A book called Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, speculates that people migrated south from China, through Taiwan to populate the Philippines, then down to Malaysia and Indonesia. Anyone who has met Filipinos knows they are as intelligent as anyone else. Their professionals and nurses excell all over the world. Men here might perform poorly at tasks that we modern westerners might think are important, such as using a cell phone or computer. However, I perform poorly at important tasks for living here such as handling a bolo knife to chop coconuts. Intelligence is relative to the environment and I'm pretty incompetent to live here.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development has a program called Unlad Kabataan, aimed at "out of school youth" from 15-24 years old. A large portion of the Filipino population is young and the population continues to grow at approx 2.5% per year. Elementary school runs from grades 1-6, then students proceed to High School for grades 7-10. Students that go on to college are there from grades 11-14. There's a large majority of students that for many reasons (work, lack of funds) are not able to complete their education in elementary or high school. Here is Carigara this is verifiable by the large number of youth on the street during school.
I have traveled to three different barangays to have meet with youth. So far I am doing far from stellar (I failed). All the out of school youth are boys from age 10-28. Many hang out and play basketball during the day or pool. Some work as tricycle drivers (like a rickshaw) or selling foods on passenger buses that go by. Some do absolutely nothing but live with their parents and hang out with their "barkada" (gang). The plan is to have a few meetings to introduce the youth to the Pag-Asa Program, which is a service organization for out of school youth (described so eloquently in nice program books from the DSWD in Manila). After a few meetings attendence is zero. For anyone who has ever worked with adolescent boys, they are a difficult group (short attention spans, lack of interest). Joseph Campbell described the problems of modern males as lacking in the "rites of passage" and the "hero's journey" - mostly something hard and challenging to do. In America, it might be that organized sports plays that role and historically the military has been excellent in "turning boys into men." Misdirected youth is a problem throughout the world.
I am not a spectacular basketball player, so I can't really attract attention that way. I tried to introduce an exercise programs with pushups andjogging but that was not popular. I have been asking around to try and find a successful Pag-Asa Youth Organizations anywhere here on Leyte, none found so far.
In America, we believe that hard work can overcome poverty, no matter what your backround. While this value is not 100% true (not everyone will have the same opportunities in life), you have the opportunity to do something about your situation. I'm not sure people have that opportunity here. There are more college graduates than there are jobs available for them. If college grads can't get jobs, without a high school education, you are in trouble.
My feeling is that it might be too much, I mean, I don't speak the language well, I'm not a celebrity, I'm not sure a Filipino would be successful here (no one has yet). I now see how structured environments (schools in particular) give the chance to do good work. A lesson learned a little to late for me.
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