71 dreams and still counting

Almost a year ago, 71 lives were lost in a harrowing stampede at the ULTRA, where ABS-CBN’s Wowowee was supposed to be held. Dreams went up in smoke and hopes were shattered in one fell swoop.

From the ashes arose a foundation called 71 Dreams, which ABS-CBN big boss Gabby Lopez started to help the families of the deceased.

After all, the statistics are grim. Most of those who perished were women, proving, once more, as Fr. Tito Caluag, managing director of 71 Dreams Foundation says, that it is the women who can’t bear the sight of seeing their family starve.

Even grimmer is the fact that most of the deceased were main providers and the more productive members of their families. Most of the surviving families are unemployed and have always been dependent on them for support.

It’s easy to do a Marie Antoinette and give the families bread and circuses to keep them their mouths shut. But that’s just what 71 Dreams is avoiding like the plague.

"We want to teach them how to fish instead of giving them fish," Caluag says.

That’s why the foundation has set up livelihood projects for the families the deceased have left behind. Caluag reports that 34 families have received livelihood assistance in various ways. The most popular means of income is the sari-sari store with bigasan, with the carinderia, peanut vending, cellphone repair/load retail, fruit stand, auto surplus shop, tire recapping, buying and selling of vegetables, balut and cigarette vending, buying and selling and charcoal coming up next.

Nine families who excelled in their livelihood projects got free weighing scales, grillers, cooking utensils, foot spa machines and dish drainers as Christmas gifts last month.

The young don’t just twiddle their thumbs at home either. Children of the deceased were able to start or continue their studies as scholars, mostly in government-run schools. Thirty-five of them are in elementary, 28 in high school, 17 in college and one in a special education course.

Last Christmas, 15 of these scholars with talents and potentials got free educational materials, notebooks, T-shirts, bags, caps and shoes.

And just to make sure members have enough to get by during the rainy days, the foundation has launched a forced savings program where part of their earnings go. Foundation officers check on the funds now and then to make sure everything is in order.

Anyone who has lost the breadwinner in the family will tell you though, that material help is not enough. In fact, that’s nothing compared to the emotional void the loss of a loved one leaves behind. Emotional scars must heal, grief must be dealt with.

That’s why 71 Dreams has built what it calls is a "network of compassion."

Caluag helps as many as 57 families face their problems and do something positive about them through regular counseling sessions.

The emotional scars are as many as they are deep. The list of problems is long: child sexual abuse, wife battery/verbal abuse, infidelity, juvenile delinquency (vagrancy, gangs, petty crimes like stealing), teen problems (early sexual relationships), OFW issues (incarceration, same sex relationships, non-support) and family issues (physical abuse, sibling disputes, property claims, etc.).

The foundation is not a super body with a cure-all for all cases. Those beyond the foundation’s scope are brought to other agencies. One mother, for instance, was referred to the Women’s Crisis Center for counseling.

Still, 71 Dreams does what it can. Good Samaritans are welcome to donate not just money, but something just as precious: time. Minding the baby while his parents are running a sari-sari store is considered a blessing many times over. So is teaching a small group of families the basics of a starting a cottage industry.

Thanks to these efforts, Caluag and company are slowly helping the aggrieved families rebuild their future. This does not mean though, that they can sit in one corner and relax. Caluag himself admits the journey is still long, the night is far from over.

But at least, 71 Dreams has taken the first baby steps towards that journey, and little flickers of light are dancing in the dark to guide the families through the night.

It is for this, and the many things that lie ahead that he is officiating a commemorative Mass at ABS-CBN’s Studio 1 on Feb. 2, the first Friday of the month at 6:30 p.m. That’s two days before the first anniversary of the ULTRA stampede.

There is much to be thankful for, but still so much more to be done. It won’t be easy. Any effort with big goals never is, and never will be.

But, as a Chinese saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

And 71 Dreams hopes to get there someday, one step at a time.