Birdy was born in 1994 from a Bangladeshi father who left her mother when she was two years old.
Birdy was born in 1994 from a Bangladeshi father who left her mother when she was two years old.
I am just a Souvenir is an investigative, journalistic project that examines how mestizos (ethnically mixed children in the Philippines) grow up and what sort of challenges they face. Furthermore it aims to explore how the mothers of these children - who often don’t know the father - deal with the situation. Where possible, fathers who have left souvenirs behind in the Philippines will also be involved.
Dr. Sylvia Estrada Claudio talks about the current state of the reproductive health law in the Philippines.
Jane (23) was born of a filipino mother and a black American father, who she never got to know.
Brother Paul, a member of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), tries to break the cycle of women who have no choice but working as sex workers by giving away condoms.
Rebecca Angeles, director of the NGO Wipe Every Tear, knows what most freelance sex workers are needing most: education – education in order to have a choice.
Angelika (10) has never seen her father. Her mother tried to abort the child out of mental overload. She misses her father a lot, says the grandmother.
Not all fathers of "souvenirs" never see their chíldren again. But those who do sometimes dont tell the truth about their family conditions - maybe because they feel ashamed of themselves.
Shane has two children. Both fathers are foreigners. Both have never seen their child.
Far away from the bigger cities every child is still considered as a gift from god, no matter if a family is suffering from extrem poverty or not.
Nearly every woman working in a girlie bar or as a freelance street worker gets pregnant from one of her customers.
Some women, says a foreigner who doesnt want to be quoted, actually like having a child with a Westerner.
Sexuell education is still missing in the Philippines - including the proper use of condoms and other contraception