July 24
Today is my last day in the Aeta community of Camachili. We leave to go back to Manila tomorrow morning. As sad as it is to say goodbye to the new friends and greenery, it will be nice to go back to the familiar and rest a bit.
Yesterday, we went to visit another Methodist Missionary church in the area. We started out with a wet walk down to another church, Evangel Christian Church, to wait for our jeepney driver (who is also Pastor Leslie's brother). Then we set off on the most fun and interesting jeepney ride to date. It was a bit like what I imagine and African safari would be like. Not in the sense of spotting animals, although there were plenty of caribou, cows, goats and more. But more so in the ride, fording giant puddles, bouncing up and down on the uneven roads, and having reeds and branches come in the windows and whack us. It was quite the adventure.
After driving as far as the road would allow, we set off on what would be an hour long hike through the mountains. The views were incredible! It was muddy and we had to cross the river a couple times, but overall it was a fairly easy hike. Every so often we'd come across a caribou or a cow just off the path. Upon our arrival, we were able to wash our feet off and meet in the sanctuary. We all needed the rest. We ate some corn on the cob (not as good as in Jersey) before sitting down for lunch in the pastor's house behind the church.
Pastor Arlene and her husband Aron were recently married. The banner for their wedding still hung on the wall. Pastor Arlene is only 25 (I think) and yet at such a young age she new she was called to be a pastor.
After lunch, we split into two groups to visit members of the congregation. They didn't speak English and the young girls leading us around were rather shy with their English so we mostly just greeted the families, saw their houses, and left. One man owned and raised 41 goats. At another family we met the Lola, or Grandmother. She was 79 years old and had lived there all her life. She also had inch thick glasses that were cracked and taped together on one side. At that house I also met my kitty friend who I played with. We left the house and he (or she) tried to follow, but was unable to. I can still here him (or her) meowing goodbye. <tear>
We walked back to the church for a break and then said our goodbyes and headed back. I found little pink/purple flowers to put in my hair. I found one for Nicole to pin at the bottom of her braid too. On the hike back we also found some red hibiscus looking flowers. The guy who owned the house let me and Nicole each have one. After getting tired of carrying it, I put it that one in my ponytail. Nicole followed suit and twisted her hair up into a pretty updo with the flower on top. I eventually let my flower float down the river that night when we returned and went swimming.
Today, I spent another day with Teacher Juliet. This time kids actually came to class since it wasn't raining that hard. They were learning body parts. She was teaching them the English words while I was trying to pick up what they were called in the local dialect. They sang the national anthem (at least I'm pretty sure that's what it was) before they started. They also prayed, repeating back what Teacher Juliet said. They had play time and story time. I wanted to teach them the song Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, but I didn't want to interrupt her. So when she asked if I wanted to teach a song for the afternoon class, I knew exactly what I would teach. The 4 year old class is much more responsive and engaged than the 3 year old class. They picked the motions up, but I'm not sure the English words came across well. Later, Nicole showed up from her homestay and together we taught our go-to song which I'm going to call Paige's song because she's the one who taught us. We did Head Shoulders Knees and Toes again and then called it a day.
We finished by swimming in the river for the last time. I'm so glad we were able to have this escape and relaxation time in the river. I look forward to heading back tomorrow. They promised we would be able to stop and pick up some local peanut butter and local root plant cookies to take back with us. I haven't personally tried the peanut butter but I've been told it's excellent. And I can vouch for the cookies with the empty container we left in Pastor Leslie's kitchen!
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Monday, August 18, 2014
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Typing Up Old Blog Posts: Aeta Community
I'm home! And finally have a keyboard to type up some of my written journaling! This entry should follow the post from July 20, Best Day Yet. So if you want it to seem in order you can refresh yourself with that post before reading this. Or just read this. :)
July 22
I've had two more lovely days in the Aeta community. I'm actually writing this next to the river watching Nicole swim. (I would go swimming but for once it's actually cold here).
Yesterday was a much later start than Sunday. Once the students from St Paul's College arrived we joined them for another presentation about the Aetas. They were also here for an exposure trip, but just for the day. After lunch, we went to several different houses to meet some of the people. One woman shared some delicious cookie things that are also at our house. They are made with some root plant and are a local treat. At the last house we visited, there was videoke, or video karaoke. One of the girls sang and I thought it was Beyoncé herself singing! She was so good! Hopefully we will get to go again this week with some of our friends. The afternoon was pretty chill. We went swimming again (after I took a nap). Overall, a pretty great day.
Today was homestay day. I spent the day with Teacher Juliet. She teaches daycare, the 3 and 4 year olds. Unfortunately, it has been raining pretty much nonstop since 3am this morning thanks to typhoon Henry being in the region. When there are heavy rains, children don't go to school. We had a total of students out of 24 in the morning. I cannot imagine how she handles a full class of 24 3 year olds by herself. It's a mix of play and focus. She would guide them through simple coloring exercises for basic English using red and yellow crayons to distinguish between big and small or men's and women's clothing. But the others ran around the building playing with each other. There were lots of loud voices and running around and banging. This one little kid, James, kept jumping up on the table and causing other trouble. All I could do was sit in awe at what this woman accomplished everyday in that classroom. I would've helped, but none of them have learned English yet.
After the first batch went home, I went to Teacher Juliet's mother-in-law's house for lunch. Juliet's roof is thatched and was currently being replaced. (They last about 5 years). After sitting on a bench watching Filipino soap operas and talk shows for what seemed like forever, we ate lunch. She made a dish with heart of banana which was really delicious. I ate that with rice. She also made sardines in tomato sauce from a can, but I decided to forgo that. (Probably a good move). At her mother-in-law's house there were lots of animals roaming free throughout the house including chickens, a dog, an two puppies. The puppies were adorable, but also troublesome, trying to bother us while we ate. The home was small, but cozy and the lunch was great.
We returned to the school for the afternoon 4 year old class. We had one kid come to class and I'm pretty sure he spoke only two words the entire time. So it was a bit dull, but I was glad to be there. Juliet let the boy go home early and I decided to accompany her to pick up her daughter from the elementary school. She is only 6 so the 1km walk is a bit far for her to do by herself. We waited in the rain for about half an hour before Christine, the daughter, and her friend came out after their quiz. They took their uniform skirts off and walked back in just their gym shorts that were underneath. They were so cute but very shy.
On the walk back, we stopped for soda and snacks. Juliet bought a bottle of soda and then distributed it to us each in plastic bags (which is totally normal here). The lady who sold us the snacks was fascinated by my appearance. Paleness seems to be idealized in Filipino culture. Also, no one here has blue eyes like me. She was also pregnant. There are lots of superstitions around pregnancy. Only look at pretty things. No horror movies. And apparently, rub the white girl's arms so that your kid will look like her. It was a little odd (okay a lot odd), but we all have our weird traditions so who am I to judge.
And to wrap up the day, I'm sitting by the river. A good day.
July 22
I've had two more lovely days in the Aeta community. I'm actually writing this next to the river watching Nicole swim. (I would go swimming but for once it's actually cold here).
Yesterday was a much later start than Sunday. Once the students from St Paul's College arrived we joined them for another presentation about the Aetas. They were also here for an exposure trip, but just for the day. After lunch, we went to several different houses to meet some of the people. One woman shared some delicious cookie things that are also at our house. They are made with some root plant and are a local treat. At the last house we visited, there was videoke, or video karaoke. One of the girls sang and I thought it was Beyoncé herself singing! She was so good! Hopefully we will get to go again this week with some of our friends. The afternoon was pretty chill. We went swimming again (after I took a nap). Overall, a pretty great day.
Today was homestay day. I spent the day with Teacher Juliet. She teaches daycare, the 3 and 4 year olds. Unfortunately, it has been raining pretty much nonstop since 3am this morning thanks to typhoon Henry being in the region. When there are heavy rains, children don't go to school. We had a total of students out of 24 in the morning. I cannot imagine how she handles a full class of 24 3 year olds by herself. It's a mix of play and focus. She would guide them through simple coloring exercises for basic English using red and yellow crayons to distinguish between big and small or men's and women's clothing. But the others ran around the building playing with each other. There were lots of loud voices and running around and banging. This one little kid, James, kept jumping up on the table and causing other trouble. All I could do was sit in awe at what this woman accomplished everyday in that classroom. I would've helped, but none of them have learned English yet.
After the first batch went home, I went to Teacher Juliet's mother-in-law's house for lunch. Juliet's roof is thatched and was currently being replaced. (They last about 5 years). After sitting on a bench watching Filipino soap operas and talk shows for what seemed like forever, we ate lunch. She made a dish with heart of banana which was really delicious. I ate that with rice. She also made sardines in tomato sauce from a can, but I decided to forgo that. (Probably a good move). At her mother-in-law's house there were lots of animals roaming free throughout the house including chickens, a dog, an two puppies. The puppies were adorable, but also troublesome, trying to bother us while we ate. The home was small, but cozy and the lunch was great.
We returned to the school for the afternoon 4 year old class. We had one kid come to class and I'm pretty sure he spoke only two words the entire time. So it was a bit dull, but I was glad to be there. Juliet let the boy go home early and I decided to accompany her to pick up her daughter from the elementary school. She is only 6 so the 1km walk is a bit far for her to do by herself. We waited in the rain for about half an hour before Christine, the daughter, and her friend came out after their quiz. They took their uniform skirts off and walked back in just their gym shorts that were underneath. They were so cute but very shy.
On the walk back, we stopped for soda and snacks. Juliet bought a bottle of soda and then distributed it to us each in plastic bags (which is totally normal here). The lady who sold us the snacks was fascinated by my appearance. Paleness seems to be idealized in Filipino culture. Also, no one here has blue eyes like me. She was also pregnant. There are lots of superstitions around pregnancy. Only look at pretty things. No horror movies. And apparently, rub the white girl's arms so that your kid will look like her. It was a little odd (okay a lot odd), but we all have our weird traditions so who am I to judge.
And to wrap up the day, I'm sitting by the river. A good day.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Paranaque Revisited
August 9
It was somewhere between this week and last week that I realized I wanted to come home. Luckily, this realization came when I only had a couple weeks left. This time next week I will be home. I'm literally counting down the days.
I want to be honest with everyone. I'm having a bad week. It's really hard to motivate myself to the end. Certain things keep happening that have kept me down. I've spent too much time feeling angry and frustrated in my situation. It is in no way the fault of the program. This is a great program. I would recommend it to anyone who is between the ages of 18 and 30. But it's time for me to come home.
I think a lot of people may equate this with a vacation. I mean I'm in the Philippines with gorgeous beaches and tons of tourism. But it's not. It's work. And it's often hard work. And like any job it has it's ups an downs.
Today I'm going to try to share the ups because they are much more interesting and inspiring than the downs. But I want you to know that this isn't always rainbows and butterflies.
This week Nicole and I chose to stay behind from the trip to Cagayan to help fix up the building that is used for a weekend teaching program in
Paranaque. Unfortunately instead of building and fixing we were relegated to cleaning. But we were able to convince them to also let us decorate the place. I'm unable to add photos from here but when I get home I promise to try to upload lots of pictures.
We spent the first day getting supplies. We got poster board, markers and paper. Then that night we stayed up until 2 in the morning making the posters for the rooms. There were two rooms so each of us made a welcome poster, a Lord's Prayer poster, a shapes poster and a bible story poster. I did the story of feeding 5,000 and Nicole did the story of Daniel and the lions' den. By staying up that late, it allowed us to have a free day the next day to hang with friends, a much needed escape from our week.
On Thursday, we traveled 3 hours to Paranaque to clean the place. After a quick sweeping and clearing of the bookshelf, we scrubbed the walls of dirt. I can't tell the difference from the before and after pictures of the walls. But I saw a lot of dirt come off so I guess that counts. We were helped by about 5 or 6 of the children in the community. They were the best helpers! And we had a little fun doing it even though I ended up sweating buckets and being soaked with soapy water. After a 2.5 hour ride home, it was definitely time for some rest.
Friday was also a rest day. We started the morning with a workout. I forgot to mention I started working out with Nicole here about every other day. It makes me sore but it relieves stress and ultimately makes me feel better about myself. Hopefully I can continue the routine into the school year. We followed that up with a trip to the mall where I picked up some yummy souvenirs for friends and family. We attempted to sun bathe on the driveway but it didn't last too long. However I'm pretty sure it was long enough to get at least some color. Everyone thinks we are crazy because we want to be darker. People in the US pay for tanning salons all the time. But here paleness is valued. Every lotion, body cream, and even deodorant come with "whitening" properties. If I have to listen to one more Filipino commercial advertising for a beautiful white rosy glow I might have to throw something. Of course I feel the same way about tanning but that's a different story. This day has a lot of side stories. I finished the day by reading the rest of my Nicholas Sparks novel Message in a Bottle. I mean I was only 30% of the way through when I started but I finished it that night. It was just the type of relaxing day I needed.
Today started a lot later than expected so I got up, showered, ate breakfast, and went back to bed. :) After another long trip to Paranaque, which included a train ride on the national railway system, we started to decorate. The girls who helped with the cleaning also helped with the decorating. It looks so much more inviting and just fun. We followed that up with teaching for an hour and a half. That may not seem like much but when you are dealing with 3-7 year olds who don't speak English you kind of have to go with the flow. They understood some things and other ideas we had to scratch. We did a lot of singing and dancing and looking ridiculous for the sake of the amusement of the kids. But I don't mind. I'm good at that.
Our day finished with an interesting train ride back. Remember me mentioning the national railroad system? Yeah this is like old fashioned in many senses. They look a bit like prison cars and I'm pretty sure the engine car ran on coal or something else like that. And Filipinos love to squish. They have an all female car which makes the guys to girl ratio in the other cars much greater. Plus more guys take it anyway. But we were with Anthony so we went in the regular car. After following the crowd we finally found a spot to hold the rail conveniently provided by some really nice Filipino guys. Actually this was some refreshing kindness and friendliness that was sincerely appreciated. They created casual conversation that only slightly verged on invasive (but that's the culture so this was more moderate than usual). Eventually, one of the men even gave his seat up for me to sit. It might have been my bright red face or the gallon of sweat on me but it was still really nice. The train was like a sauna and it smelled of, well, sweat. One guy told us he takes it everyday. I could not imagine. I am definitely not destined to be a city girl.
While it was hard to get through the week, looking back I was able to do some really great things. This upcoming week is mostly free so touristy Manila here I come!
It was somewhere between this week and last week that I realized I wanted to come home. Luckily, this realization came when I only had a couple weeks left. This time next week I will be home. I'm literally counting down the days.
I want to be honest with everyone. I'm having a bad week. It's really hard to motivate myself to the end. Certain things keep happening that have kept me down. I've spent too much time feeling angry and frustrated in my situation. It is in no way the fault of the program. This is a great program. I would recommend it to anyone who is between the ages of 18 and 30. But it's time for me to come home.
I think a lot of people may equate this with a vacation. I mean I'm in the Philippines with gorgeous beaches and tons of tourism. But it's not. It's work. And it's often hard work. And like any job it has it's ups an downs.
Today I'm going to try to share the ups because they are much more interesting and inspiring than the downs. But I want you to know that this isn't always rainbows and butterflies.
This week Nicole and I chose to stay behind from the trip to Cagayan to help fix up the building that is used for a weekend teaching program in
Paranaque. Unfortunately instead of building and fixing we were relegated to cleaning. But we were able to convince them to also let us decorate the place. I'm unable to add photos from here but when I get home I promise to try to upload lots of pictures.
We spent the first day getting supplies. We got poster board, markers and paper. Then that night we stayed up until 2 in the morning making the posters for the rooms. There were two rooms so each of us made a welcome poster, a Lord's Prayer poster, a shapes poster and a bible story poster. I did the story of feeding 5,000 and Nicole did the story of Daniel and the lions' den. By staying up that late, it allowed us to have a free day the next day to hang with friends, a much needed escape from our week.
On Thursday, we traveled 3 hours to Paranaque to clean the place. After a quick sweeping and clearing of the bookshelf, we scrubbed the walls of dirt. I can't tell the difference from the before and after pictures of the walls. But I saw a lot of dirt come off so I guess that counts. We were helped by about 5 or 6 of the children in the community. They were the best helpers! And we had a little fun doing it even though I ended up sweating buckets and being soaked with soapy water. After a 2.5 hour ride home, it was definitely time for some rest.
Friday was also a rest day. We started the morning with a workout. I forgot to mention I started working out with Nicole here about every other day. It makes me sore but it relieves stress and ultimately makes me feel better about myself. Hopefully I can continue the routine into the school year. We followed that up with a trip to the mall where I picked up some yummy souvenirs for friends and family. We attempted to sun bathe on the driveway but it didn't last too long. However I'm pretty sure it was long enough to get at least some color. Everyone thinks we are crazy because we want to be darker. People in the US pay for tanning salons all the time. But here paleness is valued. Every lotion, body cream, and even deodorant come with "whitening" properties. If I have to listen to one more Filipino commercial advertising for a beautiful white rosy glow I might have to throw something. Of course I feel the same way about tanning but that's a different story. This day has a lot of side stories. I finished the day by reading the rest of my Nicholas Sparks novel Message in a Bottle. I mean I was only 30% of the way through when I started but I finished it that night. It was just the type of relaxing day I needed.
Today started a lot later than expected so I got up, showered, ate breakfast, and went back to bed. :) After another long trip to Paranaque, which included a train ride on the national railway system, we started to decorate. The girls who helped with the cleaning also helped with the decorating. It looks so much more inviting and just fun. We followed that up with teaching for an hour and a half. That may not seem like much but when you are dealing with 3-7 year olds who don't speak English you kind of have to go with the flow. They understood some things and other ideas we had to scratch. We did a lot of singing and dancing and looking ridiculous for the sake of the amusement of the kids. But I don't mind. I'm good at that.
Our day finished with an interesting train ride back. Remember me mentioning the national railroad system? Yeah this is like old fashioned in many senses. They look a bit like prison cars and I'm pretty sure the engine car ran on coal or something else like that. And Filipinos love to squish. They have an all female car which makes the guys to girl ratio in the other cars much greater. Plus more guys take it anyway. But we were with Anthony so we went in the regular car. After following the crowd we finally found a spot to hold the rail conveniently provided by some really nice Filipino guys. Actually this was some refreshing kindness and friendliness that was sincerely appreciated. They created casual conversation that only slightly verged on invasive (but that's the culture so this was more moderate than usual). Eventually, one of the men even gave his seat up for me to sit. It might have been my bright red face or the gallon of sweat on me but it was still really nice. The train was like a sauna and it smelled of, well, sweat. One guy told us he takes it everyday. I could not imagine. I am definitely not destined to be a city girl.
While it was hard to get through the week, looking back I was able to do some really great things. This upcoming week is mostly free so touristy Manila here I come!
Sunday, August 3, 2014
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.
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
Saturday, August 2, 2014
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
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.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
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. :)
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. :)
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