A ‘WRETCHED OF THE EARTH’ SURMOUNTS HUNGER & POVERTY

A ‘WRETCHED OF THE EARTH’ SURMOUNTS HUNGER & POVERTY

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

The narratives from poor communities in developing countries about folks thriving on a mere once-a-day meal is classic story of the ‘wretched of the earth’. Getting to know them closely through participant observation could make one feel what a living hovel is which, in esse, far outweighs the subjects of Franz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth.

In UN development parlance, such folks are concrete cases of those families earning below US $2 per day. The UN’s member countries were thus challenged to accelerate their poverty alleviation agenda so as to half the quantities of warm bodies falling within the ‘wretched’ criterion.

Below is an example of a human interest narrative coming from Asia that fits into the MDG success story.

[Philippines, 19 November 2011]

Source: http://www.beta.undp.org/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/successstories/onemealadaytothree.html
From one meal a day to three
Asea Begum inside her home grocery store in Mymensingh district, northern Bangladesh. (Photo: UNDP)
Inside Asea Begum’s home, shelves teem with jars containing pulses, grains, spices and dried biscuits. A little girl runs in with a small plastic bottle that Begum fills with cooking oil in exchange for a few coins.
Asea Begum runs a small grocery store out of her one-room house in the Mymensingh district of northern Bangladesh. The store is a primary source of income for Begum, and allows her to provide for her family.
Highlights
• UNDP’s UPPR initiative has improved living standards for more than 2.3 million people in Bangladesh.
• UPPR has provided Slums in Bangladesh with 12,370 latrines, 2,122 tube wells, 46 kilometers of drains and 128 kilometers of footpaths.
• More than 90 per cent of all posts in the UPPR initiative’s community-led committees are held by women.
Not long ago, however, Begum and her family ate just one meal a day, consisting of plain rice and a few pieces of chili. Her children were always hungry and her husband, who pulls a rickshaw all day, was continually exhausted.
All this changed when Begum received a loan of 6,000 Bangladeshi Taka (about US$85) from her local community development committee. The loan allowed her to start a small grocery business and thereby signicantly increase her income.
After repaying the loan, she also borrowed cash to buy goats, which she raises and sells in front of her house. Her monthly income is now about US$15, after expenses, and she has become a member of her local community development committee.
These committees, made up of women like Begum, are the core of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) US$120m Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction (UPPR) initiative.
UPPR, which began in 2008 and will run until 2015, is implemented by various governmental and non-governmental partners and UN agencies. It currently has 100 government staff and 400 mostly national UNDP staff.
The project is the largest of its kind in Bangladesh and one of the largest in the world. Its goal is to reduce urban poverty in the country and improve the livelihoods and living conditions of Bangladesh’s three million urban poor and extremely poor people, especially women and girls.
“Poverty reduction initiatives have the best effects when they target women,” explains programme manager Richard Geier, “because [women] are the most affected, under-employed, and they are the ones caring for children.”
UPPR’s committees provide the necessary support for members to embark on income-generating activities and obtain eco-friendly job skills training. They also assess the community’s needs in order to develop action plans for providing needed services, such as health facilities and legal assistance.
“We are mobilising community members, integrating them into community organisations, and this helps them become empowered to address their needs,” says Geier. “They used to be isolated, but now they know they can seek help.”
By the end of 2009, Bangladesh had more than 1,200 committees, consisting of 1.7 million people from 23 towns and cities.
The committees, which also encourage members to form savings and credit groups, are highly effective in promoting the kind of development local people want and need.
As a result of the committees’ work, the slums covered by the UPPR initiative now have 12,370 more latrines, 2,122 more tube wells, 46 more kilometres of drains and 128 more kilometres of footpaths.
The UPPR initiative’s strategy also includes policy advocacy, which helps to develop policies that support the poor and implement them at national and local government levels.
It’s a strategy that seems to be working so far.
By selling groceries and rearing goats, Begum has been able to replace her house’s flimsy bamboo walls with sturdier material and her family now eats three meals a day including vegetables and fish. Best of all, through her local community development committee she has a cadre of other women on whom she can rely for support.
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PHILIPPINE PATRIOTISM: RUMBLINGS OF LEMURIAN AWAKENING

Erle Frayne Argonza

On the 30^th of November, this republic will again celebrate National Heroes’ Day, to commemorate the patriotic heroism of the late Andres Bonifacio, leader of the Philippine Revolution (1896). Like his fellow patriots Dr. Jose Rizal and Apolinario Mabini, Bonifacio became the Bearer of the Torch of Liberty, a sublime energizing ‘torch’ from the 7^th Dimension (Plane) inspired by a Deity of that namesake, Liberty.

The significance of this sublime Torch (to shorten it) is unknown to the hordes of somnambulists that now populate the islands and the entire Terra, a fact known only to very few wakened souls on the planet, both on the Light and Dark sides of the ‘Force’ (spiritual force). And even among the wakened ones, few know the significance of the Torch’s descent on the erstwhile “small-time” archipelago, for such a descent—and its consequent incineration of the dark veils of the Collective Unconscious—is of epochal import to humanity and the Spiritual Hierarchy.

The Philippines was carved out of the fragmenting Empire of Majapahit by a maritime power of Iberia, the Kingdom of Spain. No such unified entity as Philippines existed before, save that the totality of principalities governing the area were subdued one by one, and then declared as one single colony for efficient governance. Had the Spaniards just done their deeper research, an enterprise that they didn’t possess than, they could have discovered that the islands were in fact a part of a larger entity—the Empire of the Malays—that was then the wealthiest ever known by the world till these days.

The Empire, which covered a territory that was more or less as large as today’s ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nation), was peopled by a seafaring race, of diverse ethnicities but united by the Emperor and his Princely scions who governed the various potentates. The Malay peoples were genetically bred thousands of years back, simultaneously with the appearance of the Aryans, from among a group of dark-skinned Lemurians, the result of which was a pedigree of lighter bronze-brown hue that looked like golden bronze in magnificent beauty when lit by the daylight of the Sun. As to ‘who’ bred the Malays, few surely know even among the wakened ones, but this much I can say: they were the same ‘off-planet’ force that bred the Aryans (Keltics being the first result) from out of their own gene pool mixed with existing races then (Aryans bred from Red-skinned Atlanteans).

As sturdy and smart as their Aryan counterparts, the Malays survived the catastrophic phenomena that followed the end of the last glacial period, catastrophes that submerged the original subcontinental island of Maharloka (‘great land’) that they originally inhabited, a vast land over four (4) times larger than today’s island southeast Asia. Maharloka was the center of a world empire or civilization of Mu, the greatest and wealthiest civilization ever on Earth, exceeded by the other entity Atlantis only in technological prowess and sordid evil. Upon Maharloka’s sinking, so did that Flame of Civility of the entire Earth sink with it, bringing down likewise the vast treasures of precious minerals (gold most specially) accumulated by the Great Empire.

It was Maharloka, whose very center of governance, commerce and spirituality was the area we now call Philippines, that bore the Torch all along, and this fact enabled a Great Balance in the Planet against the Dark Lords of Atlantis. Maharloka’s people were largely a Warrior race, assigned by the Spiritual Hierarchy of Terra that sublime role, for two (2) reasons: (a) it had to guard the spiritual treasures (‘jewels’ of ‘ancient wisdom’) that guided all human philosophic, scientific, and esthetic precepts, and (b) it is the site, till these days, of the hyper-space gateway Portal to the galaxies and constellations beyond our Solar system. And so from this Great Land also came the Kingly Class that was to govern large parts of Terra.

When the Majapahit Emperor and scions arrived on the historic canvass, it was hopefully the first attempt at wakening the mighty, gigantic ‘spiritual force’ of the entire planet. Centered first in today’s Indonesia, the principalities in no time at all experienced awakenings in maritime technology, metallurgy, and alchemy, or those enterprises long dormant in the collective mind but which has always been present among humans. Enlightened souls then embodied among the princes and their families, new institutions began to flourish, High Culture of the Malays galvanized in no time at all, and then wealth multiplied in such paces unequalled today even by such much ballyhooed economic miracles as China’s.

 

The Evolved Souls in the Empire knew what their objective was: (a) to unite the entire Malays and friendly races under the aegis of one Great Civilization, and (b) to secure the Philippines which they knew was the bearer of the Torch not only for new Maharloka but for the entire humanity. If the 2^nd goal can be well executed, humanity’s march to the New Age of Light (satya yuga) can be done more smoothly, even as the entire Southeast Asia’s might and spiritual power will be secured for many ages to come. But such a vision wasn’t to be fulfilled.

Among the prinzeps of the Emperor’s very own home embodied those same troublesome souls that were responsible for internecine wars in the planet and evil experiments that accelerated the rise of sea waters and ended the Ice Age. Conflicts among the princes emerged for many decades that fragmented the Empire, till the Western powers arrived in the area to carve out their own respective jurisdictional boundaries in a vast region. The noble mission of an early awakening of the dormant ‘spiritual force’, through a noble descent of the Torch, thus ended in mighty ‘fire and brimstone’ of  Europeans’ canons.

When all the principalities have gone a-sleeping, when all hope seemed to have faded, outbursts of rebellions echoed across the Spanish crown’s colony. No, the Indios (Hispanic pejorative term for the islanders) never fully surrendered, natural warriorship embedded in the genes was always there to ignite the fires of rebellions, till eventually crescendos of rebellions were heard like loud classical marches all over the islands c. 19^th century. Then arrived those Evolved souls—Rizal, Mabini, Bonifacio and those they led as a huge Team of heroes—designated by Hierarchy to lay the grounds for a future, kingly nation. Such a nation, which bears the name of an Emperor, Philip II of Spain, would be the inheritor of the Majapahit Empire, and will lead the way for others to ignite each of their flames of Liberty.

The making of the Philippines hasn’t been completed yet, for being the inheritor of the Majapahit, and likewise the center of Maharloka, it must emerge to wield the ‘sticks’ and ‘treasures’ of Hierarchy (wisdom) and the Elements (gold, wealth). But the patriots’ carrying of the Torch continues till these days, thanks to the most ennobled virtues of the Triad of the Torch—Bonifacio, Mabini, Rizal. For as long as the patriots will bear the sacrifices and burdens of the Torch, a burden so huge as it is intended for the entire humanity as a whole, ‘cosmic magic’ they shall wield, until the Great Land will arise again in the future.

Already, unseen hands have been moving from Above to ensure that sons and daughters of the late Majapahit Emperor will become presidents of the Philippines. From the House of Marikudo came the scion Manuel Roxas; from the House of Soliman—Emilio Aguinaldo, Manuel Quezon, Jose Laurel and Joseph Estrada; from the House of Lacandola–Diosdado Macapagal and his daughter Gloria Arroyo; and, from the Ilocandia principality, Ferdinand Marcos. I have no doubt that the next president-elect will be another one of  Majapahit descent, to fulfill His task in preparing the islands for its future role no matter if He is as sleep-walking as the great hordes of islanders.

Finally, today, great events have happened that ensures the readiness of the Philippines to be once again the nexus of global prosperity and spiritual governance in the epoch now unfolding: (a) the recent transfer of the Planetary Chi from Glastonbury in England to Mt Banahaw in Southern Luzon (Phils), and (b) the opening of the hyperspace stargate portal above the Sunda template of Palawan (I witnessed the opening of the portal during two separate meditation visions early this year, 2008). 

Let there be no mistake: no one force can ever stamp out Philippine patriotism, no matter how rambunctious and chaotic this could be during certain junctures. For this patriotism is an energy-downloader of the Torch, and performs its role for the greater cause of igniting the ‘spiritual force’ of the entire Planet Terra. The time for the full awakening of such planetary force is near, and key to its awakening is the awakening of the Philippines’ subsidiary ‘spiritual force’ (signified by a friendly Dragon).

Hail Philippine patriotism! Hail Gat Andres Bonifacio and our beloved libertarian patriots! Hail the Majapahit Emperor and His Enlightened Scions! Glory be to the rising Maharloka, Lemuria finally cometh!

[25 November, 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]

PEACE & HEALING IN THE FORTHCOMING USA ELECTIONS

Bro. Erle Argonza / Guru Ra

[Healing Meditations 08-01. Writ 02 November 2008, Manila, Philippines.]

 

Citizens of Terra, Peace & Love!

Within a few days from now, on November the 6^th, the USA electorate will choose  a new set of federal leaders. As observed in all quarters, this giant pillar of the global economy is currently on a downspin in both the domestic and international fronts. Being Fellows of this planet, we cannot just stand by and show indifference to the eventualities forthcoming, but should, I think, exude one of concern and love for the people of America.

Never mind if for past decades this hegemonic power from up North had manifested excessive force in dealing with other nations of the planet, for both political and economic purposes. Never mind if multitudes of our own compatriots who were caught up in the military and trade offensives were sacrificed in the process: their lives snuffed, bodies injured, and livelihoods irreparably wrecked. Never mind the 36 Millions of peoples who died due to the military adventurisms of America since after World War II. Mind only that we all move forward ahead, that we continue to forge a new world of peace and prosperity in a global regime of ‘dialogue of civilizations’.  

American society is now very sick. There is no way that we would ever desire to see this country fall, or fragment into the abyss of chaos, as partisan groups would seize the opportunity offered before them, go the way of violent adventurisms and slug each other out in the terrain of Old Wild West of blazing guns. Just witnessing this federal titan beset with political and economic instabilities over the next ten (10) years, would already spell trouble for the entire global community that will experience the catastrophic impact of the uncertainties caused by the consequent anarchies thereafter.

America is very sick, and if there is anything that we Peace Advocates must demonstrate now, it is the collective might of forgiveness, understanding, compassion, and brotherhood/sisterhood. Let us show the power of Oneness, precisely by commiserating with our brothers and sisters in America who are equally beset with enormous pains from the miserable descent of their beloved country to the hovels of the Damned and the Fallen Ones. Look Fellows, the Americans are leveling down mountains of evils by the normative pathways of accepted institutions, inspired as they are by their founding patriots and guided by the Constitution of the Union, and not by excessive violence and force that befit only those agents of the Dark Path. Let us all attune ourselves to their hearts in their herculean but sublime efforts, be with them in their painful sojourn.

The forthcoming election is therefore an occasion both for national healing in the domestic front of America, and for global healing as well. Recognizing this sublime import of the forthcoming popular feat, let me state succinctly the petitions:

I call upon our Fellows across the globe, to show our fellowship with the simple folks and mainstream middle class urbanites of the USA, by praying and meditating for peace and progress in the electoral contest. Furthermore, let us all pray and meditate that finally the road back to the Light will begin as a new set of leaders will commence with their noble mandates in a few weeks’ time.

On the day of the polls itself, please sit down even just for a few minutes, burn a White candle for purity of purpose, combine it with Pink candle for love and healing, and pray & meditate for the petition so stipulated above.  

Let there be healing and peace on the forthcoming USA electoral exercise, followed by consequent stability and prosperity. So be it.

[Prof. Erle Frayne Argonza, economist, sociologist, and development consultant from Manila, is also a yogi-Mystic. He is an initiated Fellow of the spiritual Brotherhood and is a Guru of self-realization. He is currently in touch with the souls of Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi, both of whom are Evolved souls, who urged him to do some focused peace concerns for America and encourage a reversal of disastrous economic policies of Reaganomics.]

FIND LIGHT & PEACE IN BRO. ERLE ARGONZA’S BLOGS

FIND LIGHT & PEACE IN BRO. ERLE ARGONZA’S BLOGS

Gracious Day to all friends, partners in development, fellows in the Path!

 

You’re all invited to relish moments of Light-seeking reflections, call to relevant actions and self-development thoughts with me, through my blogs:

 

Development, Economics, Better World: https://unladtau.wordpress.com

 

Seekers’ Lessons, Freethought, Yoga, Self-Development:

 http://erleargonza.blogspot.com, http://raefdargon.mysticblogs.com

 

Poetry for Inspirational Living: http://erleargonza.wordpress.com

 

Happy Reading!

 

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza / Guru Ra Efdargon