A 3-hour bus ride from Iloilo City in the Philippines, the town of Botongan is known as the "Alaska of the Philippines" because of its rich marine resources.

Fish processing plants operate throughout the area, with little regard for environmental concerns. As productivity and income has risen for Botongan, so has the stench that heavily hangs in the air.  

"It's nasty.  It smells like a rotten egg and it sticks to your skin and clothes. It stinks so bad that on many occasions, our classes had to be called off.  Some of the residents has gotten sick," says World Vision sponsored child Marvin, 16.

The foul smell that Marvin is referring to comes from "sanaw", a liquid waste product in fish processing.  Fish processors indiscriminately dump this brownish mixture of salt, water and fish residue into open canals and ditches, polluting the air, water and soil.

"Constant exposure to "sanaw", can lead to various skin and respiratory diseases," says local doctor Greg Sumile.  "It is especially hazardous to those with open wounds."

While the village literally stank, nobody had ever done anything about it before. Until Marvin and his classmate Maricar, also a sponsored child, stepped in.

Child campaigners

The two high school students decided to take action on the pollution after attending an awards program workshop in Children's Participation in Citizenship and Governance (CPCG).  

One of the latest initiatives of World Vision on children's participation, CPCG's  primary aim is to enhance the rights of children to participate by encouraging them to design, implement and evaluate local community projects.  

Marvin and Maricar went home and set to work immediately with the children's association in the village on what they saw as their community's most pressing challenge.

Maricar explains, "We wanted to regulate the disposal of  "sanaw" so we proposed the construction of a communal  septic tank which the fish processors could use."

"Because we wanted the project to succeed, we engaged the key people in our community; our village officials,  the town's sanitary inspector, environmental government officials, the teachers, church leaders and the residents and the fish processors."  

The latter, she adds, were the most difficult to convince at first.

"We understood their resistance.  They were worried that our campaign would affect their income."

"With the help of our village officials and sanitary health officers, we explained to them that we were doing it to preserve our environment and protect the health of the residents, especially the children.  Once they understood that it was for everyone's good, they eventually relented," says Marvin.

By the time the environmental programme was launched with a grand clean up day, a large and determined coalition of community people turned up for the event.

Taking things a step further

Winning over the fish processors was just the first step.  To ensure more concrete actions from their village officials and local health officers, the children also successfully lobbied the village council to pass an ordinance that regulates the fish processing operation in the village.

Meanwhile the town's engineering office took on the responsibility on the design and program of works for the septic tank and individual concrete canal.  The fish processors agreed to foot the bills for the pipelines.

To date, construction of the septic tank has been completed while the pipelines are underway.

For their dedication and determination, the children have received glowing praises from their elders.

"I am very proud and humbled at the same time because at their very young age, these children are able to identify a problem and in fact find a solution", says Dr. Sumile.

"I am very grateful and pleased with the children of Botongan .  They are commendable for their initiative to clean up our community," adds Village chief, Rolando Dela Cruz.

Maricar and Marvin, however, are simply happy to be able to do something for their community.  "It made us realize that we have an important role in our community.   Our elders do not have all the answers to our problems. Even children can contribute to the solutions.  We just need to get our elders to listen to us."

Now that the village is on its way to getting a breath of fresh air, the children's campaign has shifted towards ensuring that project moves forward without losing momentum.

"We will continue with our clean up drive every weekend.  We will make sure that the project will be implemented well," says Maricar.