On the Shore

9.25.09

The weather has finally cooled off a little here – enough that our shirts aren’t soaked with sweat by 10am, we aren’t planted in front of a fan every second of the day, and we’ve even slept with a sheet the past couple of nights! Most members of our host family, including us, have come down with colds in the past week though, which our host mom attributes to the “cold environment.”

This week we did our first hands-on work with fisherfolk, doing socio-economic assessments. We conducted household interviews, completely in Waray-Waray, making it through with our broken language skills and lots of gesturing! For the assessment, we went into people’s homes (which is normal here – you can just walk in) and asked basic questions about household demographics, utilities and possessions in their homes, and fishing as a livelihood.

When asked how they envision their community and coast five years from now, most fishermen said they didn’t see any future for their community, because by that time their homes will be gone. This is a reality for them, because most fishermen in our village are squatters who’ve built permanent homes (nipa huts and plywood) on the shore. Because of sedimentation, coastal erosion, and climate change, the waves are coming closer each year and washing away homes in the process.

We hope to work on these issues over the next two years, but it seems the only immediate solution for these families is to relocate further inland when absolutely necessary.

The following day we held a focus group session with fishermen and their families. I conducted a community mapping activity and Brandon led the group in creating a seasonal calendar for fishing activities and household expenses. We also made a 24-hour calendar with the group, comparing the daily routines of men and women.

The highlight of this activity was when the women noted that they slept from 9-11pm, then woke up for an hour for ‘making babies’ before going back to sleep! Our last activity was a needs assessment for the community, where they identified public bathrooms, a fish sanctuary, small business support, and a watchtower as community priorities.

It was great to finally interact with community members and do work that feels more comfortable for us. Although it felt like familiar work on the surface, facilitating community processes in a foreign language was a whole new experience – if we hadn’t had our language instructor with us to help translate, it would’ve been completely overwhelming. We’re now more motivated than ever to learn the local dialect.