Little did British national Jennifer Wallum know that answering a letter calling for volunteers to help Filipinos displaced by Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption back in 1991 would change her life.
Her husband, Swedish national Jan Peter Wallum, had just come to the Philippines to work at the Asian Development Bank, and Jenny set out to look for volunteer work where she could practice her vocation as a teacher.
"Throughout my work, I empower children. I believe we adults have to give them opportunities to do good," she says. "I think it is very important to give recognition to children and their work."
It is this belief that guided her in her previous "jobs" teaching or otherwise helping those in need in other countries where she has lived.
Jenny met Jan Peter when they were both in Iran. He was a United Nations volunteer and she was assigned to teach him about Iranian culture.
Life in Iran was "never dull," Jenny says. She was kept busy "dodging secret police," and was even once mistaken for a member of the MI-6 (the British secret service).
"I was invited to embassy functions to which I had never even been invited before!" Jenny adds, throwing her head back in laughter.
After Iran, and with two daughters in tow, the Wallums had a brief sojourn in England, Scotland and Sweden. They then moved to St. Vincent in the West Indies, where she set up a needlecraft livelihood training group and got so thin, one local declared to her cronies, "Look at dem ribs!"
"Next came life in the very pleasant British Virgin Islands where I sang in local choirs, set up a craft and marketing course, trained calligraphers and baked my own bread. All this activity inspired my youngest daughter to declare, ‘But you’re still not as fast as Wonder Woman,’" Jenny recalls.
Jenny and her family then went to Thailand, where she again engaged in teaching and indulging her love of music. She recalls that they arrived at the height of the failed "April Fools Day coup" in 1981, which thankfully "everyone survived! No extra coups and both children learned to curl their fingers back Thai style."
When her husband was assigned to the Philippines, Jenny had no inkling that answering the letter published in the ADB Women’s Club magazine would mean devoting most of her spare time to volunteer work.
She helped out in the office of the I.N.A. Special Projects, a small self-funded, volunteer offshoot of a Philippine non-government organizations that was funded by France’s Enfants et Development.
Shortly after Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991, she was a handed a pumice stone and told "to find something for them to do." Jenny hit on the idea of having the displaced Pampanga residents gather pumice stones and put them in decorative little bags to be sold as souvenirs.
"It was a mental health exercise for them, to help them recover," she says.
I.N.A. pulled out of Region 3 that same year, but not before its officials told Jenny they believe that she could take a more active role in helping the people whose lives were devastated by the eruption.
Asked about her first meeting with the Aetas, Jenny pauses and continues in a much lower voice, as if sharing a secret.
At a tent city set up at the Magalang Agricultural College in Pampanga, she met with an old lady named Norma Laxamana and her father, Alfonso, who she was told was the "last of the great Aeta kings."
"He was an old, old man. Very infirm. All they wanted were seeds and tools," Jenny recalls.
Jenny admits that she "hadn’t realized such people existed," but she was struck by the Aetas’ dignity, by the way they "look at you straight in the eyes and smile," even though they were "desperately trying to feed themselves and function as family units."
Full of awe and respect, Jenny is struck by the Aetas’ vast knowledge of nature and, as a singer, their purity of tone–they can "mimic things perfectly to pitch."
"They want to be Aeta, which is why it hurts them when people mock them, and they are proud to be true Filipinos," Jenny says. "They’re very clever. Like a reed blowing in the wind. Great observers, very patient. Because they’re hunters, they observe people like they would observe an animal they’re hunting."
She does not find the treks to Aeta communities arduous, having grown up in "the middle of the countryside in Northumberland."
"I totally enjoyed it! I grew up among trees. Climbing up and down hills (to reach Aeta communities), it was like going back home to my childhood," Jenny enthuses, adding that she and her siblings used to make bows and arrows using string for the bow because they did have the heart to "cut legs off chickens" just to get at the tendon that would have made a better bow. They used these improvised weapons to shoot crows, particularly during lambing season, when the birds would peck the eyes out of newborn lambs.
Jenny and volunteers working with her raised funds initially to give Aetas carabaos, seeds and tools through I.N.A., but they eventually created their own group–the Entrepreneur Volunteer Assistance Charity Foundation or EVACF.
EVACF has 70 members in the Philippines and 28 overseas who work for free. The foundation also works with various partners who help in the livelihood projects.
"We emphasize that they are not beggars, they are partners," she says of her beneficiaries. "They also know that there has to be effort on their part."
Jenny designs most of the Pinatubo ashglaze items for studio potter Lanelle Abueva Fernando to make at her micro-livelihood center in Antipolo. The ashglaze gift sets are sold at her Crescent Cafe, also in Antipolo.
The ashglaze used here, Jenny proudly says, is "made from the finest ashes produced by the eruption. It must be heated to higher temperatures than all other glazes. It is non-toxic, lead-free, microwave- and oven-safe."
Since she is a teacher by profession, Jenny has helped seek funds for the building of Traditional Origins Ethnic Education Schools (TOE2S). Out of 36 schools that have been built, 12 "were funded with the help of children," Jenny says, including one built with money pooled by British children.
Once a school is built, Jenny makes sure that Aeta leaders have the papers to prove that the community owns the school and the land around it. She has also raised funds for tribal language literacy books to help Aeta children learn their own language and culture.
Aeta elders "want to have a say in their children’s learning. They know that the formative years are very important," Jenny says. They want their children to have the knowledge of their traditions but at the same time, benefit from what the rest of the world has to offer.
Aeta university scholars–the first batch graduated in 1999–help pass on the knowledge they gain by teaching adult members of their community to read and write.
So far, the EVACF has produced 32 graduates from four indigenous people groups. One of the foundation’s success stories is Wyda Cosme, who now works for the Clark Development Corp. as a legal analyst. Though her first attempt at the bar exams last September was not a success, "Let’s hope she doesn’t give up," Jenny says.
Much to her surprise, Jenny’s efforts to help the Aetas and other indigenous peoples affected by Pinatubo’s eruption did not go unrecognized. On Dec. 31, 1999, Queen Elizabeth II made her a "Member of the British Empire" (MBE) for service to Filipinos.
"It was amazing! You don’t do your work expecting these things. I was afraid that if I open my eyes, the dream would go away," Jenny says. "It was the same day Sean Connery got knighted!"
She received her medal at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, "in recognition of my Scottish ancestors," from the Queen herself. Jenny is only the second woman in the Philippines to receive this honor, the first who is not with the diplomatic service. She is the first from a Philippine charity.
"EVACF is not a British charity, it is a purely Philippine charity," she points out.
Jenny believes that the government should establish a register of all individuals and groups who are working with Aetas and other indigenous peoples. "They can be exploited so easily," she says.
Jenny believes that indigenous groups are part of the Philippines’ national treasure, and should be valued as such. "Help should be given in such a way that they can retain their dignity and their culture," she says.
Jenny wants to encourage people to donate either their time or resources to help Aetas and other indigenous groups help themselves. Interested parties can volunteer a few hours each Tuesday morning for "pack and yack" sessions during which they assemble orders for EVACF’s Mt. Pinatubo-themed products, "exchange ideas, discuss projects, and have fun" over coffee and cake at her residence in Makati. Those who have more time can help assess the progress of EVACF’s livelihood projects in the various provinces affected by the Pinatubo eruption.
Donations in cash could send Aeta students to college, buy educational supplies for them, or fund the construction of a school. The money could also be used to fund the various livelihood projects. Used clothes, kitchenware and toys would discourage children from begging.
The simplest way a person can help, Jenny says, is to purchase EVACF’s handicrafts, which are the sole source of financial support for the foundation.
"We want the Aetas and other indigenous peoples to reach a point where we are no longer needed," she says.
Log on to www.evacf.org for more information.