Category: Brighter Tomorrow

Brighter Tomorrow spotlights and honors unique organizations and individuals who make a difference in our world. We interview and celebrate grassroots and community changemakers, local and global private companies, NGOs, and nonprofits.

Through Eyes That Have Cried: Justice Defenders Behind Bars, Then Before the Bar

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From behind bars to the Bar

I was a bit skeptical before this interview. No doubt many a reader would be. Why would anyone teach a prisoner how to defend themselves in court?

The premise — that prisoners and prison staff in Kenya and Uganda could be trained as paralegals and lawyers to defend themselves and others — struck me, at first, as too well-meaning. Likely just a pipe dream. But then what do I know about the justice system in Kenya, Uganda, and possibly other African nations?

To me this was the kind of idea that sounds beautiful on paper and quietly falls apart on contact with reality. But here is what Justice Defenders works with: overcrowded prisons, under-resourced courts, colonial-era legal systems creaking under their own weight. Getting an attorney to defend your innocence for free comes at the expense of time. You could wait years for a plea bargain, if that was even an option. Reading a law textbook in your cell could actually save you, if you were wrongly incarcerated in Kenya or Uganda.

Matteo Cassini, Director of Fundraising at Justice Defenders, did not take offense at the initial skepticism. He welcomed it.

“We believe that certain things can only be seen through eyes that have cried.”

Those words really stood out, as there could be nothing more authentic in the pursuit of justice than the passion of someone who wanted to correct the system after falling through the cracks.

———

For almost twenty years, Justice Defenders has in fact worked to equip and empower people within prisons to become paralegals and lawyers. They train both incarcerated individuals and prison staff. 

The organization operates 22 legal offices inside prisons across Kenya and Uganda, where they host weekly legal education sessions and keep their doors open for prisoners to draw on help from their trained peers. Currently, more than 250 paralegals are active, each receiving a stipend for their efforts. Unlike charities that simply send in outside lawyers, Justice Defenders focuses on building legal expertise from within the prison community. It works well. 

As Cassini explained, the rationale is both philosophical and practical:

“Those who have that lived experience of incarceration add something that no lawyer who has studied through law school alone can have — that first-hand understanding of what injustice looks like, of what struggling to have your day in court looks like.”

Before speaking to Cassini about the work of Justice Defenders, my insight was limited on the scope of the problem they are trying to solve. A significant proportion of the prison population in both Kenya and Uganda are on remand — held before trial, and sometimes for years, without having been found guilty. Cassini put it plainly: there are around 25,000 people in Kenya and a similar number in Uganda who are  held on remand, some for up to 10 years without conviction, without seeing their day in court, without receiving legal information. Legal systems shaped by historical structures, ongoing resource constraints, and systemic bottlenecks mean that due process is often a luxury afforded to few. 

Wrongful convictions and endless delays are destined to occur within systems facing structural constraints.

The most powerful proof of what Justice Defenders does is Morris Kaberia , who spent 13 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He was framed by his former boss and, without access to a capable lawyer, was sentenced to death for robbery with violence. Inside, he joined a nascent program where prisoners and prison officers were invited to study law together in the prison library. 

Initially reluctant, he became one of its first participants. Skepticism is all around us, although Kaberia’s hesitance came from a traumatic situation only he could understand. Once in the program, he learned the law, worked with colleagues on his own appeal, and in 2018 argued his own case in front of the court. He was released on acquittal, his wrongful conviction recognized and overturned.

As of this writing, Kaberia is about to be admitted as an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and serves as Director of Legal Education at Justice Defenders — leading the very program he once studied while incarcerated. As Cassini put it, Kaberia went “from the bars to the Bar.”

Defending justice jointly

Justice Defenders is careful about how it positions itself within the legal ecosystem. Rather than publicly criticizing judges or government officials, the organization collaborates. Cassini was emphatic on this point:

“We’re not adversarial. We exist to strengthen the rule of law in the countries we’re in. We work with the institutions and within the institutions — and we invite those who hold power, the judges, the magistrates, the lawyers, to come and hold hands and to learn from each other.”

Everyone qualifies for their services, as long as they lack access to legal representation.
Justice Defenders does not screen clients by the severity or nature of their alleged offence. When pressed on this — on the discomfort of potentially assisting someone who has done genuine harm — Matteo was clear:

“We don’t ask what brought them to prison. We believe that we all are more than the worst thing we’ve done — or that we’ve allegedly done. Anyone who has the willingness and the desire to serve is welcome.”

The values filter of integrity, solidarity, bravery, excellence, and humility applies to those who work within the organization, not to those seeking help.

———

The other part of this interview focused on fundraising. How does an organization like Justice Defenders sustain itself? Grassroots and community-driven organizations are often told that authentic impact will attract resources. 


That is true, up to a point. But good work alone does not attract funding. These kinds of resources have to be cultivated, often over years, through relationships that go far beyond grant applications. Years of working on clout, visibility, and community participation are all part and parcel of the pain of fundraising for NGOs. 

Justice Defenders relies primarily on philanthropy — trusts, foundations, and high-net-worth individuals, largely based in the United States. It actively avoids the quick payoff, and Cassini’s framing of this approach is worth sitting with:

“The work that we do is only possible because of the relationship and the trust that we’ve built over the past 20 years. Just showing up day in and day out, showing that we’re not here for a quick buck, that we’re here for the long run. We’re not transactional in that sense. And I guess it’s quite refreshing for a number of donors.”

Still, impact metrics matter: Justice Defenders has worked on over 170,000 cases and supported the release of over 70,000 people. But Cassini was candid that numbers alone do not move people. Stories do. They use storytelling and media like CNN, Anderson Cooper, and 60 Minutes to create the conditions for those relationships to form. 

For organizations just starting out, his advice was grounding in its simplicity. Do not start with marketing. Start smaller than you think you need to:

“It can begin — it has to begin — in the smallest fashion, just serving the one that is in front of you, and then getting to understand the community that that one person is coming from, fully, deeply, immersing yourself.”

And on the temptation to lead with branding:

“Surely there are ways of starting this work from a more marketing perspective — you come up with nice photos and nice slogans, and you put something out on the internet. But I don’t know if that’s sustainable. I don’t know if you can do that type of work with full integrity.”

———

Symmetry in New York

Justice Defenders is now expanding to the United States, with a pilot in New York State launching this year. It will begin with an introductory course in law, develop into an accredited paralegal training program, and aims before long to offer a full law degree to participants. The same pathway established in Kenya and Uganda, replicated inside American prisons.

On the ground, Bruce Bryan, incarcerated in New York for 29 years, drives the program. He watched the 2021 60 episode of Minutes on Justice Defenders from his prison cell, put the JD on his vision board, and began writing letters. Cassini replied to one of them while Bruce was still inside. A year later, Bruce received clemency. Today, he drives the New York effort in the same prisons where he once served time.

The symmetry is almost too neat to be real. Except that it is.

Coming into this conversation wondering whether the premise was naive, I left it wondering whether the rest of us had simply been thinking about justice and about changemaking too small.

Small is Beautiful: DECOIN of Ecuador

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In the Ecuadorian Tropical Cloud Forest, where wax palms sit high above the canopy, wreathed in mist above great green mountains, there lives a creature the size of your thumb.

The Intag Resistance Rocket frog or Ectopoglossus sp nov., a species new to categorization, was first documented in 2019, three years after the discovery of the thought-to-be extinct Longnose Harlequin frog (Atelopus longirostris). The name of the former was chosen after an international contest to name the species. 

Because Leonardo DiCaprio has posted several tweets supporting the conservation of the region, people started to call the Longnose Harlequin frog (“rediscovered” there in 2016) after him, aka the “DiCaprio frog.” The Harlequin frog, first described in 1868 by Edward Drinker Cope, was rediscovered in March 2016 by researchers in the Junín area of Ecuador’s Imbabura province.

Giving rare frogs names after celebrities isn’t new; a similar honor was given to James Cameron in 2012, when a Venezuelan frog was named after him. Do you need to be a big-name A-Lister just to be able to save Earth’s creatures great and small? As DECOIN’s story tells us, you do not have to be.

Worlds away from Pandora

In the mountainous cloud forests of Intag in Ecuador, DECOIN (Defensa y Conservación Ecológica de Intag), led by Carlos Zorrilla, is its own kind of “Cameronian” story. Socioeconomic conditions in the Andes echo James Cameron’s blockbuster series, “Avatar”: mining corporations, the deployment of paramilitaries used to harass a native population, and a struggle for the soul of the land. Only here, there are no space aliens or denizens of a planet connected through a hive mind. 

If Cameron, who visited the Arara tribe in Brazil in 2010 to support indigenous communities protesting the construction of a dam, were to make another movie about real people fighting against mining, I would hope such a film would feature those in the Intag region, like Zorrilla, Sylvia Selger, and their colleagues at DECOIN.

The path of resistance

Founded in 1995, DECOIN is a grassroots organization that aims to protect biodiversity in Intag by, among many other things, establishing community-owned watershed reserves. In doing so, it provides locals with safe drinking water and, in some cases, sustainable alternatives to mining in the Intag-Cotacachi-Imbabura region.

They are a non-corporate entity that resists destruction brought by large mining corporations and empowers locals to protect their own water supply and biodiversity. In the “Avatar” films, the hero Jake Sully adopts the local customs of the Na’vi to help them keep their land. DECOIN uses a similar tactic: giving the locals back what is theirs. It isn’t always filled with Hollywood explosions, thankfully, but it is deeply strategic.

In Zorrilla’s “manual of resistance”⁠, the primary tactic against mining corporations is simple: protect your land. He wrote the manual “so communities know what to expect when mining or petroleum companies show up at their door.” He tells me that he wanted to “give some ideas as to what to do about it.” Zorrilla’s manual has been translated into several languages so as to reach a broad audience. You can find the manual in the link in this paragraph or download it from the miningwatch.ca website. (It is written for activists, so the language might be strong. Please be advised.) Select “publications,” and search for “protecting your community” (with quotes). The supplement is available there as well.

As the manual describes: “The company will often attempt to buy … key properties. They may offer high prices for land to win over residents and to weaken the resistance. Sometimes they will buy land gradually… Or they might try to rent the land for many years… they can just pick up and leave when they’re done without having to clean up”.

To counter this, Zorrilla and his team pioneered what he calls “the most successful conservation measure”: buying up the land and giving it to the communities. “Not for us to protect,” Zorrilla told me in our interview, “but for the communities and local governments. Since they have more at stake, that’s where they get their water.”

A group of people standing in front of two waterfalls in the forest.
(Image courtesy of Carlos Zorrilla, DECOIN)

Though the world often focuses on the vastness of the Amazon, the cloud forest of Intag is a niche area of even higher density. Sylvia Selger explained the biological math during our talk: “The cloud forest is a tropical mountain cloud forest. These forests are known for being very, very diverse. They have more endangered species per square kilometer than the Amazon.” Because these forests are islands in the sky, evolution has created life forms found nowhere else.

In the cloud forest, Intag’s Resistance Rocket frog is a legal giant. In 2008, Ecuador became the first country in the world to enshrine the Rights of Nature in its constitution. This shifted the legal landscape from nature being “property” to nature being a “subject” with the right to exist, persist, and regenerate. “In my eyes, the Rights of Nature is, in essence, a momentous shift of paradigm, from an anthropocentric way of experiencing the world, to an ecocentric vision, in which other species and elements of nature have equal standing in the courts,” says Carlos Zorrilla.

By proving that mining activities would inevitably impact species like the Longnose Harlequin frog and Intag’s Resistance Rocket frog, DECOIN provided the scientific testimony to the courts that the resilient inteños — the people of Intag — needed to halt the mining projects. For the comuneros (community landowners), these aren’t just scientific data points; they are the neighbors with whom they share water.

Small is beautiful

DECOIN’s resilience through staying lean is genuinely inspiring. Many other environmental organizations survive by receiving CSR or ESG funding and are tied to corporate interests. DECOIN survives by staying focused locally, no frills.

In his own words, Carlos told me that “Small is beautiful.” This philosophy protects the movement. When the government harasses him to advance the agenda of mining companies, they find that DECOIN has no major funds and cannot be traced to an illicit agenda. “We are not an NGO,” Mr. Zorrilla explains. “We are a grassroots organization. Unlike some of the big NGOs in the big cities that visit the sites they support, driving big expensive SUVs, our organization does not own a vehicle. Most of our members only travel by bus, and our office, which we only open one day a week, is tiny.”

His colleague Sylvia Selger says that DECOIN has “almost zero overhead.” Both she and Zorrilla “don’t get a salary from DECOIN, and we are paying one worker a wage.”

When I asked if they have a Patreon, they both told me they do not. They rely on a network of trusted friends and partners to source funds when their community needs it, so there is complete transparency and trust in a tight-knit group. Carlos tells me, “This establishes us as a reliable partner. If a community needs urgent funding, we’re able to give it to them without having to go through all the horrible paperwork that most organizations are forced to do. This is more important these days, since the government passed legislation to go after NGOs that oppose mining projects. So, we don’t really, we’re fine. Very small, very few people, and we are from the area, people know us, and we can have a quick response to threats.”

“We want to keep it that way. Small is beautiful. In this case, small is beautiful.”

Small does not mean powerless, as history in Intag has shown. Even as something as small as a frog can be major proof for the case of nature’s rights, smallness was also not an obstacle for the United Nations Development Programme to grant DECOIN the prestigious Equator Prize in 2017.I hope that as long as DECOIN stays “small,” the small things like the Resistance Rocket frog and the people of Intag (inteños and inteñas) have a chance. ⁠

For more information about DECOIN and its impact, visit their website here⁠.Carlos Zorrilla also recommends that people watch more documentaries about DECOIN’s struggle in Intag on YouTube, including this Mongabay one.

A Backpack, A Lifeline

Posted on by Jonathan

Helping vulnerable kids in Victoria

What started as a simple wish nearly a decade ago has delivered 50,000 backpacks to foster children across the state of Victoria, Australia. But the real story of Backpacks 4 VIC Kids is not a simple number on a spreadsheet—it’s about standing up for some of the most vulnerable kids in local communities. 

Many orphans we read about in fiction could have benefited from foster care — say, Harry Potter? We may be aware there are vulnerable children in our neighborhoods, but most of us probably have never thought about taking in a foster child or how the system even works. 

In 2014, Sally Beard of Victoria, Australia, had a realization: if children are being suddenly removed from unsafe homes, why are they arriving with nothing? No toothbrush. No clean clothes. Nothing to comfort them. Beard had been a foster parent herself, and she had some money she wanted to donate to charity. So she asked Christina of Backpacks 4 Aussie Kids for advice and spoke to others in local foster care organizations and from child protective services.

“I had to make sure there were no other competing organizations,” Beard said. “Every single person said yes, please do this, let us know when we can place an order!”

As a former foster parent, Sally knew too well that these kids often arrive with no other belongings than the clothes on their back. Backpacks 4 VIC Kids began in her home in November 2014 and stayed there until mid-2016, when growing demand moved it into a commercial space in Cranbourne, a Melbourne suburb. As the need continued to grow, the organization later relocated to a larger facility in Cranbourne West. 

The entire operation runs on community support with the help of a handful of full-time staff. First through fundraising, sponsorships, donations, and grant funding. Then through the work of an army of volunteers who help gather, help, and distribute the packs. 

Their first big order came from the community health and home care organization Life Without Barriers in April 2015, which expected approximately 700 packs in five months. Instead, it snowballed from there to mean over 47,000 packs in ten years. 

Backpacks 4 Vic Kids aid grew to see more than $10 million AUD in donations  ($6.5 million USD) spread over the ten years that Sally’s group has been in operation. Deliveries were all free of charge to children in emergency accommodation, foster care, or crisis. 

What’s in a backpack?

Each pack is filled with age-appropriate clothing, toiletries, books, torches (flashlights), blankets, comfort items, and more. The backpacks contain things kids need for the first day of school, things they need for their new lives, and fun things like toys. There are a variety of packs.

  • My Essentials Packs — Quality backpacks and nappy bags for displaced babies, children, and youth (clothing sizes 0000 – youth 18) in Victoria, New South Wales, and Tasmania. Children may be homeless, entering out-of-home care or emergency accommodation.
  • Christmas Gift Pack — Age-appropriate gifts of books, toys, activities, and other gifts along with stocking stuffers, all delivered in lovingly handmade Santa sacks.
A young man in his twenties smiles as he receives a warm hug from a young girl wearing a festive holiday headpiece and face mask. A boy wearing a hat fashioned like a Christmas tree stands nearby looking at the camera (also masked).
(Image courtesy of Claudia Raya via Unsplash)

The kits are distributed through foster and kinship caregivers, case managers, and child protection officers. Many of these child welfare professionals keep the packs stocked on-site for emergency use within 24–48 hours.

Packs remain free of charge.  While Sally and her crew considered pricing them at $5 to recover costs, they feared it would be a barrier to care. Instead, they rely on community donations and sponsored packs, which come with a tag that lets a child know someone cared. The tag mentions the name of a donor as a gesture of gratitude.

The hidden heroes: kinship carers

Foster parents/caregivers are often called foster carers in Australia and the UK. Backpacks 4 Vic Kids calls them kinship carers. They often need additional support. 

According to Sally, there are more than 56,000 children in home care across Australia, and kinship carers—often grandparents or extended family—are the invisible backbone of the system. Many are approaching retirement age. Some never planned to become full-time caregivers, but stepped in out of love and necessity. These carers often go without support, and their stories rarely make headlines. But they are the reason many children stay connected to family and culture.

“Kinship carers don’t always get a choice,” Sally says. “They just do it because of family.” Often as seen in film and literature, foster children move in to a close living relative first, and their blood relation will agree to take them in because of their familial obligations.

One such story? Sally’s niece, who came to live with her and completed her Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) after a year and a half of stability. The VCE serves as the main secondary school certificate in Victoria, Australia, equivalent to a high school diploma.

Kinship carers are the rare kind of people who would open up their homes to anyone who needs it, and remember they are usually older people. In an aging society like Australia’s, they sacrifice a lot of time and resources; so some material support will surely make an impact to aid the children placed in the wizened yet tender hands of the foster care system, the hidden side of foster care in the land down under. 

To be a champion

From a lounge room to a shared garage to a commercial unit and now a 120,000 square meter space and small warehouse, Backpacks 4 VIC Kids has grown because the need remains.

But growth comes at a cost, literally. The charity now carries $800,000 AUD in annual expenditures, including rent, staff, and production. Though distribution surpasses $3.6 million AUD a year, the nonprofit is operating at a loss. Paid staff have been cut by 30 percent just to keep things going.

Support their mission. Let’s keep this story going for the next 10 years — and for every child who deserves more than just the burden on their backs. 

 As the late Rita F. Pierson, an accomplished educator and Ted Talk speaker said:

“Every child deserves a champion—an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best they can possibly be.” 

A grandmother hugs her granddaughter lovingly on a cold night. She is a kinship carer, and her granddaughter stares at the camera warmly.
(Image courtesy of cottonbro studio via Pexels)

EcoCupid Had to Start Somewhere!

Posted on by Jonathan

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And I still haven’t found my calling. 

Pictures of cats, babies holding cutesy conversations, and the latest gaming news all litter my Instagram feed, giving me the serotonin and dopamine boosts I need to overcome my daily existential dread in the morning. The procrastination cycle just doesn’t stop. I have told myself that I have an inkling of making a difference in this world and that should be my legacy. But this calling has not been fulfilled as of late as I am just stuck doomscrolling on the ‘gram.

Maybe I should just be a writer or an influencer, LMAO. You know, make the content instead of consuming it. I will at least have some value by becoming a creator — a little something social media gurus tell us constantly. Cringe. Who wants to take advice from a spambot account?

In all fairness, making content could fulfill me and be my new thing.

If I had to make content, I hope I can hold a candle to EcoCupid, a Southeast Asian environmental media community. They promote locally led environmental initiatives that have a story to tell, are sustainable, and need media support. Now these folks are the kind of advocates I would aspire to be, and encourage others to follow. 

The founding team consisted of a Malaysian, a Singaporean, a Thai, and a Vietnamese who all met while on an academic fellowship to the United States. This academic fellowship is annually organized by the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) founded by former US President Barack Obama in 2016. This fellowship program is the US State Department’s commitment to helping Southeast Asian Youth form community initiatives and solutions.

EcoCupid calls itself an environmental media project that is Southeast Asia’s ecology-focused platform that curates inspirational eco-projects and educational content through multilingual media. 

Team chemistry

Usually, participants also compete for grants at the end of the program by proposing a project for sustainable development. EcoCupid was born out of this process and won such a grant in 2023 after the team visited the state of Montana for their fellowship trip. Bryan Yong, one of the co-founders and their resident Chief Editor/ Grant Writer commented that a good team dynamic was the key to their first success in their maiden year. He says that while everyone in Montana (the southeast asian academic fellows and their cohort) did pitch decks, the EcoCupid team’s founders were far ahead with their plans. “We went a little bit extra. We did a full-on documentary video while we were still in the US. Our team filmed and wrote narrations, wrote the script, and planned the production process. It was all fun and pushed us over the tipping point of trust and chemistry. We knew how each of us worked.” 

In the nature of grant competitions, hackathons, and the like, it is easy for random people to just tag along with makeshift solutions. However, this is not how the game is meant to be played. It would be more desirable to be part of a dedicated and collaborative team like EcoCupid whose member skills complement one another. Having good camaraderie also helps. 

From the US to Chiang Mai, then Singapore

Using their success in getting a grant provided by the US State Department, the EcoCupid fellows went to Chiang Mai, Thailand, where they made a documentary about air pollution. This was their first serious media project to launch the confidence of the team, all young adults. Using this momentum, the founding team went on to apply for more grants and is now expanding to Singapore, where Pranav, their Business Development Lead, is a citizen. 

The Singaporean team is hoping for a grant of up to 70,000 Singaporean Dollars (about US$53,000) to launch their initiative and aims to recruit more members of their operations team. 

Impact: a year on

Beyond the impact of just promoting groups of environmentalists in Southeast Asia and connecting people in their network, EcoCupid is actively figuring out their impact. One good story Bryan Yong shared was about a woman from Thailand who became an organic farmer in the northeastern countryside. Her name is Nun.

Initially, the villagers she worked with had a hard time understanding her reason for moving there. She came from the city after graduation and would not make bank by being a farmer. However, Nun persisted and committed to her mission of wanting to change how her province does agriculture. Farmers around her used excessive chemical fertilizers and this led to soil degradation. With Nun’s economics background  and media skills, she sought to educate people while earning a decent living, and thus disproving the disbelief and presumptions of those around her. She now sells good organic produce to high-end and Michelin-star restaurants. 

What good media can do

Shortly after filming a documentary about Nun, EcoCupid followed up with her and asked if the documentary did anything for her. 

What followed from the documentary filming was positive indeed. 

Nun’s educational workshops swelled with more participants, and she now utilizes the documentary while she pitches for grants. She actually won a major grant from China for agricultural innovations. Good media does translate to tangible impact across borders even if people speak different languages. 

(Image courtesy of Hristina Eftimova via Unsplash)

Nun by the way doesn’t speak English or Chinese. The whole documentary is in her Thai dialect with English subtitles. You can watch it here: Nun Runs an Organic farm, 

The Social Foundry: Teaching Life Skills to Youth With Community Support

Posted on by Jonathan

In Brighter Tomorrow, we like to share stories of changemakers from all over the world. Here is one from the land down under. 

In the rural Australian town of Kyneton in the State of Victoria, the Social Foundry offers “standout food, coffee & service, while also delivering hands-on training for local youth facing barriers to employment.” I had the pleasure of interviewing one of their staff members, Sue-Lee, who works as the community life coordinator. She shared a couple of success stories that the Social Foundry helped create:

Ashley (a pseudonym) came to the not-for-profit after she finished high school and sought a job. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Young school-leavers like her in the countryside have few opportunities to find work so she found help through an employment agency. One thing led to another and she ended up on the doorstep of the Social Foundry. 

Ashley, as Sue-Lee said, “started off doing the first 10 weeks – it’s called the work skills program. So it’s a 10-week program once a week and we started her off in front-of-house doing customer service delivering drinks and food clearing tables and towards the end of her work, we got her to do a skills program with us. We started her off on the coffee machine. And she really enjoyed that and said in that shift that it’s the first time in her life that she’s found something that makes her happy. So we asked her if she wanted to continue the program with us and do another lot of 10 weeks.” 

Sue-Lee then said it was decided for Ashley to continue on the coffee machine and get trained as a barista. At the end of the ten-week training, Ashley found a job in a local Kyneton café. 

This concluded Ashley’s training and introduction to the world of work. As a result, the trainee’s mental and physical health improved. She said her parents have seen the change in her and her confidence has been built up after it was struck down by her declining mental health. About Ashley’s journey, Sue-Lee said, “That was one of our many good news stories from our program.”

(Image courtesy of The Social Foundry)

In a city like Melbourne, known for its coffee, hospitality is an easy entry into the workforce. It isn’t easy being in the hospitality sector as the market is saturated despite the ubiquity of cafés. Add a social enterprise model into a cafe and there is the additional challenge but Sue-Lee affirms that the reward of all the good news stories make it worthwhile. 

At this point of the interview, Sue-Lee also recounted the story of Jane (a pseudonym) who, in August 2023, trained at the Social Foundry in her year 12. She was from a local high school and could not finish her studies because of her issues with anxiety and lack of connection with the school program. Her school counselor referred her to the Foundry and from there, she began to change. Starting with a short shift of four weeks, she enjoyed life at work rather than at school. She then moved on to the full ten-week training course, like Ashley did. 

“[Jane] came to us last August and was in Year 12 at a local high school and couldn’t finish her year 12, just because she was feeling quite anxious and was not connecting with the school program. Her school counselor shared about our program and introduced her to us. And so we started her off with a short shift for four weeks. When she finished that she enjoyed it. So we asked if she wanted to follow up with the work skills program, which involves a full day shift once a week and she continued to do that.”

According to Sue-Lee, Jane loved the work skills program and became a trainee upon finishing it toward the end of 2023. While training, she also handed out her resume to get a job further down the line. She worked short shifts again at the Social Foundry as she prepared to enter the labor market because she felt working a full day was a bit much for her. After finishing the program with us, she got a job at a local café just around the corner after being employed briefly in a local supermarket where she stopped getting shifts. It was a victory for Jane after a period of feeling low. 

(Image courtesy of Padraig Treanor via Unsplash)

Sue-Lee’s testimony about these two trainees shows that the Social Foundry’s approach is a winner for empowering local youth to engage with their community and the workforce. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and sometimes we forget that only a community can bring the young back from their detachment from society and work. 

Social Foundry, like many not-for-profit organizations, tries not to rely on grants and instead aims to work toward a self-funding model through its café, and event space. Try visiting it if you plan on a trip to rural Australia. The mountains and landscape there are breathtaking and are easily accessible by train. Kyneton, an hour’s ride from Melbourne, is known for its great literary culture and is home to some of the best cafés in the world, staffed by expert baristas.

Congratulations to the Social Foundry of Kyneton, Victoria for its impactful community work in Australia. The project was honored with the Yuvoice Brighter Tomorrow award on August 4, 2024, for its efforts in connecting youth to their community and helping them to overcome barriers to employment. On behalf of our Brighter Tomorrow team, thank you for taking the time to be interviewed. 

Madhu Duniya is Creating a Buzz

Posted on by Jonathan

It is early in the morning. The sky is purplish over the treetops. The forest is still asleep. 

Yet, she is no stranger to this moment. 

Like clockwork, she readies herself. Her day begins to hum right before sunrise. It has been like this for as long as she can remember. Fellow workers are abuzz as they too prepare for the day. They know they must get a move on. Everyone prepares for the long day ahead. They all know what they must do. They all know they play a crucial role in the survival of their community.

Worker 786 is but one of the many in her colony. Thousands from her hive work together to prepare for the morning. Worker 786 and the others in her colony are unique to the Southeast Asian region.  According to the Haribon Organization “Among the stingless bee species, the most important one is Tetragonula biroi (or ‘kiwot’). It shares a similar morphology to honeybees, with the major differences being that the kiwot is the size of an ant and lacks a sting.”

A spokesperson for precious colonies

Like many of her kind, worker 786 is just one of the millions of indigenous Southeast Asian bees under threat. Their plight resulting from pesticides and deforestation does not make the global headlines. She is just one of millions whose voices remain unheard. 

A group of men standing around a sign Description automatically generated

(Image Courtesy of Madhu Duniya)

Here is where Madhu Duniya comes in. While the Honey World gathering is based in Indonesia, Madhu Duniya works to be the spokesperson for the many bees inhabiting all of Southeast Asia. It hosts conferences and provides educational campaigns geared toward raising international awareness on the regional bees. It particularly strives to gain attention in the West. 

By doing so, the organization also helps local beekeepers develop their livelihoods. It contends that when the local bee population is threatened, so are the lives of the people who make a living from collecting honey and bee by-products. Bees are a crucial component in the local agricultural ecosystem. And globally, a third of all food production depends on them. 

In the organization’s own words, “Since its establishment in 2007, Madhu Duniya has served as a platform for various stakeholders to discuss growing trends, challenges and opportunities around the subject of forest honey and native Asian bees. Madhu Duniya highlights the knowledge and wisdom of community harvesters and supports the participation of community experts from a broad base of indigenous and local honey groups.”

Forest honey networking

In addition, the organization shares that “Throughout the years, Madhu Duniya has been instrumental in facilitating the formation of forest honey networks in at least five Asian countries, as well as providing assistance in securing government permits for forest honey hunters. It has inspired research on honey’s health and medical benefits and has helped raise awareness on (sic) the latest studies and concerns about Asian forest honey and bees. Moreover, the network has been active in creating and promoting proper harvesting and processing protocols, and has successfully linked private sector partners and producers towards the vision of sustainable and enabling community livelihoods.”

Madhu Duniya promotes  “forest honey as crucial for rural incomes, key for forest conservation, and important for human health, not just in Asia but also around the world.” 

These activities are what Madhu Duniya has been working on for a few decades now. While it had officially started in 2007, according to our interviewee, Crissy Guerrero (more formally known as Maria Cristina Guerrero), the initial plans for the group had started in the early 2000s.

(Image Courtesy of Madhu Duniya)

As Worker 786 prepares for flight, she scans the throngs of bees at the launch area. The mouth of the hive is alive. She has known many of the younger bees since they were just larvae. Across the buzz and flutter of wings, she is unable to find her friend, 662. 

Worker 786 shrugs it off and assumes 662 has already left.

Each bee then takes off in search of the much-needed resources to keep its colony going. The sky fills with a small cloud of black. Compared with the western honey bee, 786 and her colony are smaller and black in color.

Gaining altitude, the workers spread out to various areas within their sphere of operation. Some head north, others south. They have a flight range of 500 meters, so they work in synchronicity to cover the most ground without doubling up. They are efficient that way.

While in flight, 786 approaches her intended patch of flowers. She cannot help but notice a bee she has never seen before. It is visibly bigger, yellow and black, and it was just emerging from one of her own assigned flowers.

Based on extensive research by a Vietnamese expert invited by Madhu Duniya to their events, there is a concern with the introduction of Apis Mellifera, or the western bee, to the Asian environment. The local Apis Cerana and Apis Dorsata, both native to the region, coexist without harvesting the same flowers at the same time. Working the same territory, they do not compete, as if they have a mutual understanding.

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(Image Courtesy of Madhu Duniya)

However, Crissy Guerrero pointed out that the research suggests the introduction of Mellifera into the environment disrupted the existing pattern. This led to competition for resources with the local bees.

Surprisingly, commercial honey makers have integrated the non-indigenous Apis Mellifera into the local Asian ecosystems.

Swarming to tackle the challenges

Flying her way back to the colony, 786 cannot help but notice that today she has a lighter load. While looking down at the ground, she sees a familiar bee lying on the ground, struggling. It is 1003, and ants swarm her dying body. 

Commercial pesticides used by agricultural groups have been killing off bee populations. Concurrent with that threat, Madhu Duniya contends that habitat destruction is one of the main factors leading to a dwindling bee population.

Crissy Guerrero adds, “A lot of these bees are based in the forests. If you keep converting these forests into agriculture plantations, you will have a loss in bees.”

Having reached the colony, 786 works her way back to the nursery to deposit her precious cargo. She is a gatherer, and what she gathers becomes the nourishment of the colony. Hungry larvae require sustenance that she helps provide.

From what appears to be a small effort, 786 plays a big role in plant pollination. Her efforts and those of her compatriots are crucial to the environment. Without her aid, plants will not flourish. That is why they are essential not just to growing food crops but to harvesting medicinal plants as well. 

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(Image Courtesy of Madhu Duniya)

Back in the hive, 786 is startled by a loud thunderclap. Thunder is unusual for her since it is not expected this time of the year. So 786 hopes the rains will not come early this year. Bees cannot fly out and gather their resources at all in the rain. (Climate change alert—heavy flooding also means lower pollination.)

During November 6-10, 2023, Madhu Duniya conferenced with other global stakeholders in Vietnam. Its goal is to raise awareness for Asian bees which, though numerous, remain deprioritized on a global scale. Madhu Duniya continues to spread the word that bee populations are crucial to the propagation of fruits and vegetables, nuts and flowers, to keep the human food system stable. And in Asia they are under threat.

Many may still not realize it, but Bee Lives Matter Too. We are dependent on them as much as they are on us.

But 786 sat quietly as raindrops fell on top of her hive. Leaks through the insufficient propolis seals meant to protect them slowly let water seep in. She prayed they would make it through the night.

Congratulations to Madhu Duniya for its impactful regenerative work in Southeast Asia. The project was honored with the Yuvoice Brighter Tomorrow award on January 25, 2024, for its efforts in promoting Asian bees by consolidating its findings and spreading the word among members of the international community. On behalf of our Brighter Tomorrow team, thank you for taking the time to be interviewed.

Playtime! Bringing Fun and Joy to Displaced Children at the French Border

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When thinking about services for refugees and displaced people, we often consider food, clothing, shelter, and medical aid. Rarely do we think about play. Yet, “Play is essential for children’s development,” says Rachel Sykes, director of Project Play. Even children caught in the throes of migration need the opportunity to play — something that Project Play provides. 

A grassroots NGO based in northern France a short hop across the sea from Britain, Project Play offers displaced children the chance to participate in one of the most fundamental aspects of childhood: playing. As Sykes describes, “Many of the children we work with have not had access to formal education for some time, and they may also be experiencing toxic stress due to the conditions they live in. Our sessions hope to offer them a safe space in which they can relax, develop skills and feel a sense of autonomy.”

When founders Claire and Cole first came to the migrant camps at Dunkirk as students in 2018, they were helping with food distribution for the community near the French border. However, they noticed that the children, often disruptive, were simply bored, needing enrichment and engagement. In response, Cole shaved their own head to raise money, and they and Claire dropped out of university to found Project Play. 

Play is serious business

So, why play? When Project Play first began, it attempted to focus on both play and formal education, but quickly realized the difficulty of trying to provide education to children, many of whom had never had formal education, in the midst of a crisis. After consulting with psychologists, they decided to narrow their focus to play only as a means of developing important skills such as, “…fine and gross motor skills… exploring the world around them, health and self-care, listening and concentration, being creative, emotional awareness and regulation, participation and collaboration and self-confidence and self-esteem,” Sykes informs.

The hands of children paint colorful figures.
Photo courtesy of Project Play

Play can also provide a meaningful avenue for processing trauma, a common experience of children in the middle of being displaced from their homes. Furthermore, play lets kids develop social skills and make positive memories, especially important in the face of such hardship. 

Go, Team Go!

Five years on from its launch, Project Play continues to provide support to displaced children in Calais and Dunkirk through the power of play. They have collaborated with child psychologists and a network of professionals to bring meaningful sessions of play to migrant youth at the French border. Their team has grown to include a board of trustees and volunteers. 

A colored cut out created thanks to Project Play.
Photo courtesy of Project Play

Volunteers contribute to sessions, bringing their interests and talents to the table. “We have the most amazing team of volunteers who have come up with some truly engaging ideas,” Sykes enthuses. “Puppet theaters, giant xylophones, treasure hunts and a dragon’s cave have all featured!”

Understanding how valuable volunteers are to this work, Project Play also prioritizes the care of its volunteers, offering accommodation, nutritious meals, and access to mental health services. “Some team members may have a check-in or a call with a mental health professional as we have different avenues for volunteers to look after their wellbeing,” Sykes states. 

Additionally, volunteers are offered opportunities for their own development. Project Play provides “really high-quality training carefully designed so that they can have a good understanding of the context, our work and the risks alongside skilling them up to be effective playworkers,” Sykes expresses. They are also encouraged to “follow their interest, think about how Project Play could develop their career or other areas of our work they would like to get involved in.” 

Days of play

A typical day begins with waking up in the volunteer house, where up to 10 volunteers live at a time. The team heads into Calais to the warehouse/office they share with other organizations. Here, Project Play prepares for a session with the children. After a good meal, volunteers load up the van and spend the afternoons in session with the kids. 

Gathering in a circle, a session begins with games and songs, often a favorite among the children. As Skyes shares, “It brings everyone together and is a great opportunity to be really silly!” This is a chance to build friendships and learn activities the children can do even when Project Play volunteers are not present. “Often we turn up to the session to hear the children leading their own circle time and singing the songs we sing together.”

A hand holds some sort of green slime or putty.
Photo courtesy of Project Play

After circle time, the main activity begins. According to Sykes, “t​​his is planned according to the group considering their likes, ages and any additional needs — think sport, craft, drama and art.” A brief scroll on Project Play’s Instagram page reveals the different activities and themes it offers the children, including making edible “wands” for a magic week to playing ‘pin the nose on the clown’ during a circus-themed session. “We want sessions to be memorable and for the children to know how much we value them and their experience with us.”

Finally, the session concludes with free play, an important time for the children to practice autonomy and choice, which they often lack in their current circumstances. “We work closely with the children on this one and always try to incorporate their requests,” Sykes reports. Once the session is over, the volunteers hold a time of debrief and reflection before heading home to rest and recharge for another day of play. 

Bringing play to migrant children

Project Play takes its services to various locations, including “day centers, safe houses and out in the informal living sites,” which are often “collections of tents in a rural area.” Finding the right space for a session can be challenging. Sykes admits, “Recently, there have been increased police evictions alongside worsening hostility towards organizations; we are now denied a space to carry out sessions and risk being fined.” Nevertheless, the team persists and generally tries to set up an enclosed space for play just a small distance away from the migrant camps in order to minimize distractions and interruptions. 

Project Play is also highly committed to anti-racism in its work. “We acknowledge that we must examine our biases and explore our motivators and dynamics.” Since the beginning, Sykes informs, Project Play has discussed counteracting racial biases and systemic issues possible in humanitarian work and volunteering. 

As part of its anti-racist practice, Project Play critically considers the ethnic and racial background of its volunteers during recruitment. Sykes notes, “We actively seek to recruit varied volunteers who can help diversify our view and approach.” Recognizing anti-racism is an ongoing process, the team members engage in educating themselves and drawing on available resources to improve their work continually. 

The Project Play logo, with a child’s reproduction.
Photo courtesy of Project Play

Making an impact

Project Play is unique in its specialized focus on children. As Skyes describes, it is “the only service in the area targeting younger children.” Measuring the impact of Project Play through statistical reports and quantitative research is especially challenging considering the extreme vulnerability of migrant children. Still, the difference Project Play makes in the lives of displaced children in Calais and Dunkirk is tangible enough to touch. 

Every Project Play volunteer leaves with a success story. The impact is visible in the smiles and giggles of the young participants, finding joy amid difficult circumstances. Shy children who are initially hesitant find confidence as they play. They make noticeable progress in regulating their emotions, working with others, and learning about themselves. 

A tent covered with colorful and jeweled decorations.
Photo courtesy of Project Play

Countless children have enjoyed memorable experiences due to Project Play’s sessions, which Skyes credits as the most rewarding part of their work. Knowing that displaced youth can still make positive memories amid unfavorable conditions drives the passion behind Project Play. 

Notably, Sykes asserts that the work of Project Play does not fully meet the needs of displaced children. “Our service is not enough — all children should have access to formal education in a warm, dry building. But, as long as the state refuses to meet this right, we hope to continue to spread some joy.” 

The future of Project Play

The team remains committed to growing awareness of the situation at the UK/French border and providing even better services to migrant children and their families. “We want the British and French states to provide safe routes for asylum and ensure that all children are provided with a quality education. This is a right,” Sykes passionately resolves. Therefore, “we want to grow our advocacy capacity to better champion the amazing children we work with and push for change.” 

The dream for Project Play? “Project Play doesn’t want to have to exist,” Sykes declares. Until then, Project Play continues its mission to ensure displaced children can do what they are meant to do: play. 

A girl jumps over colorful cones.
Photo courtesy of Project Play

PawsUP and Hands Out for the “Untouchables”

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“When 20 people showed up at our 0.3 acre property during the 2020 COVID lockdown, I thought it was the best thing that ever happened to us,” said founder Jay Lau as he recounted the start of his organization, PawsUp.

Jay Lau brings some strays home 

Hailing from Brunei, the tropical kingdom in South East Asia known for its oil wealth and small land area, Lau decided one day to run a shelter for strays. After living and working in Australia for 16 years, he came back to his hometown for Chinese New Year. Though stuck due to travel restrictions, this did not stop Jay from choosing basic kindness by bringing stray dogs home in an old Toyota Kijang (a popular four-wheel drive vehicle here). This was the beginning of PawsUp, a last resort and sanctuary for street hounds and abandoned felines. Just as people revile the homeless, they also view strays as untouchable. 

Pioneering animal welfare in Brunei

In a society that largely turns a blind eye to the plight of strays, the journey of PawsUp is a testament to the power of kindness and perseverance.

Lau now works as Chief Financial Officer for a large technology firm in Brunei. His organization’s foray into the world of animal welfare began when he noticed strays around his neighborhood.

Unlike in much of the Western world, where people can pay the city council or sheltersto pick up strays, our country of Brunei has no such system. On top of that, we don’t have a public shelter for abandoned pets either. Cultural beliefs like not wanting to spay or neuter cats or dogs also persist, swelling  the population of strays even more. 

The fate of these strays is so often a cruel one as many become the victims of poisoning. Our society is said to hate dogs due to misunderstood beliefs around the ritual impurity of dogs. This spills over into the mistreatment of street hounds. Lau makes sure acts of cruelty to animals submitted to him go viral on Instagram to raise awareness regarding the challenge of caring for strays. 

Instead of ignoring the issue like many others in the city, Lau says we should choose basic kindness. 

Fuelled by community support as well as compassion

Starting with just a handful of furry companions in makeshift shelters at five different properties he rented, Lau soon realized the enormity of the task at hand. The challenges were plenty – from financial constraints to societal resistance. Bruneian inhabitants, like those in many other urban centers around the world, harbor a deep-seated animosity toward strays. Yet Lau and his five-person team of full timers have persevered, fueled by the belief that every living being deserves compassion.

As the shelter grew and settled into three stable rented properties, so did the need for manpower. Juggling his demanding job as a financial officer with the responsibilities of running a stray shelter was no easy feat. Lau found himself stretched thin, facing the risk of burnout. It was at this crucial juncture that he sought a lifeline from an unexpected source – Brunei’s own national university.

The University of Brunei Darussalam graciously collaborates with PawsUp by sending two interns every month to help lighten the load of  its overstretched operation. Lau hopes this partnership will go on for at least five more years. 

Members of the public do not understand how the logistics of running a shelter work, Lau says. “Not only do our staff and volunteers cook until 4pm every day to feed our shelter’s animals, we also feed strays until we can spay and neuter them,” he adds. 

“People also text us frequently, asking us to relocate animals they find on the streets. There is also a demand for cheaper spay and neutering services. The latter problem being caused by either poverty or the taboo surrounding such an act,” Jay shares. 

The goal of PawsUp is clear–to continue the partnership with UBD University is one thing, but they also need funding and time. Most of the shelter’s operations come out of Lau’s pocket. He has personally racked up more than US$11000 in veterinary bills that have still to be paid. On top of this, he sees the need for a cheap spay and neutering service for low-income pet owners. Cats and dogs are very popular after all. 

He understands that sustainability is key to the shelter’s longevity and for preventing burnout among his full-time staff. The influx of interns from our national university not only eases the workload but also fosters a community of like-minded individuals dedicated to making a difference.

In a society that often overlooks the plight of strays, Jay Lau stands out as a champion of charity. His journey from a pandemic-grounded accountant to a stray shelter owner is a testament to the transformative power of kindness and good financial responsibility. Through the PawsUp community, he is not only saving lives but also nurturing the next generation of compassionate humans.

His message to others for the new year is for everyone to at least leave street animals alone. Leave them unharmed even if they are untouchable. Now that’s choosing kindness at the very least. 

One Woman’s Mission to Let Migrant Women Shine Front and Center

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“…as a journalist, when I migrated, I started to face a lot of issues to find one opportunity. And I really wanted to tell these stories…I didn’t find places that wanted to publish [them],” Juliana da Penha admits. 

An experienced immigrant, da Penha personally understands the challenges faced by migrant women. Native to Brazil, she has also lived in Portugal, Italy, and Cape Verde before settling in her current home in Scotland. But it was not just the challenges of migration that confronted her. The stories told by the press about migrants, especially women, were also alarming. As da Penha built a life away from her homeland, she began to realize the media did not always portray migrants in an accurate light, often describing them according to untrue stereotypes.

A seasoned migrant with a passion for storytelling

Having worked with an employability project for migrant women, da Penha witnessed firsthand the discrimination talented migrant women with much to offer experienced due to immigration policies and racism. She determined that if no one else would, she would tell their stories. Thus, an idea began forming, one that would blossom into Migrant Women Press, officially launching in 2020. A trained journalist, da Penha used her skills to create an online space for the stories of migrant women to be shared and centered. 

Research has shown that the mainstream European media has frequently referenced migration as a “crisis,” framed migrants as either vulnerable or dangerous, rarely offered context for the circumstances of migration, and scarcely provided opportunities for migrants to speak for themselves. In the British media, journalists themselves play a pivotal role in framing public discussion on migration. To that end, Migrant Women Press serves as an influential force disrupting journalistic practices that perpetuate xenophobic, dehumanizing stereotypes. 

Letting migrant women glow front and center

Unlike most other news outlets, Migrant Women Press and its content are led and created exclusively by migrant women. Da Penha explains, “…in the UK, for example, we have 94% of the journalism workforce made up of white people, and then we are bringing diverse voices.” In a field dominated by white majority influence, Migrant Women Press offers a fresh perspective to media discourse about migrants. “We are humanizing the discussions about migration. We are not just speaking about numbers, about crisis, we are speaking about people.”

Overall, more than 20 different countries are represented through the publication’s international contributors, fostering a connected global community.

A hand, holding a ball point pen, writing on paper.
(Image courtesy of Unseen Studio via Unsplash)

Establishing a groundbreaking initiative like this, of course, comes with its challenges. For da Penha, the most difficult ones to overcome were the personal ones. “The barriers were internal barriers, mental barriers,” she reflects. Coping with insecurities regarding being out of the industry for many years and language competency was difficult. Rejecting this mindset and choosing to begin helped da Penha move forward with Migrant Women Press. “It doesn’t need to be perfect. It’s from my heart.”

Migrant Women Press is not a solitary effort. Da Penha works with a team of volunteer writers, editors, journalists, and media specialists from different backgrounds scattered across several countries. Together, they develop content and help shape the direction of Migrant Women Press, drawing on their diverse pool of knowledge and experience. 

As a volunteer-led, independent media organization, no two days are alike. “Things change all the time, working with media,” da Penha reports. Despite the dynamic nature of working in the press, regular editorial meetings keep Migrant Women Press running as her team plans its next steps, week-to-week.  

Moved by the migrant voices they amplify

For da Penha, the most rewarding part of doing this work is the migrant women she meets. She shares passionately about the experience of working with women, “doing amazing things, speaking with them, listening to their amazing projects, about their dreams, about their potentials, about how they wanted to contribute to making this work better.” Da Penha also emphasizes the importance of offering a space for the stories of migrant women to be told, so they are not lost. 

Migrant Women Press has profoundly contributed to diversifying narratives about migrant women by empowering women affected by immigration and displacement to tell their stories, thus challenging stereotypes perpetuated by mainstream media. It has  aided in introducing more perspectives to the public discourse. As da Penha notes, “I think it’s positive that we are not having one single side of the story.” She is currently a finalist for the Georgina Henry Women in Journalism Award. 

Despite all that Migrant Women Press has accomplished, da Penha has no plans to slow down. Looking towards the future of Migrant Women Press, she hopes to do more investigative work to further influence media discussions around migration, help migrant women develop their media skills, and continue to bring diverse voices to the press. “This is our vision,” she shares. 

The Voice of Our Ancestors

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He hears them. They speak to him constantly. No, not in his head. The voices speak to him in the breeze, the creeks, the leaves, the rocks, the soil, and everything all around him. Sometimes, they speak to him through the eyes of the elders of the community. These are voices that never stop for him.

Once, they were but unintelligible whispers. They were as unobtrusive as the rustle of leaves. Now they are clear. Their message is clear.

They told him to start the Maka Forest Villa.  

This journey began for architect Ronnie Yumang one fateful November in 2013. No one was expecting it. Typhoon Haiyan, a once-in-a-lifetime super typhoon, ravaged the Philippines. Haiyan had claimed 6300 lives and left thousands more homeless. Entire cities were leveled. It was the costliest typhoon in the country’s history. More than PHP 122 billion (US$2.2 billion) in damage was recorded.

Architect Ronnie, like many Filipinos, was horrified by the aftermath of the typhoon. The damage to infrastructure was catastrophic. And it was around that time when he heard the quiet voice. “Why was this so devastating for an advanced, urbanized section of the country yet, in Batanes, a tiny island in the topmost northern section of the country, where people lived in far less sophisticated homes and are constantly hit by the worst typhoons, you never hear of this? Destruction was always reserved for the most modern of cities,” the voice asked him and observed. 

The voices explained that the typhoons never stopped passing through the islands of the Philippines. The voices had seen them ever since they first settled the islands. It was just part of the nature of the Philippines. At that point, architect Ronnie realized that our ancestors had been building based on the natural environmental conditions that surrounded them. To this day, the people of Batanes continue to build in the “old ways.” These traditions have been deemed primitive by the modern world we live in. Yet, it is these old ways that have kept them safe from the onslaught of typhoons.

This old, antiquated method of design and construction, which his modern architectural schooling and society looked down on, could stand the test of time and even the harshest of conditions. It was this realization that made him question all he had been taught.  

As a child of poor beginnings, architect Ronnie worked his way up from poverty to finish in a top local university with a degree in architecture. He was taught that the best buildings and houses were those made of concrete and other modern materials. These were sophisticated, expensive and viewed as classy. This was what he, along with generations of students and local people, were made to believe.

The conversations he has had with our ancestors told him that these modern methods were not necessarily the best. Millenia of experience using local regenerative materials were far better, they insisted. It was that shift in thinking that led architect Ronnie to learn more about what they call TEK or Traditional Ecological Knowledge. 

TEK is a building and engineering method that uses the best practices of indigenous and local cultures. The premise is that these pre-fossil-fuel-era practices had evolved based on the collective experience of the community. While they tend to utilize renewable energy and resources, they make use of generations of understanding of the behavior of the natural environment. Thus, they tend to be better suited for the local settings rather than transplanted methods or technologies. Western systems try to control the environment while indigenous ones see themselves embedded into ecosystems.

As he learned more, his eyes were opened to the fact that modern, Western building materials like concrete were not normally recovered. After they had been deemed old, they  were merely discarded. There is so much discussion on conserving water, electricity and other natural resources. However, architect Ronnie reveals, “85% of extracted resources like cement, sand, gravel and steel” are overlooked. In fact, Leed-certified sustainable buildings,  he claims, are built from 85%-90% non-renewable materials. 

Taking it a step further, he goes beyond sustainability and pushes for regenerative practices. These are like what is advocated in the TEK philosophy. He said the learning point from Typhoon Haiyan was to create a model where “instead of us keeping giving donations, we’d rather help people become more sustainable.” This can be done through TEK building techniques like those used in Batanes where they experience the same typhoons but experience very little damage and practically no casualties. This led him to his advocacy of only using regenerative building techniques. Architect Ronnie’s entire Maka Forest Villa and future communities for like-minded nature-respecting people are built around this theory. There he hosts people to see how regeneration can work. 

To date, he claims that his method is not only cheaper but it also reduces the negative impacts on the environment. This has led him to secure clients who now opt to build this way.

His regenerative spaces eliminate the need to utilize electricity-draining appliances as he uses the environment to provide the natural water and cooling required for the warm tropical weather. He rejects building materials that are non-regenerative to stay true to his vision. 

A woman holds a pallet of large mushrooms.
(Image courtesy of Maka Forest Villa)

It is architect Ronnie’s desire that more listen to what our ancestors have taught us and fewer to the noise of Western commercialism and modernity. In hindsight, having visited the Maka Forest Villa, one can say the quiet breeze that rustles the leaves does whisper a calm feeling into one’s ears. What harm can come from listening?