Stichting Bayanihan – Philippine Women’s Centre in The Netherlands
By Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
( appeared on Pinoyexpats.org in March/April issue )

“Bayanihan is a Filipino word meaning “neighbourly cooperation” or helping each other. Stichting Bayanihan is a self-help women organisation, established in 1991, providing various forms of assistance and support to any and all Filipino women who are living (temporarily or permanently) and/or working (documented or undocumented) in the Netherlands. It is a service and training centre for Filipinas who are in problem situations and those needing assistance for self-development to make their lives as Filipina migrants more meaningful and fulfilling.”
-excerpt from Stichting Bayanihan folder-


Perhaps one of the challenges of moving to The Netherlands is the lack of common denominators. Here, the migrant is faced with issues pertaining not only to adjustment in terms of culture, society, weather and food, but also with the need to learn a new language and perhaps acquire another education.


What do you do when you are a Filipina coming to a country that does not speak English? Where do you go when you realize the diploma you’ve worked so hard for is no use unless you can speak Dutch? What about if you are an au pair who interprets the word for what it is - as an exchange of social meanings? What if your employer equates that word with personal slave? What if your husband reveals himself to be, not the charming well-spoken man who promised you the world, but rather an abusive moronic fellow who says you are good for nothing? What if you are struggling on the brink of depression, and have isolated yourself from the world because you no longer know why you left everything behind for this cold country? What to do? Where to go? Whom to see?


Bayanihan strives to provide answers to these questions. As the only professional service institution for Filipinas in The Netherlands, the foundation’s program includes rendering Social Services assistance – it not only gives practical tips, but provides intensive guidance and counselling to Filipinas in various problem-situations who are in need of immediate and direct help. It has a telephone helpline devoted entirely to receiving calls from Filipinas who need information, immediate help or who simply need to talk. It provides follow-up support activities, as well as special support services for Filipina au pairs.


Bayanihan’s program also involves networking, lobbying and advocacy. Her lobby and advocacy work are primarily on migration laws, independent residence permits for women, on working conditions, welfare and health services, and equal job opportunities. Bayanihan works together and cooperates with local and national Dutch organizations, and with European and Philippine-based organizations as well.


Bayanihan disseminates information on the situation of Filipinas in the Netherlands and on the causes of their migration from the Philippines. It also conducts and initiates researches and surveys on issues concerning target groups, and it compiles and publishes primers and pamphlets on existing laws and policies which are relevant to their work and to the Filipina Migrants in a Dutch society.


As a preventive strategy, Bayanihan conducts for its target groups (skills and awareness-raising) trainings and seminars such as (a) assertiveness training; (b) basic women orientation; (c) inter-cultural communication; (d) leadership training; (e) basic counselling ; (f) gender-based violence; and (g) bi-cultural parenting. Bayanihan’s resource persons and trainors are experts on and have concrete experiences on the relevant subject matter and specific cases.


Bayanihan started out as a social service committee of DAMAYAN, another Filipino organization in 1988. In 1991, Bayanihan became an independent foundation as a response to the needs of the Filipina migrants in the Netherlands who confront integration-related problems, such as difficulties in cultural, marital and psychological adjustments, to various entanglements with the Dutch legal system.


Since coming into contact with Bayanihan in 1999, I see how Bayanihan as a foundation has grown from that place of lending a helping hand, a listening ear and a rescuing arm to becoming a place where Filipinas regain that sense of community and connection that is so essential to our culture. As a professional organization, it continues to train and develop a network of volunteers comprised of Filipinas who join hands together to work towards a common goal.


In the sharing of experiences, in the call for joined hands, in its dedication towards helping her fellow Filipinas Bayanihan provides a platform from which the Filipina can say to the Dutch society, “I have a voice and therefore I am.”


During the recent celebration of International Women’s Day, Bayanihan hosted discussions centred on the present day issues of integration and participation. An open dialogue between the Filipino participants and non-Filipino participants brought us to a deeper understanding of how integration works as a two way street, and how we can speak up to influence the Dutch political decision-making process.


Organizations like Bayanihan free Filipinas to embark on journeys of exploration and personal enrichment. They encourage us to be involved and engaged in issues relevant not only to the migrant community but to the Dutch community as a whole.


Bayanihan provides a safe atmosphere where we can share our emotional struggles, fears, experiences, losses as well as triumphs, laughter as well as tears.


Each time I return to Bayanihan, I find myself returning to that sense of connectedness and community. The knowledge that I am not alone, but am surrounded by sisters who have encountered the same struggle restores to me a sense of faith, the awareness of my legacy and history, and the need to pass this on to coming generations.


In becoming a part of Bayanihan, I have experienced how it is to lay aside the biases of my past and take up the cloak of understanding and compassion for others. I find myself awakened to a growing concern and connection to the plight of my countrymen and my countrywomen.


I think of Bayanihan as a representation of the ideal of integration. Adjusting to the culture and accepting the norms of the society it finds itself in, it continues to retain the essential Filipino spirit of pakikipagkapwa, pagkakaisa, pakikibaka and community.


In embracing the spirit of Bayanihan, in becoming a part of this organization, I return to the truth of me being a Filipina in a foreign country.


Perhaps herein lies the strength of the ethic of Bayanihan. It goes far deeper than what is stated on the flyer. In establishing community, we give back to each other our sense of identity and belonging. In helping others find a place in an ever-changing multicultural society, we find our place. In strengthening the weak, we become strong.


How we need organizations like these as a help to those in need of help, as a support for those who need support, as a refuge for those in need of refuge and as a community for those who long for community.


First we are Filipinas, then we are migrants. Bayanihan, Mabuhay ka!