Reaching Out to the Third World
In a beautiful Lenten tradition, the Dutch raise money to support projects in developing countries.

By Carlo Butalid in the Netherlands

When I first arrived here in the Netherlands, I noticed that people didn't really mark Holy Week and the Lenten season like in the Philippines.

The emphasis seemed to be on having fun before Lent, with Carnaval marking the days before Ash Wednesday; and then after Lent, with Easter celebrations. Carnaval, a tradition that started in the Middle Ages, is marked by parades, and in the evening, by wild parties. People here told me that the festivity in the past served as a yearly outlet for the rural peasants’pent-up emotions. Good Friday, then as now, is an ordinary working day,although some Catholic schools have the afternoon off.

Later on, I found out about a beautiful Dutch tradition of observing Lent by raising money for projects in the Third World. Every year, during the Lenten season, many parishes in this country of 16 million people try to raise money for Third World project.

One parish, that of Woerden, in the province of Utrecht, chose to campaign for two Philippine projects.

At 11 am on Sunday, March 16, they had a special mass dedicated to this campaign. Instead of the usual two readings, they listened to a description of the two projects: the first one was a water and sustainable agriculture project in Don Marcelino, in Davao del Sur; the second was a Filipino migrant project in the Netherlands.

Songs and Dances

The high point was during the offertory, when members of Alab (for ‘Alay sa Bayan’, a Philippine cultural group based in Utrecht) presented the Igorot ‘Dance of the Seven Gongs.’

A choir from the Filipino Catholic community of Rotterdam sang Filipino songs, including “Kaibigan” and “Sino Ako.” During this mass, the collection box went around three times, one for the “regular” church collection, and two for the Philippine projects.

After the mass, the dancers disclosed that they literally developed cold feet because they had to dance barefoot on the cold stone floor of the church. But they said they were not complaining, for it was the least that they could do to bring the Philippines to the consciousness of the Dutch.

Jessica Ligan of Alab said that they had a full schedule of church presentations during the whole of Lent.

Woerden is only one of the 1,200 or so parishes that take part in the yearly Dutch Lenten Campaign (Vastenaktie). Martje van Nes, of the Vastenaktie national secretariat, disclosed that 126 parishes took up a Philippine project this year, out of 25 main projects in various parts of the world. In 2001, a total of 465 parishes, more than one-third of the total participating parishes, chose a Philippine project. Parishes decide on which project to support, and they usually stick to one country for one or two years before moving on.

Why do many parishes choose a Philippine project? One reason is the wide availability of information materials on Philippine projects, both from the Vastenaktie secretariat and from the Philippine solidarity network.

Filippijnengroep Nederland (the Philippine solidarity group based in Utrecht), for example, has a lot of information materials on the Philippines such as books, information kits, slides and videos. They even have a “lesson chest,” with assorted materials from the Philippines -- handicrafts, its currency and flag, a model jeepney, and many more.

To add to that, parishes that take up a Philippine project are almost sure to find a Dutch-speaking Filipina or Filipino who can speak about the Philippines. And often, they may be able to get a Filipino group to present Philippine songs and dances. They cannot get anything like these for projects in most other countries.

Throughout Lent, the parish MOV (Mission, Development and Peace) groups, which coordinate Lenten Campaign activities, do a variety of information and fund-raising work. Volunteers go from house to house to solicit money for the selected project. Special “Lenten Meals” are organized, in which the participants eat a frugal meal (such as rice and dried fish) similar to the meals eaten by the people in the country that they are supporting.

Tales from a Faraway Land

During the same period, children preparing for their first communion (which is usually in May) are given special piggy banks in which to put the money they would otherwise spend on candy. Traditionally, the children abstain from eating candy during the whole of Lent, save their money in a piggy bank, and then spend it all at Easter. Now, the Lenten Campaign encourages children to give this money for a Third World project.

Filipinos help conduct workshops for the children who take part in the campaign. Dutch children are told about the situation of children in the Philippines and are encouraged to raise money for projects that benefit Filipino children, such as providing library books. Dutch children are fascinated to hear stories about the Philippines. Things like the bunot (coconut husk used for polishing floors) or pamaypay (fans) are interesting to them; they take turns in trying to clean their classroom floor with bunot. They also listen attentively to folk tales like the story of the monkey and the turtle, and learn Philippine dances like the tinikling. One song that is taught more often than others is “Bugsay Bugsay,” a Visayan nursery rhyme about rowing a small boat.

Bugsay, bugsay, kiling-kiling diyutay (3x)
Bugsay, bugsay sa barotong gamay

The ditty is accompanied by the action of rowing (bugsay) and of swaying (kiling-kiling) at various speeds.

During the workshops, many children become so enthusiastic about the project that they not only put “candy money” in their Lenten Campaign piggy bank; some ask relatives for money to give to the project, or else they sell flowers in their neighborhood.

The Lenten Campaign was started in 1962 by the conference of Catholic Bishops in the Netherlands. In the four decades since then, it has grown to become the biggest volunteer-based campaign in the country. Last year, it raised more than 7 million euros (approximately P400 million) for more than 300 projects in the Third World. About 25,000 people participate yearly in the campaign.

The campaign’s emphasis is on solidarity, and not mere charity. The description of the project in Davao makes the call: “Wanted: Real Heroes.” It goes on to describe how logging, over-intensive agriculture, and “overfishing” have brought extreme poverty to 22-year-oldIgnacio and the 6,000 or so other people (mostly B’ laan and Manobo) in Don Marcelino. Despite all this, they still have the strength to work for a better life. “

These heroes do not lack determination, creativity nor effort. But they lack money. With your contribution you extend a helping hand to Ignacio and the people of Don Marcelino. Together with them, you can make more things possible.”

Over the years, Philippine solidarity groups and Filipino organizations have been involved in various ways in the Lenten Campaign, which has encouraged many parishes, schools, women’s groups, and other organizations in the Netherlands to adopt projects in the Philippines. Many of these groups are in remote places of the Dutch countryside - perhaps because it is in these places where the people can relate easily to Third World concepts like sense of community, simple living, and the need to protect nature, and simple living.

Do the Lenten Campaign activities overwhelm Filipino organizations such as Alab? Not at all, says Jessica. “Alab has been presenting Philippine songs, dances, and drama to Dutch audiences since 1980.” In the early years, Alab had to go all over the Netherlands to comply with requests for such presentations. These days, they no longer need to travel too far, for there are Filipino cultural groups almost everywhere in the Netherlands. “Now , parishes invite Filipinos within their own provinces to take part in the Lenten Campaign activities.”

This is the Lenten Campaign message: “Together we can make more things possible.”

The campaign has planted many seeds of solidarity in many communities in the Netherlands and in the Third World. It has helped link migrant communities here with church and other groups. It has helped thousands of people like Ignacio triumph in their heroic struggle against poverty.

By many accounts, the Dutch are hearing the message loud and clear.