The Miracle of Marna

Gavan Kennedy is organizing this fundraiser.

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In a time of pandemic, this is a rare story of hope. It is the story of a slum community in the Philippines hoping to stop Covid-19 contagion dead in its tracks and, against all odds, succeeding. So far.

My name is Gavan Kennedy. I'm travelling in SE Asia and when lockdown began, I was Cebu City. I have been volunteering here with an aid organization called Bayanihan Mission since March.

The Sitio Marna slum in Cebu is now at the epicenter of Covid-19 contagion in the Philippines. Cebu now has more than 12,900 confirmed cases and counting. Hospitals are turning people away.   84% of Cebu cases are from high-density slums. Yet one slum of 2100 residents still has Zero cases. How is this possible?

This is Sitio Marna’s remarkable Quarantine story:

The Economist reported that Cebu’s lockdown is the strictest and longest in the world. It began on March 28th. Armed PH Special Forces Military detain people on the streets. But the lockdown put Sitio Marna residents in an impossible situation. Most were daily wage earners, working on the streets. No work – no food.   And many don’t qualify for government support because they are squatters. It left a self-sufficient people with a horrific dilemma: quarantine and starve, or earn money on the street and face detention.

Marna is a segregated, marginalized community where cramped living conditions makes Social Distancing impractical. With an already over-burdened healthcare system, a unified community response was their only hope.

One aid organization, Bayanihan Mission (BM), showed foresight with a bold proposal: What if BM promised that no Marna family would suffer hunger if they COLLECTIVELY agreed to observe strict community quarantine? However, if a single Marna resident habitually breaks quarantine, the food aid is withdrawn for the entire community. The community discussed the proposal and made a collective decision: On April 6th, 423 families signed the BM Pledge Program Agreement and began their community-enforced Hard Lockdown.

Since then, the alleys have been silent as the community strictly enforces its own quarantine. In return, BM has been delivering very basic food to their front doors to sustain their effort; just rice, Monggo beans, and squash. Remarkably, at the epicenter of Covid-19 in PH, Marna remains contagion-free after 111 days of quarantine, as of July 29th. The Pledge Program is working.

Here is an April 28th ABS-CBN report on TV Patrol, PH’s flagship national news program:

And here is ABS-CBN’s follow-up report when they returned on July 22, one hundred days into the Pledge Program quarantine:

Crisis: 94 cents per person per week

As rainy season begins, strict community-led quarantine continues. Some families of 10 or more living in a single room have not been outside for more than 109 days. But today, as the Philippines endures economic crisis, funding has almost expired. This community’s remarkable achievement is in jeopardy.

The BM Pledge Program has supported 1550 of the most needy Marna residents. Our fundraising goal is USD$31,000. At a cost of 94 cents per person per week, this will provide program funding for 5 more months. This will allow the Pledge Program to deliver rice, monggo beans, and squash to their front doors, allowing them to remain in strict quarantine.

GRATITUDE

Thank you for considering supporting this community who are enduring extreme hardship while demonstrably flattening the Covid19 curve. Their effort is a testament to selflessness and community spirit. Your contribution will make a profound impact on what continues to be an extraordinary community effort by a resilient and determined people.

If you would like to keep up with the Marna community’s progress, please add yourself to the Marna Pledge Program Facebook Group where you can follow their battle against Covid19.

Pledge Program Health Monitoring Initiative

Here is a short video about the Pledge Program’s Health Monitoring Initiative which has empowered the community to help themselves:

More than 20 young Marna Health Program volunteers visit all 2100 residents, every single day. They log their temperatures and also check for any Covid-19 symptoms. The Pledge Program Health Monitoring Initiative and the dedication of the program volunteers have been key to preventing the silent spread of Covid-19 within the slum.

Marna residents talk here about how the Pledge Program has impacted their community:

The Sitio Marna Community is at a critical juncture. Please consider also sharing this funding request on your Facebook/Instagram page so others may help the people of Marna sustain their incredible quarantine effort.

Thank you for listening to their story.

Gavan Kennedy
Program Director
Bayanihan Mission

Further Resources:

Bayanihan Mission:

https://bayanihanmission.com/

Founded by Dr. Josephine Grace C. Rojo, a medical front-liner for SARS-COV taskforce, Bayanihan Mission is a group of volunteers, advocates and private citizens from various sectors who came together for a common cause: to help poor, marginalized communities survive Covid-19.

Covid-19 stats

To indicate the extent of the Covid-19 threat to Sitio Marna, there are 129 active cases of Covid19 among Marna’s immediate neighbors in Subangdaku as of July 26th.

http://ro7.doh.gov.ph/covid-19