An ecological livelihood project for women living in

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Wonders of Wenceslao Bags

• An ecological livelihood project for women living
  in
• Wenceslao Resettlement Community, Pampanga,
  Philippines.

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Pampanga

• The Philippines is a
• country of islands
• 7,000 and still
• counting
• Pampanga is a
• province on
• the largest island,
• Luzon.

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• In 1992 the people of Pampanga witnessed
• one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the
• 20th century that of Mt Pinatubo.
• Infrastructure including roads were destroyed,
• villages were buried and thousands of people
• lost everything.
• Today they are still rebuilding their lives

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In the years following the volcano there were
heavy rains which dislodged soil from the
mountains. As it moved downwards it mixed with
the ash fall to form a heavy cement like
substance called lahar. In the mid 1990s
further destruction was caused by heavy floods of
lahar which buried more villages, blocked
drainage systems and caused extensive flooding
causing people to abandon their homes.
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Thousands of displaced and homeless people lived
in temporary shelters while trying to get their
lives back together again. A variety of
international and national agencies were involved
in the relief and rehabilitation work. Among the
former was a Spanish agency Manos Unidas. In
partnership with a local non government agency
the Social Action Center of Pampanga, SACOP, they
established resettlement villages.
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Today Wenceslao resettlement village is home to
528 families all of whom have suffered loss and
destruction in their lives as a result of the
volcano. The rehabilitation work is still on
going.
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Among the residents of Wenceslao are the women
who form WoW. They are all neighbours who live
within 5 minutes walk of each other
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The juice pack project is the result of some
creative thinking. There is a huge on going need
to develop livelihoods for people. A community
meeting surfaced the idea of trying to make bags
from the many juice packs which litter the place.
Also living within the community were some women
with sewing machines, we had the support of a
volunteer to help with marketing and on going
development. We also had regular input from a
SACOP community worker. The mix of all these
resulted in WoW bags.
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So what happens to produce a WoW bag? Firstly
some women collect the used juice packs. They
get them from hospitals, schools or from the road
where people have discarded them. Opring goes
about on her bicycle collecting. Its hard work
as it is hot..
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The packs are then washed and sorted by size and
colour. Other women and their family members
help with this task. They also sort the packs
into different colours and brands.
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The packs are then delivered to the home of
Maritess where they are stored.
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Other supplies needed for the bags like the
thread, zips, trimming for the edges, buckles etc
all have to come from Manila. This is a 3 hour
trip each way. It is all purchased in a huge
market called Divisioria and then brought back to
the province by public transport..
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As we receive orders some women prepare what is
needed to make them so that the others can then
collect the right amount of materials and in the
right colour combinations. With the supplies
sorted out the women of Wenceslao are ready to
start sewing your bags
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The women work from their own homes therefore
ensuring minimal disruption to family routines.
They can decide how many bags they wish to make
and when they want to make them. When the order
is finished they are quality checked before
leaving the resettlement.
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They are collected by tricycle, a popular and
efficient form of transport in the Philippines.
They are taken to the SACOP office for final
quality control and preparation for posting.
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The final stage of their journey is back on to
the tricycle for delivery to the shipping office.

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The shipping office is where the fun starts as we
try to fill each box to the maximum weight
allowed, 25 kg. It takes a long time to pack as
we are careful to use every millimeter of space
using all means necessary!
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Then our lovely ecological bags arrive to you.
We hope that their colours and character brighten
your day and that you enjoy using them.
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We believe that you are buying more than a bag
from WoW, as our way of working is also
representative of a fairer deal for smaller
producers. We thank you for your support and
your interest in our lives and our situation.
We look forward to an on going partnership with
you and your friends as we work together to
provide the basics for our families and to remove
plastic from our environment.
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Maraming maraming salamat sa inyong lahat! Thank
you