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LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Dear Friends, If someone had told me three years ago that the Bukas Sarili Foundation would be where it is today, I might have replied “I’m not even sure we’ll be around in three years.” Three years ago, the very idea of Bukas Sarili was just that–an idea. Today, people talk of the organization that is “Bukas Sarili”, the ideals it stands for, and the hope it represents. People claim to be “members” or “part” of the Foundation. Others talk about the people behind Bukas Sarili or its beneficiaries as though it had evolved into an entity unto itself. But what really is “Bukas Sarili”? Nothing. Nothing but what you believe it to be. An idea, a passing fancy, a hobby, or a vision, a reality, a life’s work. I still remember all those brain-racking evening sessions, when no one could even grasp what they were holding, contesting over a Mission and Vision, the rhetoric of the brochure, and even just a name. It seemed all the good ones had been taken. But we knew it once we saw it, on a shortlist from a Jesuit friend. Bukas Sarili, the “Open Self”, the awareness of the socio-economic disparities in our surroundings and an openness to our capacity for change—beginning with ourselves and onto those we seek to help. It encompassed everything we believed in and the vision we held, that change could only happen if we started with ourselves. To those who were there, who can forget that first Rummage Sale back in March 1999. Under no obligation and without ever having raised a centavo in their lives, volunteers helped out feverishly. The following month, it was Standing Room Only at that first General Assembly, and practically everyone signed up as members. A string of novel and well-attended projects followed, each seemingly more ambitious than the last. Soon, however, the fervor of starting a new organization grew into the drudgery of actually running one. I fervently believed though that somewhere out there existed a bridge between burnout and being bothered enough that it kept you up at night. "None can usurp the height but those to whom the miseries of the world are a misery and will not let them rest.”1 The real world suffocates dreams and ideals; and therefore, it needs action and perseverance. I once read in an essay that the root of poverty in the world is not a problem of lack of supply but rather one of inadequate distribution. There is enough to go around, but the machine to carry this out requires a scarce but highly essential fuel --compassion. No drastic earth-shaking solutions would be necessary, if only each citizen were to sustain his own little effort. Countless organizations that address the various sectors of society where unequal distribution is rampant exist today. One only needs to be bothered enough or compassionate enough to see this inequality and conjure the initiative to seek solutions. Martin Luther King III wrote of Gandhi, “he knew that human compassion is universal. A single act of one could quickly ignite the action of many if it appealed to what is just and right within the human spirit.” Often we hear of thousands of contributions pouring in for some child dying of cancer in some town we’ve never heard of. Ironically, so many such cases of need occur daily right under our noses without anyone ever doing anything about them. And yet, who would hesitate, assuming he could afford, to shell out a few thousand pesos for a life-saving operation or a prosthesis, if he met its beneficiary face-to-face? Certainly many would give in the absence of such an encounter, but something or someone must first appeal to their sense of compassion. Traditional media has desensitized us. We need a living, breathing human being to convince us, touching our sensitivities, adjusting to our every emotion, appeasing our uncertainties, and conspiring with our hopes and dreams. And that is the very essence of Bukas Sarili—human beings appealing to human beings on behalf of other human beings. Not saints or philanthropists, but mere conduits or channels of aid from those who have to those who need. Bukas Sarili seeks to foster a spirit of volunteerism in the true sense of the word, not necessarily as members of Foundation, but in each one’s personal life as well or through synergy with other existing organizations. Bukas Sarili strives towards system change and represents action-based idealism, founded on the belief that the members of the Foundation as well as its beneficiaries belong to one interdependent Filipino community. “…For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."2 Raymond Anthony N. Alimurung
1 John Keats, “Hyperion” (1884)
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