Reality bites and sights: SERVE Ireland and the Akapbata 2006 experience

Francis and Tom work as coolies at a construction site. Each got paid 125 pesos or just a bit under two euros for an hour’s work

For two weeks in August 2006, community volunteers from Ireland put on their flip flops, hopped on a plane to Manila and embarked on their journey to rediscovering a mission to travel with the downtrodden of the earth.

Brian McCabe, Aoife Gormally, Mairead O’Donnell, and Francis Loy joined AKAP BATA and its partner nonprofits Center for Community Work and Peoples Development (CCWPD) and the Philippine Legislative Alliance for Children’s Concerns (PLACC) in their day-to-day work exposing them to the realities faced by Filipino children in the Metro Manila area.

Taking time off from their jobs as teachers and students, they interacted with the communities and stayed with foster families that gave them valuable insights and experiences.

The youth contingent ladled out food at soup kitchens of AKAP BATA’s food aid projects and taught teachers how to craft puppets from paper bags and party plates.
They hiked the slippery slopes of Manila’s smoking garbage dumps where they find out that thousands of families live and work as wastepickers on top of the smoldering wastes.


They also visited the expansion sites for future projects in Alaminos City, home to the world famous tourist spot The Hundred Islands. Hon. Mayor Hernani Braganza was on hand to show SERVE Ireland his different social change projects for the poor.

SERVE’s journey with AKAP BATA resulted in a shared commitment to establishing more working cooperative work between the peoples of Ireland and the Philippines for the benefit of poor children all over the world.

SERVE is an initiative committed to tackling world poverty. In particular SERVE strives to combat both youth poverty and pro-actively unleash, nurture and retain youth capacity.

Emerging, from a tripartite partnership relationship, between young Irish adults, Irish Redemptorists and marginalised communities in the developing world, SERVE works to empower vulnerable and excluded groups and communities to become the agents of their own transformation.