My initial arrival in the Philippines was less than favorable. My welcoming committee was health check security guards offering pieces of white paper stating I had probably been exposed to Ebola and should closely monitor my health. As I made my way into the airport, I was surrounded by throngs of pushing, yelling, sweating people and harassed by whistle-blowing 厳しい security guards. There are whole towns in between airport terminals (literally-it took me 20 minutes to get from one to the other). I had to take a taxi from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1, and waited in line for a half an hour to get one. As a woman traveling alone, I was instructed to hold onto another piece of white paper confirming my departure time and destination "for my safety". If they didn't receive the paper at my destination, they would alert the police.
When I finally arrived at Terminal 1 to meet my roommate for the evening, E, I had to battle more 厳しい guards as you aren't even allowed to walk in front of the arrival or departure areas without a valid ticket. After arguing with no less than 5 different guards, I finally made it to the arrivals area and met E. We were totally screwed over by an expensive private taxi, but I had no energy to argue my way to the metered taxi area.
Our hotel room was positively spacious by Japanese standards, with cool air conditioning and a warm shower. If you have cause to stay in Manila, the Tune Hotel Ermita is a nice choice. The next morning we got up and took a walk by Manila Bay, stopping for a delicious Filipino breakfast with real fruit and whole wheat bread! We returned back to the airport to meet the rest of our group, and piled into vans for the long trip to our hotel.
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| Manila Bay |
We were all fascinated by the giant dorm-like hotel room they put us up in, with 7 people (and beds!) per room. We tromped over to one room for orientation about the organization we were working with, Gawad Kalinga. If you'd like to know more about this inspiring organization, you can check out their website here: http://www.gk1world.com/home I urge you to check out the "Our Model" page to see what makes GK different from so many other NGOs, and the reason why I wanted to work with them.
After an amazing breakfast at the hotel, we set off for the village where we would be staying for 4 days and 3 nights. We took a pit stop at a local resort for a swim and authentic Filipino meal. Filipino people LOVE to eat, and we weren't hungry a single minute of our time there.
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| Sun sun sun... here we come! |
We arrived at the village in the early evening. We toured the village, met the president of the community, and settled in with our host families. All the families live in houses built by GK, and ranged from simple 1 room apartments without a flush toilet or shower to houses with lofts. All the families gave us their own bed for the duration of our stay, and repeatedly encouraged us to make ourselves at home.
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| The village at dusk. |
The work we did was hard. As part of the agreement for living in the village, all families must donate a certain amount of service hours. My host mother was doing her service hours while we were there, so I had the opportunity to work with her and her friends every day. Because none of us were skilled laborers, and all but one of us were women, we excavated dirt to lay the foundation for a new set of houses. It's dry season in the Philippines, with temps around 32 C every day in the hot sun with no shade and no rain. After only about an hour of work, I had fine dust in every part of my body.
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| Our work. |
But, we took a lot of breaks. It's shocking how quickly I became overheated shoveling in the heat, and I drank at least 6 bottles of water daily. We spent our break times interacting with the children of the village, whose English levels varied widely, but all operated at maximum genki. We learned how to take cold water bucket "baths" because there were no showers or hot water, and how to use regular toilets with no flushers and no toilet paper.
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| Selfie! |
While I can't say our short time in the village was easy, it was definitely meaningful. The villagers are a close-knit community who pop in and out of each others' houses, take care of each others' children, and know everyone. Their infectious good-nature and endless teasing was so refreshing after three years in Japan--I honestly can't remember when I last laughed so hard so often. The fathers work hard to support their families, and the mothers work equally hard to take care of the house and the family. While I know that life for these families is not easy, and we were only there long enough to just see the surface, I was inspired by the simplicity and surety of their purpose.
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| Our beautiful host family. |
I have always struggled with too many choices. My priorities are all over the map, and I tend to flit from one thing to the next. I want to do everything, and I want to do it now. My personal "road map" is poorly drawn and not to scale. Talking with the villagers, their lives have very clear paths centered around family, faith, community and country. They are optimistic the next generation will do better than them. They have hope and conviction, and I am grateful to them for reminding me of what really matters.
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