poor in Philippines.

Apparently, the love for country is there and need not be taught. But between love and survival, is there really a choice?