Dale Asis pic Spring 2011
Welcome to my blog! I will be writing every weekend about personal stories of the growing philanthropy of Filipino diaspora donors in the US and around the world to the Philippines and how they are making a difference. ‘Bayanihan’ is the spirit of community and cooperation that enables us to make a difference in our lives. I will also be writing about migration; the dependence on remittances; examples on how migrants around the world are making positive social change; and my personal experiences on how we could effectively make a difference in the world.
Diaspora Donors: A Definition
Diaspora donors? Who are they anyway? The term diaspora refers to a population that shares a common ethnic identity that were forced to leave or left voluntarily and became residents far from their homeland. Diaspora donors are communities of people, residing and working outside their country of origin who give generously to their country of origin or homeland. Diaspora donors could include recent immigrants and refugees, second or even third generation Americans who give to various philanthropic efforts to their homeland countries.
Diaspora giving DO NOT include the remittances immigrants and refugees send regularly to their families and relatives as personal gifts or to support their family’s basic necessities. Diaspora giving encompasses philanthropic giving that benefit the community at large which include the gamut of international projects from providing health and education assistance to large-scale community and infrastructure projects.
Remittances and donations are expected to decrease slightly but continue to be steady despite the recent economic meltdown. The Economist article thinks this is great news!
Diaspora Donors – Will They Matter?
So why do these donations really matter? Will they really make a difference? Will they ultimately affect people’s lives in their homeland countries and reduce the economic ‘push’ to migrate? Yes, I think so.
Diaspora Donations – The New Development Mantra
I proclaim that diaspora donations are the newest ‘development mantra’ among institutions like the World Bank, governments and international development nongovernmental organizations. Diaspora donations can make a difference if steered correctly, nourished and supported over the years.
(left to right) Mryla Baldonado, Organizing Director and Dale Asis, Executive Director (June 2010)
A Blog of Personal Stories
This blog is about personal stories: 1) the success stories of everyday people contributing and making a difference; 2) the heartbreaking stories of donations that went awry; 3) the heartfelt stories of people giving from the heart to help someone locally in their new adopted country and in their native homeland; and 4) current events and recent statistics that highlight the need for social change.
Diaspora donors are both connected here and there. They give both locally and globally; they are the new ‘transnational’.
So throw out the old notion that immigrants need to be ‘American’ or ‘British’ or ‘Australian’, adopt their native countries’ culture and throw out their old customs, language and culture. This is the 21st century, folks! The new model is that immigrants are equally connected HERE and THERE. It’s called transnationalism.
So I hope you’ll read these wonderful, heartfelt stories of giving from everyday people, making a difference in their local neighborhoods and halfway around the world. Welcome to Bayanihan Foundation Worldwide!
Dear Sir,
First I would like to congratulate all the Filipinos abroad who are sacrificing so much for their families way back home. It is also an overwhelming feeling to know that aside from helping their family, they also have big heart to help and practice the bayanihan culture for our kababayans there and back here in the Philippines.
Like you, I wish to do the same thing for my kababayans, however, it is not easy for me to do since like them, im also living in an average lifestyle. I came across your website…and perhaps because of my big desire to help my kababayans, specifically my students, who are most coming from indigent families I put aside the feeling of embarrassment to make an appeal to those who are generous enough to help our school and my students.
My school is located in a hill somewhere in the province of Camarines Norte, Philippines. A secondary school catering 500 students whom i said are majority coming from indigent families. I really wish that I could bring so much knowledge to these youth, however our school though supported by the Government have little fund allocation, the reason why we cannot avail materials that could help easy learning process . I was thinking, how would my students learn more things if our library have handful of books and most are textbooks, computers can only accommodate 30 students which ratio is 1:3? How would they know what is going on outside the school, if they cannot see and feel the things we are teaching?
My friends, I will be very very grateful, if in one way or another these problems could be addressed or lessen. But as I said, there is no easy way for us to solve this problem if there would be no people who could help us in little yet great ways.
I will be very very glad, if you could help us in any way you could. I am writing this along with my prayers that there would be someone or some people who could feel what i feel and have the same advocacy as mine.
If you have old things like books, old multi media projectors and old computers which are not anymore being used, our school have so much room for it.
I will be very very glad to send some pictures and other school profiles if you want to know more about us…
Thank you and God bless you all..
EVA
eponine_alohamath@yahoo.com
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Hello Ms. Marilyn Donato,
Kumusta na po? I’m sorry that we did not receive your post. Please post it again. Thank you for reading our blog and posting your comments! Maraming salamat po!
Dale Asis