Hello! My name is Wenbo Bai, and I am a rising senior interning this summer in the Philippines with a reproductive health NGO called Roots of Health. I hail from Henderson, Nevada, near Las Vegas. I’m an Anthropology major and Economics minor at Wellesley, but my main interest lies in public health–specifically, health care systems and developmental health economics. I entered college without having a clue what I wanted as a career, but I think I’ll exit college with the hope of doing something in the public health field. My most idealistic career though, bolstered by a creative travel writing class I took in my spring semester abroad in Copenhagen, is to traverse the world and become a travel writer!
When I was thinking about my plans this summer, I decided I wanted to have a productive summer working with an organization that does work that I believe in. I also wanted to intern somewhere I hadn’t gone before–I had become weary of working at home the past two summers. Roots of Health was a perfect combination of the two! Located in the Philippines (a country I had never visited before), Roots of Health aims to empower of women and ensure reproductive autonomy, causes that are always discussed so passionately at Wellesley but I had yet to actively contribute to. In addition, the Wellesley intern who worked with Roots of Health last summer loved it, so I was already assured that it would be a great internship before I got to experience it for myself.
Founded in 2009 by Wellesley alumna Amina Evangelista Swanepoel ’02, her mother, and her husband, Roots of Health is a reproductive health NGO working in Palawan, an island located in the southwestern part of the Philippines. Because the Philippines is generally a religious Catholic country, the topics of reproductive and sexual health are often viewed as taboo and therefore addressed poorly, or not at all. In fact, it wasn’t until 2012 that a reproductive health bill (RH Bill) was passed in the Philippines, after over a decade of advocates–including Roots of Health–lobbying on its behalf. Still, the RH Bill has its limits, such as no free access to contraceptives and allowing schools to cut out a reproductive health curriculum on religious grounds, and so Roots of Health’s work remains as important and relevant as ever, especially since Palawan has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the country. Roots of Health provides clinical services such as contraceptives, prenatal checkups, and maternal health programs and train local women to become Community Health Advocates. There are also programs such the radio show, reproductive and sexual health education for young teens and high schoolers, and a financial literacy program that empowers women to take charge of their own finances. And just recently, we implemented an enterprise development project that provided grants for women to cultivate their own small businesses. Through these different avenues, Roots of Health not only addresses larger, more upstream structural issues that affect reproductive health in order to make meaningful and long term impacts in the communities, but it also motivates people in the community to lead and continue the chain of change. As one of my colleagues put succinctly: “We work alongside together with the communities to help people help themselves.”
…and I feel so lucky to be a part of it! At Roots of Health, our workweek is from Tuesday to Saturday. At the beginning of the internship in particular, I went out into the communities frequently with the clinical, teaching, and financial literacy teams to see program implementation in action. I saw for myself the necessity of the work that Roots of Health was doing–there were so many pregnant young teens at these programs, some with already child or two in tow. I was also amazed by the staff, whom all have an amazing rapport with the communities–they knew every woman and student by name, and both knowledge and laughter were exchanged during the sessions. Besides observing teams in the field, I was also given administrative tasks, such as grant-searching, making social media posts, and compiling the annual report. As our tasks have settled down, I typically go out into the community once or twice a week and spend the rest helping out with office work such as programming and planning workshops.
Living in the Philippines has been quite the adventure. Life and livelihoods move at a much different pace here, and there are so many signs of poverty. But realizing that poverty is so normalized here was less of a culture shock and more of a reality check, a reminder of the importance of our work as well as a testament to the growing disparities between the developed and developing parts of the world. Cultural integration has also been interesting for me. Even though I am ethnically Chinese and own an American passport, I find myself in a strange role. Even though everyone has a basic understanding of English, Tagalog is used in everyday communication. Because of my ability to tan easily, Filipinos think that I am Pinay and frequently speak to me in rapid Tagalog. When I’m walking down the street alone and people don’t stare at me like they sometimes do at other foreigners in the city, and it feels like I am harboring a big secret. It’s an interesting state of liminality, being able to blend in but not quite fit in. But even through the awkward miscommunications, scheduled and unscheduled power outages, and discovering wolf spiders in the bathroom, nothing has managed to detract from the warmth and generosity of the Filipino people or the richness of their culture, and I’ve felt very at home here. In my free time, the other interns and I attend boxing lessons, take beginner Tagalog lessons, and make weekend trips to sights around Palawan.
Something that dawned on me as the weeks have gone by is seeing how easy it is to get caught up in everyday tasks and periodically forget the bigger picture of what we’re working towards. During my first few weeks at Roots of Health, while adjusting to working and living in the Philippines, I was so solely concentrated on my role in the organization that it wasn’t until recently that it dawned on me that I had been approaching the internship too narrowly. But then I started to find small, seemingly insignificant moments that illuminated the importance of our work: People in the communities eagerly unstacking chairs to prepare for a clinical session. Teens in a Youth Advocates class writing “teacher” as their career goals. Women laughing with each other during a team building exercise.
Working alongside such a great staff and an incredibly selfless and graceful Wellesley alumna has made me realize my love for Roots of Health’s mission and philosophy, as well as admire the kinds of women Wellesley can nurture. It’s a powerful feeling, knowing that I am so firmly grounded in my work, and it’s a feeling I aspire–and encourage others–to find again in a career after Wellesley, in wherever I end up, in whatever I choose to do.