I didn’t really know what to expect as we drove up to Pulang Lupa.  It’s hard to fully grasp the gravity of this community’s situation without seeing it first hand.  Mercury mining has left most of the hills that surround Pulang Lupa a rich shade of red, and years of mercury excavation has devastated the land.  If that were the only environmental concern there, cleaning up what the mining did to the soil would be daunting enough, but Pulang Lupa is also down the hill from an active landfill.  Remnants of the trash from the landfill litter the red earth of the barangay.  Leakage from what is disposed of at the landfill compounds the negative ecological impact this confluence of disastrous environmental conditions has on this already tenuous community.  That’s what you see when you drive into Pulang Lupa, what appears to be unmanageable environmental degradation.

What you don’t see is a sense of hopelessness from the people.  You see a vibrancy and resiliency in the women participating in the sessions.  You see active engagement and inquiry by nearly all the women, thoroughly excited by the opportunity for improvements in the public health of Pulang Lupa.  You see happy and playful children, seemingly indifferent to their difficult living conditions.  You see people determined to improve their standard of living, despite long odds, and you see people resourceful and industrious enough to do it.  You can’t help but be inspired by the unabashed hopefulness of the people you encounter there.  The sessions for the women are lively and engaging.  The educational sessions for the children look like any exuberant primary school class in the developed world, with children singing and clapping and chomping at the bit to answer questions.  As dire as their surroundings appear to be, the community of Pulang Lupa is as alive as any I’ve encountered.

I am particularly interested in their burgeoning interest in the vertical gardening opportunities provided by Roots of Health.  Most of the soil that could be used for planting is contaminated due to landfill run off and mercury excavation.  They really can’t utilize the soil to its full potential.  These vertical gardens are amazingly simple structures that allow people to plant vegetables above the ground using clean and nutrient rich soil.  The gardens are plastic cylinders with holes cut out on the sides and an irrigation system using rocks in the center of the soil.  You can plant virtually anything in these ingenious devices.  Being a part of the preparation of these gardens has me thinking about other niche communities they could be used in.  The way I see it, what holds urban farming back is accessibility to adequate space and proper soil.  Vertical gardens theoretically solve these problems by effectively utilizing the available space in urban plots.  As a city person, I know the paucity of healthy food options in indigent urban neighborhoods, and these garden prototypes could provide a nutritious alternative to what is currently offered.

Although my time with ROH has been brief, it’s clear to me that their presence in Pulang Lupa has benefited the people in so many ways.  Women are often the backbones of communities in the developing world.  Their empowerment is essential for progress in many vital public health areas.  I commend ROH for their comprehensive program at Pulang Lupa, from the reproductive health seminars to their vertical gardening.  They provide necessary services to this disenfranchised community off-the-radar screen and without most social services we are all accustomed to.  Of all the lasting memories I will take with me, the most salient will definitely be the smiles of the people I encountered there.  They are as effulgent as the sunlight that ceaselessly pours down from the sky all over the 7,000 Philippine islands.