Alay Kapwa

If you’re searching for God or the meaning of life, Leveriza seems like the last place to look. When Sr. Christine Tan and five Good Shepherd sisters moved into this urban poor community back in 1979, water was so scarce the installation of a working faucet a year and a half later merited "a blessing like that of a Cathedral", laughs the soft-spoken nun. Mounting crime rates and the occasional harassment from drunks and drug addicts don’t exactly affirm God’s presence in this neighborhood either. But for this unassuming servant of God and co-founder of the non-government organization (ngo) Alay Kapwa, God couldn’t be closer.

Bible studies were what first attracted Leveriza’s women–labanderas, tinderas and jobless mothers–to Alay Kapwa’s humble fold. Interestingly, most of the women who attended the Sunday sharing weren’t even religious to begin with. "Wala namang mawawala sa akin," shrugged Leonisa Canonoy when she accepted the nuns’ invitation 13 years ago. Conching Boco used to just enter a church, make the sign of the cross and leave before mass even began. And although Noemi Aron was a regular church-goer, she prayed more out of need than thanks.

Thought-provoking topics in the sharing sessions and the chance to meet other neighborhood nanays eventually convinced the women to keep coming back. But survival was the name of the game in Leveriza, so when Sr. Christine proposed that they make towels "para makabili tayo ng bigas", the motivation was set. While Alay Kapwa’s initial attempts at income-generating projects were crude (their first shot at soap making was done on a doorstep using one pail, an empty softdrink bottle and a thermometer), valuable assistance from resource people and the women’s perseverance saw the organization bloom beyond anyone’s imagination.

Today, the ngo’s handmade income-generating projects include pretty crochet items; candles of all shapes, sizes and smells; soap; greeting cards; decorative wrought-iron candleholders; bags and baskets fashioned out of recycled materials and delicious food stuff. The products now reach the United States, Canada, Japan and Germany. And Alay Kapwa’s tribe has increased from a handful of women to 500 workers in Cavite, Sariyaya and Cebu.

For the record, Sr. Christine’s soul-searching started when she was in her teens and took her to more sanitary, comfortable and spiritual surroundings like a Zen monastery in Japan. Still, it’s this squatters area in Leveriza that appears to be "it" for her. "How can you say you love the poor if your feet are always clean?" she reasons. Despite her dirty feet, Sr. Christine has never been happier. "I could never leave. If I leave this place, I will lose God. Where will I find Him?"

Apparently Sr. Christine isn’t the only one who found God in Leveriza. As a janitor’s wife and mother of five children, Leonisa remembers keeping mostly to herself until that fateful day when she attended her first Bible study. Five years ago, this health center volunteer learned how to make a daisy-shaped candle–a painful process, she admits, "pero hindi ka matututo kung hindi ka mapapaso". Leonisa learned all right, and today she’s the assistant manager of Alay Kapwa’s Kandilaan factory. Credit for this achievement and other positive life changes goes to Leonisa’s hard work, but the one-time janitress and labandera says she owes it all to God. "Siya ang nagtaas sa akin," she says in tears. "At peace na ako. Minsan may problema pa rin, pero kung nagdadasal ka sa Panginoon, bale wala na ang mga problema. Alam ko na hindi ako bibigyan ng problema na hindi ko kayang lutasin."

Though Manang Conching didn’t finish high school, her job in Alay Kapwa is an important one. In addition to mobilizing members for meetings, she is a Bible facilitator who spreads the Good Word to an audience of 100. "Dati mahiyain ako," confesses Manang Conching, a mother of six. "Pero ng sumama ako sa Alay Kapwa, simula sa pinakamahirap na tao hanggang sa pinakamayaman, awa ng Diyos, hindi na ako nahihiya. Nagkaroon ako ng lakas ng loob!" And take note: Manang Conching doesn’t just make time for Mass; she also enjoys one-hour meditations and chanting the "om". "Malaking tulong ang meditation sa akin," she smiles. "Kung may iniisip ako, nananahimik na lang ako, at nakikinig ako sa mensahe ng Diyos sa akin."

A former sales girl in Binondo, Noemi, her husband and her kids once lived in a room so small, it doubled for everything–including the bathroom! "Balot-system lang kami," she smiles shyly. Thanks to Alay Kapwa, she managed to send her children to school (her eldest just passed the nursing board exams) and finished payment on a place that boasts its own living room, dining room, bedroom and even bathroom. "May telephone pa kami!" she says proudly.

"Si Hesus ay isang kaibigan, magulang at kahalubilo ko," describes Alay Kapwa’s coordinator for income-generating projects. "Dati ang tingin ko sa simbahan building lang. Ngayon, para sa akin, ang simbahan ay tao."