Pottery with a Difference

A Philippine-based NGO is helping indigenous people rebuild their lives by selling pottery glazed with ash of the volcano that destroyed their homeland

By Jennifer Gordon-Russell, MBE(lbserv@attglobal.net)
Founder-President Entrepreneur Volunteer Assistance Charity Foundation

In June 1991, Mount Pinatubo, located 90 kilometers north of Manila, blew up in one of the fiercest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century. The eruptions and the ash-and-mudslides that followed claimed more than 800 lives over the next three months. Some 100,000 homes were destroyed. In addition to those known to have been killed were an unknown number of deaths among the Aeta, the indigenous people who had lived peacefully on the volcano while it lay dormant for 600 years.

The Aeta, who had lived off the forests and streams on the slopes of the mountain, lost both their homes and their sources of livelihood. The eruptions killed livestock and fish, and destroyed the forests and fresh water streams. With destructive rivers of lahar—ash and other volcanic residue mixed with mud—running down the mountainsides with every rainfall, the Aeta are unable to return to rebuild their homes.

Most Aeta now live in crowded resettlement camps, where they face an uphill battle to live with dignity and preserve their traditions. An increasing number are choosing to create new settlements on upland slopes, which are now becoming green again. Most are illiterate and not used to a cash economy.

Turning Volcanic Ash into Income

PAPER WITH A PLUS. Adults, many of whom
are autistic or suffer from Down's syndrome,
make paper for the mug certificates.

The Entrepreneur Volunteer Assistance (EVA) Charity Foundation is a nongovernment organization that is helping the Aeta rebuild their lives and find new sources of income. One innovative project makes a virtue out of necessity by using the lahar to glaze stoneware vases, bowls, mugs, and decorative pieces made for the people displaced by the eruptions. These beautiful items, sold in selected shops in Manila, are lovely around the house and ideal as gifts. The charity also accepts orders from institutions, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

ADB has ordered 1,000 mugs over the past few years, each sporting the ADB logo. Many a desk in the ADB headquarters in Manila holds an elegant Pinatubo mug of coffee or tea. The mugs also make great corporate and personal gifts.

Each mug comes in a linen bag along with a certificate of authenticity on hand-made paper informing the buyer that the glaze comes from the volcanic ash of Mount Pinatubo. The certificates and bags generate more employment in the Philippines for adults with special needs. A small group of people, many of whose members are autistic or suffer from Down’s syndrome, make the paper for the certificates.

To the extent possible, the artifacts are made from materials available locally, such as stone, clay, and, of course, the lahar for glazing. For the mugs, stones and lahar are gathered from the mountainside. The lahar must be sifted to yield the ash that is suitable for glazing. A sack of lahar produces only about a quarter cup of ash.

Potters in the town of Antipolo make the mugs with the help of master potter and EVA volunteer Lanelle Abueva Fernando, who learned her craft in Japan and the United States. The studio in Antipolo provides training and employment for 19 full-time workers, who were previously unskilled squatters. What started out as a hobby for Ms. Fernando has become her way of helping the Aeta people displaced by the volcanic eruptions and shanty dwellers in Antipolo.

AETA CHILDREN: Funds for 10 schools have been found, meaning brighter futures for these and other Aeta children.

EVA places contracts with the small groups of artisans and makes advance payments to help them meet their costs.

The funds raised from the sale of the finished goods are used for training and livelihood programs, scholarships, and loans. One program trains Aeta women to be potters to meet local demand in remote villages and settlements. These women use locally available clay and indigenous kilns that burn coconut shells and rice husk rather than wood. This scheme gives Aeta women a means of livelihood where they live and gives the villagers ready access to pots for everyday use.

EVA also helps fund a microfinance scheme for Aeta and lowland women with the help of the National Commission on Indigenous People (Region 3) and the Social Action Center of Pampanga. Marites Ramos used a loan of 15,000 pesos (P) (US$300) in July 2000 to start a small business to produce a range of fabric products. Ms. Ramos has since repaid the loan and her business now earns an average of 7,000 pesos a month and employs many home-based workers in Wenceslou Resettlement Village. They produce the bags for the ADB mugs.

Education Ripple Effect

EVA relies on innovative ideas and limited funds to help the Aeta people to help themselves. Among its unusual programs is a “dip in” scholarship fund for people who are financing their own studies, but need a little financial help when they run short. The EVA assistance helps them buy books, uniforms, and food, or pay for transport or rent so they can complete their education. EVA also provides some full scholarships.

OUR OWN SCHOOL: An Aeta school built with help from the EVA Foundation.

Those who receive help for education are expected to participate in a “pay back” program in which they repay the community not in cash but in kind. They become “literacy activators” in their own communities for a year on a part-time basis for a monthly honorarium from EVA. They teach Aeta adults to read, write, and do sums. Those they teach then share their new skills within their own families, causing a ripple effect. EVA calls this the 3A3Rs program, with the 3As of adult Aeta action added to the more conventional 3Rs of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Many of the literacy activators go on to become full-time teachers. As the program grows, EVA hopes Aeta adults will soon be teaching Aeta children in new schools in the area. This is a dream coming true as the funds for 10 schools have been found. The orders for mugs and other Pinatubo products from institutions like ADB bring such dreams to life.

For more information on the work of the Entrepreneur Volunteer Assistance Charity Foundation, please write to EVA, 1665 Dasmariñas Avenue, Dasmariñas Village, 1220 Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines or email lbserv@attglobal.net

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