Hacienda Luisita

This is the first of the catching up. I'm pretty sure I wrote most of this the day of so that's the tense it's in. We went to Hacienda Luisita on Thursday, July 17.

Today, I got up at 4am to take a shower in the dark thanks to good ol' Glenda the typhoon. The early start wa because we had a 2+ hour drive to Hacienda Luisita. In case you aren't up to date on your Spanish, a hacienda is a giant farm, more closely related to a plantation. But to put it into perspective, it is 6,435 hectares of land or almost16,000 acres.

It took me a while to understand the issue at hand. A history of imperialism has messed a lot of things up. From my understanding, sometime after the Spanish left, there wa a document that said the land should be distributed to the people within ten years. This would be all fine and dandy except that the farmers still don't own the land. It is all owned by the same family, the Cojuangco family, which is related to the president's family, the Aquinos. It seems that several governments ago loopholes were created to get out of distributing the land to the farmers. This is how the Cojuangco's were able acquire it. Then, in another government they escaped distribution by forming Hacienda Luisita Inc where they made the farmers share holders. Now, there has been a Supreme Court case in favor or the farmers, saying that the land must be distributed to them. And the Cojuangco family started giving land away to people, but only their relatives and not the farmers. This is a confusing issue to me and I've done some outside reading, but there's still a lot I don't know. There's always two sides to a story and I invite you to look into it if you are interested.

One of the most vivid images I have of the hacienda is that of the concrete walls topped with barbed wire surrounding recently bulldozed fields. Farmers plant the land and the bulldozers would come. All they can do is replant because that is all they know how to do. The people against them use guns and government officers turning blind eyes. It's a big injustice to the people who just want to be able to provide for their families. There are so few jobs here that it is really sad people are destroying the only infrastructure they have. People are being evicted from their homes just so they can fence off the land and do nothing with it. Apparently there may be plans to build a sports arena.

We visited a section of about 8 hectares that the activists farmed organically. Unlike the US where everything is mechanized, in the Philippines everything is done by hand. After a quick presentation on the land distribution (or lack thereof) we worked out on the farm. One of their plots had actually just been flattened last week. After a muddy trek, we reached the rice paddies. I got to be like my fellow GJVs at ARI in Japan by planting rice. Let's just say it's probably better that they are there and I am here. It was fun to wade into the muddy, slimy patch, but all my rice stalks fell over in the water and my lines were anything but straight where I planted.

After lunch, we went to a community center where they were gathering the people to prepare to protest at the SONA (State of the Nation Address). This speech by the president usually says how great everything is going in the country, including the "success" of the land distribution act.

One of the first people to speak was a young girl named Angela. She is now 10 years old, but when she was 7, she witnessed a massacre outside the sugar refinery. They killed everyone with knives and guns. Though officially 7 were killed, it is likely many more were not counted. They spared her because she was a child, but she was scarred by the experience, witnessing her aunt be killed right in front of her. She has become very politically active for the farmer's rights because of this experience. She is a brave little girl, not only surviving the massacre, but being able to speak out about it in front of crowds that number in the thousands. She is protected by the community because she was the only survivor. They watch over her at school and at home. She is really a special girl.

It was a very long day that ended by going back to a dark house. Still no power.

Batis, Fishermen, and Kindergarten!

Yesterday I attended the 25th anniversary celebration for Batis Center for Women. Batis is the placement site for two of my fellow GJVs. They work with many women who have returned from working abroad, sometimes as the result of human trafficking. There is also a program for the Japanese Filipino children of the women, who are the product of the mother's time working abroad, but have little to no knowledge of their fathers. Batis also sponsors several girls, who are survivors of typhoon Yolanda, to attend school. 

It was attended by people who run each program and also those who are in the programs they facilitate. There were also those who support the center in attendance. It was a liturgical celebration which made it a lot like an extended church service, just a little less traditional. 

The part that really moved me was the testimonial part. While most testimonies were in Tagalog, the emotions conveyed by those helped by this program surpassed the language barrier. From the little I did understand, I know that Batis is an important resource for many women and it has helped countless more that were not in attendance at the celebration. It was great to see our friends perform in the program, but also to see who they have been working with this whole time. 

This past week I stayed at Harris Memorial College, a school for student deaconesses. For those of you who don't know what a deaconess does (like me when I first heard the term), a deaconess can major in Christian Education or kinder education. They work as teachers for young children and usually run the music programs at churches. While I'm not sure if there is anything similar in the Methodist church back home, it often reminds me of nuns or Sisters of the Catholic Church. On a slight tangent, a lot of traditions of the churches here seem to emulate those of the Catholic Church. Communion is commonly given with wafers. There are kneeling rails in many of the churches and sometimes even the individual pews. The large catholic presence in the Philippines probably contributed to a lot of these things, but it is interesting to see the differences. 

What was I doing at this college for deaconesses? Certainly not attending classes. I have enough of those at Cornell! No, I was there to teach kindergarten in a local impoverished community. But first, we visited the fishing community of Ticulio where we would leave our male companions, Kosta and Anthony, for the week. 

To get to the island, we first traveled on the school bus to get to the docks. This school bus is very different from American school busses. It actually resembles a jeepney in many ways except it is smaller and there is a door that closes you in. Plus it's got AC (or as it's called here, Aircon). At the dock, we got onto a boat that could've come straight off of Survivor. I kept expecting Jeff to pop out at any time. The middle was rather large and could hold lots of people. The boat was balanced with two bamboo skis that jetted off on each side. The views from the boat were spectacular. The islands slowly faded in from the cloudy distance and the mountains seemed to form from nothing. We saw fishermen out on the water and communities built on the edges of each island. 

Once on the island, we proceeded to receive a tour. We hiked up to the school. And up and up. It was so high! But the view from up there was spectacular. The school was in a state of disrepair due to typhoon Glenda, but the students still used it. We also visited the recreation center which consisted of a basketball court and a little school house. All of the children, and some people a little too old to be considered children, stared at us in awe. But if you walked towards them, they immediately backed away like they were afraid. It was rather interesting. The lady who was leading us around gathered the kids and asked us to teach a song. So we did, except no one sang along. They mostly just stared. When we asked for a picture with them no one wanted to get close enough to us for it. It was the first community who had not been super excited about taking pictures. Except this one little boy. He walked right up to us and smiled. I like him. He's cool and can stay. :) Yet despite not wanting to be in our pictures they continued to follow us until we got back to the house that was hosting us for lunch. After lunch we just dropped the boys off and headed back to Harris. 

We got to teach the kindergarten students for the rest of the week. We planned the lesson at night with Teacher Devine, who was a 4th year student at Harris studying to be a teacher. To get to the school, we had to take two jeepneys and a tricycle, which if you remember is a motorcycle with a sidecar attached. Right before we reached the community, we passed through a very nice subdivision. It was a very clear contrast between those houses and the ones in the community we were teaching in. The kids were the saving grace of the week. They were so cute and precious! We taught them songs like the Itsy Bitsy Spider and The Ants Go Marching to help with weather and counting. Their topics for the week were weather, counting 1-20, and vowels and consonants. We were tasked with teaching the math section and helped them count from 1-20 by clapping. Then we would draw the number on the board so they would recognize it. Of course being the only native English speakers there we did not teach the English portion. We instead sat in the back and snickered at the interesting pronunciations that were being taught to the kids. I guess accents perpetuate accents. But I will not be riding a school "boos" anytime soon. On the last day we got to give them an untraditional quiz by doing activities with them. I ran the letters game. I would say "Hop to the letter..." And if they got it right they got a star. It was usually a group effort but eventually they got it right. I really enjoyed our week at Upper Javier. It felt like we were really making a difference by teaching. I love to have experiences like this one that really validate why I am here. Hopefully this coming week will provide the same satisfaction as we prepare to fix up a building at Paranaque, where we taught the kids a few weeks ago, so that it is better suited for use as a learning cent

Wifi! And a Reflection on GJV

It's probably very stereotypical of people from my generation to be lost without Internet connection. You just think of the cranky teenager on a camping trip in the middle of the woods complaining about a lack of signal. Well that's been me a couple of times here. But not for the reasons you may think. I didn't realize how much I was dependent on my support system back home until I no longer had access to it. It makes a huge difference in this difficult process to be able to talk to friends and family. And my only way of doing that is through the Internet. I'm at my home away from home, Decker until Tuesday morning. So at least I will be connected until then. I know some people have been wondering why I haven't posted and its because of a lack of wifi. I have been journaling on paper though. So hopefully this weekend I will be able to type some of those up for you to read. In the mean time, here is part of the first reflection I had to do for GBGM.

GJV Reflection

Brielle Hohne

July 25, 2014

Reflection #1

Board of Women's Work

Manila, Philippines

"What am I doing here?" 

Describe specific functions that you have accomplished to date while at this placement:

I am here to listen. It sounds like such a passive action, but it is one that I have come to find extremely important.  I have spent most of my time listening to people's stories. I have heard from typhoon victims, political prisoners, urban poor, human trafficking victims, families of migrants, and farmers at Hacienda Luisita who are being oppressed. Each one has a story to tell. Beyond the physical exhaustion of traveling to all these places, the emotional exhaustion is high. It's difficult to listen to testimony after testimony and see no hope for their situation. And yet, every time we visit, I have found we bring hope to the people. By simply lending my ears I have brought hope. By having someone care enough to come and listen there is renewed hope for a better and more just future. My presence and my prayers are enough for now, but there are high expectations for when I return home. 

The Board of Women's Work covers a wide array of organizations and issues. I have been exposed to many of the issues and the people that they help. The wide variety has allowed me to explore my passions  in the realm of justice issues. I have been able to work many days with Migrante International, an organization that works for justice for migrant workers of the Philippines. From this experience, I have acquired a resource book and the testimonies of several migrants and human trafficking victims to take home and use to educate my local community. As someone who has worked with the migrant ministry at my home church, I feel called to return to this ministry and share what I have learned to help the migrant community near me. This specific experience is only one of many that serves as a specific, long term purpose. 

Best Day Yet (and Catching Up)

I'm still here! I know it's been a while. If you are up to date on your Filipino news you should know that the lovely Typhoon Glenda visited me on Wednesday. It was my first typhoon and I was very glad to be staying at the Decker home and not one of the communities I visited. They have been destroyed in the storm and one of the volunteers who works with us stayed behind to help with the damage. Our power was out until Friday and the wifi was still out when we left. I was able to contact my mom for a few minutes at the mall which was running on generators. But obviously not enough to get on my blog. So! I have lots to talk about that will definitely take more than one post. I hope to write about my day and then post  again about previous days. So yay for lots to read!

Yesterday we left for the Aeta community in Floridablanca in Pampanga. It was a two hour drive north of Manila. Upon arrival, we walked for about ten minutes including a walk over a sketchy bridge, to reach the mission church. We were greeted by choir practice for the kids going on in the sanctuary. They were so cute!! They were doing their dancing and it was just so nice and welcoming to see. We got our rooms and then returned for more choir practice before dinner and bed. Well not really a bed. More like a board they put a blanket on. But there are a lot of amenities that are nicer than Decker including ice cold water from the dispenser, the toilet has a seat, and it's a bit cooler here at night. Oh and there's wifi here in the middle of nowhere! So praise The Lord for that!

Today started out at 5:30am. It's hard to wake up at 4:30 just to get a freezing cold bucket shower.  We went across to the sanctuary for a morning prayer time only slightly late. After that time we ate breakfast which was very filling. We had church at 8am. It was so refreshing and just fun. They know how to sing with soul here. It's a lot like shouting but their heart is in it. And you know most of them have the right pitch too! But actually it's very pure. There's no front to it. They are singing to Gid and for God and you can tell they really love Him and worship Him here.

After service, which was a mix of English and a Filipino dialect, we had a presentation on the Aeta and the community we are in. This was followed by a tour of the community led by the youth. --side note-- everyone here is at most 5 feet tall so it's hard to determine ages when you look down at everyone. -- So anyway, I was led around by a girl who was 16 and in her first year at college studying social work. This may seem young but here this is normal because there are not as many grades of primary schooling. She was accompanied by other first and second year college students studying engineering and teaching. I got to see their houses which vary from very hut-like to hut-house combos. I was given fresh coconut milk at a house we stopped at and tried the fruit inside it as well. This was sooooo good! I then followed them up a trail to a coconut tree where one of the boys climbed it to cut down some more coconuts. They made a reed straw and I had fresh coconut juice. It was like straight out of Survivor.

We returned for lunch and then had free time for the rest of the day. We decided to go down to the river (the one underneath the sketchy bridge) to swim. Best idea yet. So we climbed over river stones upstream of where the women and younger girls were washing clothes and little kids were bathing. There the kids slowly gathered around us to watch us play in the water and to play with us of course! It was again so much fun. Eventually it started to rain but we were already wet and in the water so it didn't matter. Also at some point a caribou joined us in the water. That was only slightly freaky and mostly cool. At some point the rain got too heavy for us to be in the river so we walked back up to the church. We were soaked through. Even if we hadn't been in the river we would have been soaked through by the time we got back. And it's only a 5 minute walk max.

A side effect of the rain is that the water gushes from the gutters. Conveniently it created a fantastic water pressure. More than I've had here the whole time. So Nicole and I grabbed our shampoo and soap and washed our hair outside underneath these spouts of rain water. We then proceeded to lay on the pavement and be massaged by the rain. It was very relaxing.

You may think, "Wow what an exciting day! What else could they possibly pack in?" Well ladies and gentlemen I have checked off yet another Filipino must. Tonight for dinner I tried balout. What is balout you ask? I've had it describe to me as chicken abortion. I've been told its not uncommon to first try it in the dark so it doesn't make you sick just looking at it. (Which mind you it did).  Balout is an egg that has been incubated for 30days before it is cooked. So basically it's pretty well developed chicken fetus. And it looks a lot like brain son the inaccurate. Not that I've seen brains before either. It was just nasty looking. I was spared from the chicken part which has its beak and feathers already developing.  The part I tasted was mostly like the yellow part of a hard boiled egg only nastier. Just slimy and gross and full of shattered chicken dreams. While I'm being melodramati, it wasn't actually that bad. It was mostly a mental thing. But I did it so now everyone can stop bugging me. It's a c'mon question here for foreigners.

Today was a really good day. This was definitely needed after the busy end of last week that I will be sure to tell you about soon. We meet some of the local college students tomorrow so hopefully the fun will continue.

More stories will come in my free time so be sure to keep checking or sign up for email alerts at the bottom of the page. :)

Reflection on Migrante

Below is a copy of a reflection I wrote earlier today about my time with Migrante International.

I have now spent 4 days working with Migrante. It's sometimes overwhelming to take in all stories of injustice an corruption. Hearing the statistics is one thing, but to put faces and stories behind those statistics makes it harder to digest. Every statistic has hundreds and thousands of individual stories not unlike those we heard. It seems like an impossible problem to tackle, but the work Migrante does is chipping away at the big issues. My hope is that through my experience with Migrante, I might be able to educate those around me back in my home country. I feel empowered to share the stories that I heard first hand while I was here. Human trafficking is an issue that I, as a Christian and as an American, have to care about. While this is a Filipino issue, it is also my issues as well, and an issue fr many others around the world. Migrante International has helped me to lay the foundation for future advocacy for human trafficking victims and for other Filipino issues I have been exposed to.

Filipino Funnies

On our way home from Migrante a couple days ago we got out of the jeepney to a blocked off road. Sueña informed us it was a shooting. So we shuffled past the crowd with our heads down kind of concerned that she was not more concerned about it. I mean there were cameras and a bunch of cars all stopped there. And when we got to the other side we asked if it was really a shooting. "Yeah. Movie shooting." Ohhhhhhhhhhh.

Today we went to Baseco, another urban poor community by the sea. We went to teach the kids and sing with them. After trudging through the mud, which contained a lot worse than just dirt and water, we waited for the kids to gather. As they rolled in we made a circle and prayed to open. We sang some Tagalog songs with actions but I had to do it with one hand because my other hand was firmly grasped by a little boy's hand. We split up into groups and I took the third and fourth graders. It was an interesting experience trying to occupy them for 45 minutes. We learned names and went around saying what animal they would want to be. Then we sang a song that the lovely Paige taught me during training. They really enjoyed that. I read from a storybook about Noah's Ark. I was impressed by a couple of them who wanted to read with me. Besides having a strong accent they got most of he words right on their own. They loved the pictures too. We played some games and finally colored pictures of animals. They were so sweet. And the thing I saw the most was that they were all looking out for each other. They shared their snacks and took care of each other. They were fun to work with. I get to do the same thing again next week but at Paranaque. Hopefully it will go a bit smoother and be just as fun.

I bought a mini Tagalog bible the other day. I started to read out of it in my best Filipino impression. All it brought was laughter from Sueña. Apparently I butcher the language. But I'm working on it!

Sueña spent the night earlier this week and so I offered to make her the same dinner I was having, grilled cheese with pepperoni. Never before have I seen a grilled cheese sandwich eaten with a fork and a spoon. The sandwich is easily finger food yet it's just the custom here to eat with your spoon and fork. So that's what she did!

I'm enjoying assimilating into the culture but sometimes it is hard when everyone stare at you. I've never been in a culture where I clearly stood out. Everyone always notices my eyes because no one has blue eyes here. It's a bit uncomfortable but if I notice a stare I try to return it with a "hello".  After all it's only a friendly gesture.

I'm at church from 8:30-4:00 tomorrow. Should be fun!

Week 1- Discerning Purpose

I've been so busy that I haven't had time to write! They keep us pretty scheduled here. I'll touch on a few things from this week.

We went to church at Puno UMC. The service was great and it was nice to have a similarly organized service to those from home. When we got there it was like God had answered our prayers. Literally. The air conditioning hit us like a wave of relief. I'm pretty sure I almost cried. It seems silly but this has been a bit of a rough adjustment. We had air conditioning last week at NCCP and I don't think we knew how lucky we were. By the simple act of having AC the church provided some much needed relief. We will be attending a different church every week. I have decided to keep all of the bulletins to make a collection when I get home. Each week we will share with the youth of the church about what we are doing and why. We have already heard stories of the impact we had on the first group of kids we talked to. (One was a ChemE too! But I didn't find out until after). 

The church was the home church of our "local GJV" Sueña. Sueña is my new Filipina BFF. :D She is with us most every day. She has been taking us on all the public transportation options and making sure we don't get lost. She commutes 2.5 hours every morning and every night to get to us and back home. She spent a couple nights at the Decker home with us because it was too late to go back. She is a full time volunteer and a student deaconess. And also super dedicated! And we love her for it! 

On Monday we got our schedules for the whole time we are here. Thank goodness they put some rest days in because they are keeping us busy! I am always exhausted by the end of the day. We then went to a couple tourist destinations around the city including Fort Santiago and Razil Park. We had a ton of pictures after that excursion. We even walked over a replica of the Philippines which was cool to see it represented in 3D. 

On Tuesday we had a unique experience. We visited the urban poor community Paranaque. The community will not exist after 2016 as it is scheduled to be demolished to make way for new flood prevention structures. While some of my group had visited before during training, this was my first experience there. The smell was overwhelming at times. It was a rotten odor that pervaded every corner of the community. The "streets" were narrow pathways that wound in seemingly unrecognizable patterns. It would be easy to get lost in there. We were given the chance to meet one of the families. The woman we met was Tita Rose. While her husband worked on a boat motor behind her we were able to ask her questions with the help of our Tagalog speaking friend from Batis Center for Women, Glen. She used to work as seamstress but went blind in one eye and was unable to stay employed. Her husband runs boats up and down the river, fishing to make a living. That suffices for most of the year but after storms the river is too churned up to fish an income becomes short. There is a plan to relocate them to another community, but there is no river there. I tell this story to put a face on the issue of the cycle of poverty. One of the main issues we are looking at is forced migration in the Philippines. There is a lack of infrastructure to create the jobs necessary to employ all the Filipinos. 28% of the population is unemployed or underemployed. The house we were in is actually built over the river. I could look through the bamboo floor and see the water. I felt a bit voyeuristic looking in on their lives and leaving having done nothing. Who was I to come in and see their lifestyle and leave just as easily? It is sometimes hard to discern the meaning of all of this, of why I have been placed here and why I am doing what I am doing. I think it comes back to being able to share these stories. To bring to light the injustices people face everyday. John 10:10, our focus verse for this mission journey states, "I came that you may have life and have it abundantly." They are living an abundant life in their own right but they are also being oppressed by a corrupt system. So take my story as you will.

This experience was followed by dinner at the Mall of Asia, the biggest mall in Asia. And if you have read my previous posts you will know that the regular Filipino malls are huge.  This could probably rival all the malls in Burlington county put together. And then some. We had dinner and rode the MOA eye (a Ferris wheel that overlooked the mall, the city, and the ocean. It was quite different from the afternoon's experience.

We led the morning devotions time for the UMC headquarters the next day. We shared our experiences and where we were from.

Yesterday was spent at Migrante International. We heard more testimonials of survivors of human trafficking. They were equally compelling as those I heard last week during training.

Today was our day off so I finally had time to write! I mostly caught up on sleep but also saw 22 Jump Street and wrote this blog post.

It's hard here sometimes but I know I have a ton of support coming from everyone back home! I really appreciate all the prayers being sent my way. Pray for an adjustment to the weather. Pray for strength to get through the week. Pray for the three others serving with me, Nicole, Tekeya, and Kosta.

I'll leave you with one of the only phrases I can remember in Tagalog.
Mahal kita.
I love you <3