RVA News
After more than 10 years of serving hot meals, Alex Baluyut and Precious Leaño still tear up when they relate their experiences of providing relief to distressed people in the Philippines whose area has been affected by disasters, either natural or human-induced. Some of these are war, typhoons, quakes, fires, pandemics, volcano eruptions, droughts, and oil spills.
The Art Relief Mobile Kitchen [ARMK], a mobile kitchen dubbed by artists, served thousands of people in disaster-stricken areas with hot meals. The volunteers who serve the food refer to it as the “Faith in Action Ministry”, and feeding the impoverished is a form of prayer.
Baluyut was a photojournalist for 35 years, and Leaño was a theater artist before they embraced what they call the “mission” of providing “emergency relief” to the hungry.
They started the charitable service in 2013, when Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) devastated Tacloban in Leyte, the Central Philippines.
The couple began serving hot meals to grief-stricken survivors who were flown to Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, Metro Manila, where they put up a makeshift kitchen.
“We haul our kitchen equipment to ground zero and cook hot meals for people in distress. ARMK has launched more than 100 feeding missions throughout the Philippines and has served more than 800,000 hot meals,” Baluyut said.
We haul our kitchen equipment to ground zero and cook hot meals for people in distress. ARMK has launched more than 100 feeding missions throughout the Philippines and has served more than 800,000 hot meals
Alex Baluyut
Fellow artists were the first to respond to their call for action, and other people from all walks of life followed.
“People are good, compassionate, empathetic, creative, and innovative,” the couple said.
ARMK has to be culture-sensitive, so they cook only halal food in Muslim communities.
They consulted with Muslim leaders before opening a kitchen for them and ensured that all cooking utensils were new and had never been used to cook pork or other foods forbidden in the Quran.
Faith in Action Ministry
Omar Uycoque, a professor at a college, is head of the Mindoro branch of ARMK. He describes it as a faith-in-action ministry, and feeding the poor is praying. He is among those who continue the mission after ARMK leaves, which is encouraged by Baluyut and Leaño.
“The experience is priceless and fulfilling. We [volunteers] hope to grow in number. A lot needs to be done,” Uycoque said.
“Helping others is spiritual for me. It is deeply rooted in my spirituality that, as a human being, helping others is our duty. We cannot live on our own, we need each other. Feeding the needy is praying for me,” he said.
Even if we go to Church every day but do not care about the cry of the poor or hungry or needy, we are not Christians. I may die poor, but at least I was able to give something to the community. That means my faith is bountiful or rich
Omar Uycoque
“Even if we go to Church every day but do not care about the cry of the poor or hungry or needy, we are not Christians. I may die poor, but at least I was able to give something to the community. That means my faith is bountiful or rich,” Uycoque explained.
Additionally, he drew inspiration from his artist cousin Fatima Luna, also known as Little Wing Luna, an ARMK volunteer, and the organisation’s first photographer, who advised him to “Give until it hurts.”
“We leave a set of kitchen equipment in disaster-prone areas that local volunteers can use. Community kitchens work when there are dedicated volunteers who aim to support their communities,” said Baluyut.
They have opened local chapters in strategic areas of the country such as Tuguegarao, Laguna, Leyte, Bacolod, Davao, Zamboanga, and Surigao, and the latest is in Mindoro Island, allowing for better relief response in times of disaster.
Miracles
Baluyut said the mission is fulfilling in the company of selfless volunteers, including those in the community, despite huge logistics challenges.
He said they had been living on miracles, and people’s generosity, without expecting anything in return. They experienced being asked to give a speech [like politicians do]. “We say, no need, people are hungry, let’s eat at once,” Baluyut said.
We leave a set of kitchen equipment in disaster-prone areas that local volunteers can use. Community kitchens work when there are dedicated volunteers who aim to support their communities
Baluyut
Calling himself a “kusinero” [kitchen man], he learned to cook when he was just a kid as he watched, with awe, as elders ground rice for kare-kare [Filipino ox tail and peanut sauce stew]. He didn’t imagine he’d embrace a life of cooking for communities.
ARMK cooks healthy, colourful, and creatively prepared foods, with ingredients that are locally sourced.
“What we feed our family, with the same quality and generosity, we feed others. When there are leftovers, we still share them,” Leaño explained.
Joys and challenges
“The greatest joy is to witness distressed, hungry people getting to eat their first hot meal after a disaster. I often feel an overwhelming, spiritual experience when I see the evacuees sip that hot soup with a lot of meat and vegetables, it always brings me close to tears, and I usually turn my back so as not to show my tears,” Baluyut said.
“It is also an inspiring sight when volunteers from the locality come to help out in the kitchen. Many hands make the work more fun and faster,” he said.
The greatest joy is to witness distressed, hungry people getting to eat their first hot meal after a disaster
Baluyut
If there are things not obviously known to the public, it is security because the communities ARMK serves are disaster hit.
“We may get stuck in floods, landslides, combat zones, danger zones during a volcanic eruption, and others, but we try to keep everybody safe with our local contacts,” Baluyut explained. They do an ocular inspection and briefing of volunteers, like in an earthquake area, on where to enter and exit.
As of this writing, the couple is at their headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna.
“Our last missions were in Albay for the Mayon eruption, and our Davao chapter responded to flooding in their locality. We are also raising funds for the post-storm Egay [Typhoon Doksuri] response,” Baluyut said.
Abby Pacquing is among ARMK’s supporters. “I love ARMK’s advocacy of providing home cooked hot meals amidst a disaster setting and more than feeding the physical body, they are also nourishing the hope that things will get better,” she said.
“Almost as a knee-jerk reaction to natural calamities, we commonly scramble to provide supplies that could sustain survivors in the aftermath of their evacuation. But we often forget the immediacy of their need in the here and now, and when you barely escaped the tragedy with just the clothes on your back, you won’t necessarily have the kitchen tools to cook the standard fare of noodles, canned goods, and the like,” Pacquing elaborated.
I love ARMK’s advocacy of providing home cooked hot meals amidst a disaster setting and more than feeding the physical body, they are also nourishing the hope that things will get better,
Abby Pacquing
“I’m not necessarily religious but I believe in a higher being that works in my life and has guided my every step. Whatever I’ve achieved is a blessing and often facilitated by earth-bound angels, so I choose to pay it forward. Indeed, ‘whatever you do for the least of my brethren, you did it for me’,” Pacquing said.
ARMK relies mostly on individual donations, with rare corporate funding. “We constantly make our call for donations as we have to refill our coffers for the next mission. Logistics are a major challenge in our line of work, and we constantly learn from all our missions,” Baluyut explained.
“We are in the process of strengthening our headquarters and local chapters. We are applying for more grants to help sustain our advocacy. We are very much in need of a vehicle [a truck] that can consistently ferry our volunteers, equipment, and food supplies,” Baluyut said.
“Well, I myself, through the years, have disconnected from my faith, I am not so much a praying man, but my experiences with ARMK somehow revived my spirituality, For a worn down cynical photojournalist who has seen it all, I truly am finally found and believe in miracles,” Baluyut went on to say.
