Recently I read a news item dispatched by Agence France Presse touching on the country’s long-time symbol of poverty – the Smokey Mountain but this time around with a twist pleasant enough to warm the cockles of the heart of anyone who comes across this truly inspiring story.

As always, this Phoenix-like transformation was made possible by a 45-year-old British single mother who made a personal choice of sacrificing a life of comfort just to set up the Philippine Christian Foundation in Manila after she first saw in 1996 the dehumanizing conditions of the urban poor.

This social visionary, Jane Walker, was a former publishing executive from Southampton and is now endearingly known in the local press as Manila’s “queen of the dumps” for her selfless efforts to help the Smokey Mountain scavengers break loose from the bondage of grinding poverty.

Before it skips my mind let me hasten to add this interesting bit of information: Jane Walker was honored last year as a Member of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth for her laudable humanitarian work in the Smokey Mountain dumpsite.

We all know that a portion of this blighted area over a decade ago was levelled to give way for housing tenements but still a wide area remains an open dump for tons and tons of daily garbage from 12 million city inhabitants.

Until now a sprawling colony of slum families lives off the dump, burrowing daily into the trash in the hope of scavenging recyclable items they could sell to junkshops for a paltry sum.
Fortunately, the Walker’s social enterprise has made a dent on the squalid living conditions of the squatters in the area.

Her non-profit foundation provides livelihood projects, education, food, healthcare and skills training to children and their families living in the dumpsite. I understand that her charity has spearheaded the construction of four schools made out of converted shipping containers.

Early this year when former British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited the country for a series of talks, the PLDT Group pledged to help set up a computer lab in Blair’s name at the Philippine Christian Foundation’s school near the Pier 18 dumpsite. The computer school is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

“No one can survive in this day and age without any knowledge of computers. They should at least know the basics. It would also be good for them to learn how to send email messages and do research on the Internet. The Internet, after all, is the biggest library we can offer them,” says Walker.

Relying largely on corporate goodwill and donations, her foundation faced difficulties when the global economic crisis hit last year, prompting donors mostly in UK and the Philippines to scale down their own Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs.

Not easily dissuaded and rather emboldened by her better angels to carry on with her charity work despite increasing odds, she turned creative and innovative in finding new ways to raise funding. She turned trash into environment-friendly fashion accessories which are now enjoying growing popularity in top-end London shops.

Although the Smokey Mountain fashion accessory enterprise is doing well, Walker said, “We will never be 100 percent financially sustainable, but if we can aim to be at least 50 percent self-sufficient, then we can expand the work we are doing,” adding her foundation’s goal was to have its own Manila boutique.

At any given time it is said that about 40 families are directly employed, with each family earning at least 3,000 pesos a month, far more than they could earn from being scavengers “This has helped me a lot because I can work and watch my grandchildren go to school,” said Martha Dominguez, 60, as she put finishing touches to a stuffed toy.

I wonder if there is a mall owner in metropolitan Manila willing to help Walker’s foundation realize its goal of having its own boutique.

Email: businessagenda_report@yahoo.com.