Christmas brings one…

Every Christmas you get at least one.

If you deal with a number of companies professionally, chances are you’ve received Christmas cards informing you that instead of giving you a gift on Christmas, the company has decided to donate the money to charity, to typhoon victims, to an orphanage, or for a tree-planting project. 

On at least two Christmases, my wife and I have announced that in lieu of gifts we would give a set amount to an orphanage until the British couple running the program decided it was time for them to go home for medical reasons. Giving to charity actually simplifies the gift giving and as far as the recipients are concerned it also takes away the social pressure of having to return the favor with a gift. So we are all for donating to charity.

But being human and cynical, I for one wonder how many of those so-called donated Christmas gifts are actually donated and how much of a difference does it really make? What happens in a situation where the company is not really in the business of social or NGO work, and would have to rely on a third party to implement the program or achieve the goal of blessing deserving people or children? To find out I joined the local representative of Renoir Implementation Services Inc., Veronica Angeles, to see what happened to their Christmas money donation and how the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc or RAFI put the money to use. But in order to do this we had to fly to Cebu City, take a two and a half hour drive to the town of Argao and leave the concrete highway and drive further into the surrounding hills to reach fifth class municipalities.

I soon realized that the team I would be observing were committed and determined business professionals ignoring their own safety and personal comfort just to show what they can and have done with the Christmas donation. Heading the team was 83-year- old retired business executive Romy Ronquillo who legend says, saw first hand how the Aboitiz family and businesses started, grew and is now being slowly turned over to the fifth generation. At his age and physical condition one would think that guys like Mr. Ronquillo would be better off staying home and reading the accomplishment reports but that becomes hard to swallow when you know that the Executive Director Iris Andrino who is 2 weeks away from giving birth is riding shotgun on this trip and that a few months before that she was out doing river crossings forcing her doctor to ground her for 2 weeks of complete bed rest!

So in spite of being hopelessly jet lagged and with a bad back, I followed the RAFI-Renoir team to the hills of Argao, Cebu and what I discovered was educational, inspiring and worth emulating or considering for companies struggling with what to do for their CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility projects.

The first thing I learned is why groups like the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. and Renoir choose to “invest” in far flung fifth class barangays. Fifth class barangays and below, are so poor they have no economy or businesses to speak of and are therefore unable to generate income (IRA) from where they can deduct counterpart funds that are required by national government or NGOs in order to build needed projects such as school buildings etc. In other words, the less you have the less you get….

To make matters worse the poverty and remoteness of these barangays don’t attract people or encourage people to stay so they don’t have the numbers or political population to justify the construction of buildings and facilities. They either walk to “civilization” or get the most basic of services that are always inadequate. In the end they lose on inadequate Internal Revenue Allocation and they lose on required population. Therefore they remain poor.

The problem is the most vulnerable members of the community; the children suffer the most. Out here, a determined and creative teacher can teach under the Sampaloc tree but when the rainy season comes it’s “class dismissed” because even teachers won’t have a dry place to stand. It’s bad enough they don’t have classroom, they also don’t have toilets, no teaching materials and the whole situation ingrains in the children that this is what the world is and being a poverty stricken community is normal. Out here the fresh mind of a toddler or a young child quickly deteriorates from lack of a stimulating environment.

To change this, your Christmas money goes into making the difference.

This is what the management and global consultants of Renoir Implementations Services Inc. decided to do. Instead of buying and giving out “obligatory” Christmas gifts for clients, they gathered their money and joined the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc to build 4 daycare centers that are better built than similar facilities in Metro Manila. The facilities were properly insulated and ventilated from all sides to spare the kids from heat exhaustion. If colors stimulate energy and excitement the colorful buildings compete with Mother Nature itself and bring change for children who are born, live and grow in brown huts with brown earthen floors.

I learned that no less than a Harvard educated “school teacher” named Amaya Aboitiz incorporated designs into the daycare centers so that door knobs would be at “kids height”, the potty or toilet bowl and wash basin looked like something made for the film “The Hobbit” as they were also kiddy sized. Even the windows’ height was child friendly and featured rounded edges so kids don’t hurt themselves on corners. Unlike most government daycare centers that have plain concrete floors, the RAFI-Renoir daycare centers were tiled making it clean, colorful and easy to maintain. Not only did they have daycare centers in 4 different remote barangays, they also distributed arts and crafts materials for every child.  

I wandered about checking facilities and it was great to find twin ten foot heavy duty water tanks as well as indigenous and sustainable mini playground sets where the kids were already having fun on the slides. So yes, they used the Christmas money wisely and brought Christmas to the children in the hot month of August. Congratulations to the men and women of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. and the consultants and management of Renoir Implementation Services Inc. Worldwide for making a positive impact on the lives of children in the middle of nowhere.

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