*My main project lately has been developing the TBTP Women's Livelihood group. In June we held a two-day workshop on business expenses and savings. The ladies learned about costing and pricing their products, negotiating based on market fluctuations, and budgeting.
*In the evenings we've been doing a series of presentations on Coastal Management in the villages. Working with our local Bureau of Fisheries staff and our counterparts from the municipal ag office, we give mini-lectures, play games, and show videos. Not how you'd want to spend your evenings, right? But here there are so few opportunities for continuing education that folks come out in crowds. An average night has about 50 people in the audience.
This is a game we play with fishermen - on the inside are the "fish," with a fisherfolk association trying to protect them. The "illegal fisherman" stand on the outside and try to catch the fish by touching them. These kinds of active games go over really well here - I love how the adults are never too old or too serious to play a good game!
*When we're not doing work in the field, we spend a lot of time in our offices at the municipal hall. But life at the municipal hall is just a bit more fun than a traditional office in the US. For example, here is the daily view I have from my desk - my amazing officemates dancin it out:
*May and June are fiesta season in the Philippines. Each village has its own fiesta, which basically entails going house to house and eating LOTS of food. Kind of like trick-or-treat but with cassava and rice instead of Snickers bars. I've lost count of how many fiestas we went to, but they all pretty much looked like this:
*For one week in June we attended a Peace Corps-sponsored conference on Coastal Resource Management. The real value of the event though was taking our counterparts with us. It was held in the city of Sagay on the island of Negros, where there is an acclaimed marine reserve. By visiting their reserve and talking with the local government folks who manage it, we learned a lot about marine protected areas and law enforcement that we can apply back in Guiuan.
Visiting the marine reserve with our two excellent counterparts, Concesa and Cres:
On the last day of the trip we visited an interactive children's science museum (kind of like the Filipino version of COSI, for all you Central Ohio folks...) It was such an amazing resource for their community and I haven't seen anything like it yet in the Philippines. The best part though was the exhibit on the sea, which featured children as guides.
The same museum had a "touch pool" where kids can feel the sea creatures. Although most Filipinos live near the water, the vast majority have never seen what is under the surface (until it ends up in the local market). Here's Brandon checking out a sea cucumber:
*After the conference, Brandon was invited to do a coral reef assessment in our community as part of a local team of fisherfolk and fisheries experts. Using the snorkel method, they collected data on the abundance of corals, fish, and seagrass within one of Guiuan's marine protected areas.
Here's the team processing their results. [Soon we hope to have an underwater camera to show you all the awesome stuff that's out there!]
*At the end of the month we had my amazing birthday weekend. We spent the 26th exploring the beach area on the Pacific. Here's Brandon relaxing in his and Eric's new favorite spot, which they call "the hot tub." Our town has a huge tidal flat that's full of fascinating pools at low tide. This one is particularly big, big enough for Brandon to swim around, and it gets so hot at low tide that the water burns you! They like to watch the waves and the tide come in at eye level.
Then of course we had the pre-4am birthday mananita. Our coworkers serenaded me and we even busted out the tambourine for a dance!
My birthday also happened to be the fiesta in our favorite village. So we went there for lunch and enjoyed an afternoon sipping palm wine with them, looking out over the water. The fisherfolk president cooked us up some fresh kinilaw (a raw fish dish that our town's famous for, similar to a ceviche) and the company was amazing. Most definitely one of my favorite moments so far in the Philippines.
In this photo we have several of the entrepreneurs I work with (screenprinters, bakers), the tuba (palm wine) master and his family (including Jo-Fils the young karaoke prodigy), the fisherfolk president, and our sitemate Eric.
After an afternoon on the shore we sang videoke for SIX HOURS. Yes, we are officially integrated. I knew it was time to stop when my throat started to bleed... But Carol, my best friend here, really is an amazing singer and the system our host mom has at her house has TWO microphones. We just couldn't stop!
*We ended the month with a trip to the city. I'm sure you all know what this picture is, right?
No? You mean, you've never ordered McDonald's delivery to a hotel room?...
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