On the Books

[My counterpart Cres helps a fisherman register with the province]

6.4.10

I recently went to the big island (Homonhon) again for two days with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to register fisherfolk for National Fisherfolk Registration Day. The Regional Director of BFAR was part of the group, as well as staff from the regional and local offices. This was the first time I’ve flown solo on a work trip in our nine months here, but it was a good opportunity to get to know my counterparts better and practice my Waray-Waray.

Fisherfolk registration is important here and is one of the objectives for our Peace Corps workplan. Essentially, the fishermen fill out a basic application which includes family, fishing, and alternative livelihood statistics, and the forms go to the provincial BFAR to make it official.


By registering, the fishermen are eligible to receive fisheries assistance (loan programs, equipment, and training). Also, only local fishers are allowed in the municipal waters, so each registered fisherman should be issued a photo ID (although this rarely happens in practice). These IDs are a big deal for the fisherfolk, considering most of them don’t have any other form of identification. So one of our upcoming projects is taking photos for all the fishermen and helping them get their IDs printed.

[Suluan]

We first visited Suluan, another island that’s part of our community but is a three-hour pumpboat trip from the mainland, to register fisherfolk. The trip is too dangerous to make during rainy season, but during summer was nice and calm. This was the first time I’d visited the island, which is rumored to be “better than Boracay” (the top tourist destination in the Philippines). Now, I haven’t been to Boracay yet, but Suluan was beautiful. The island is covered in lush green and powdery fine white sand. It is definitely worth a longer visit and we plan to go back for a camping trip in July. While there, we distributed registration surveys to the barangay council and BFAR staff held a short program.

[fisherfolk village in Suluan]

After Suluan we went on to Homonhon for the bulk of the trip. We canvassed three villages the first evening to find fishermen and help them get registered. I thought we would be working in teams, but I was dropped off at the first village all alone! This turned out to be great though - the fishermen were nervous at first to work with me, but after I spoke Waray-Waray with them they felt much more comfortable. By the end of the night we had registered about 75 fishermen.

[late night registration]

We traveled to the other side of the island to visit more villages and registered an additional 75 on the second day. Because Homonhon is so remote, it has historically had very few registered fishermen, even though most people make their livelihood from the sea. So to register 150 folks in two days was a good accomplishment for our group.

[leaving Homonhon]

Women at Work

5.22.10

[The TTBP women develop goals and a mission statement for their new livelihood association]

My first major project is now well underway – yes, we do actual work here! After our project design workshop in Manila in February, my supervisor asked me to head up the organizing of a new group for weavers of pandan bariw (grass mats), in four barangays in our community. So I worked with the village captains to hold an interest meeting at the end of March, and with over 100 folks attending (and all of them women), the group has grown into much more than we had originally envisioned – and really, this is better: the community validated the concept and made it their own, and now they are running with it.

[making a calendar for the coming months]

At our launch meeting in March the participants decided they wanted to create a community association for all women entrepreneurs, not just weavers – and so the TTBP Women’s Livelihood Association was born. (TTBP stands for Tagporo, Taytay, Barbo, and Pagnamitan – the names of the four villages). At that first meeting, where my supervisor and I facilitated, the women elected officers, decided on the group’s name and came up with a mission statement and goals.

[my supervisor facilitating a session]

The aim of the group is to build the entrepreneurial capacity of these women, who work as weavers, shell crafters, small store owners, and small farmers of livestock. The initial goal is to enhance their current businesses, and perhaps later work with them on exploring new business opportunities.

[electing officers]

As with any new group formed in the Philippines, the TTBP women held a big party known as the "officer induction" to celebrate. They do, in fact, induct their officers at these events and there is a formal program, but afterward it becomes just like any other Filipino party - eating, dancing, drinking, dancing, dancing.

[Taking the officers' oath - I took my first oath in the Waray-Waray language, as the group's advisor. Although, I don't quite understand everything I pledged...]

During the mayor's address she surprised us by announcing that she’s providing 100,000 pesos as a seed fund for the project (25,000 for each village) – this is about $2,500 US. It was great news, and the entire night was really remarkable - the group was all ladies, yet they kept up the all-night cha cha tradition!

[Our venue - yet another amazing Filipino skill: erecting a giant tent anywhere in no time!]

[Brandon was in high demand as a dance partner]

I’ve spent the last two months holding small group meetings in each village, getting to know the ladies and learn about their current businesses. These meetings were pretty stressful for me – because I worked without a formal counterpart from the municipal hall (Brandon and I facilitated them alone), and I conducted them entirely in Waray-Waray.

[meeting in Taytay village]

[meeting in Pagnamitan village]

After each 1-2 hour meeting I would fall into bed from the stress of processing a lively meeting in a foreign language, but it was worth it. The women are becoming less shy with me and we had some pretty good output at the meetings – we created a profile of their current businesses (what they do, where they sell, who are the buyers), and they’ve started to identify both the obstacles and opportunities for their work.


At each meeting, the women identified areas they want to be trained in, and the priority areas are new design techniques, dyeing, and business management. So now I’m working with local and regional agencies to schedule these. We have a business management workshop coming up this week and are hoping to hold a product enhancement workshop in July.

[It was at least 115 degrees in this small room (summer is here!) but they did a great job on the business profile.]

At times, this project feels really daunting – I have no idea where it will lead, and I certainly don’t want to make false promises that we can dramatically improve the women’s incomes. But for now, I know I can help offer the trainings they are asking for, and that seems like a good place to start.

[The entire group, at our launch meeting]

Earth Day

5.10.09

We held our first full event – one that we planned from start to finish, rather than just helping with someone else’s project – for Earth Day on April 22nd. Our town had never formally celebrated Earth Day before, and Filipinos love any excuse to celebrate a holiday, so we saw this as a good opportunity to do some environmental education!

With our counterparts and the help of a local fishermen’s association, we decided to hold a coastal cleanup in two villages. About 80 community members participated in the event, doing two hours of active cleanup in the morning before the heat became too unbearable. Our only regret is that we didn’t clarify what we meant by “cleanup” – since most of the adults in one of the villages were determined to wield machetes and just clear brush and weeds the whole time… BUT we rallied the kids to do a pretty extensive litter pick up, and in the other village they collected over a dozen large rice sacks of trash from the shoreline and mangrove areas. We also secured the use of the municipal garbage truck, which was a big deal – because normally folks (even with good intentions) just burn their trash.



After the cleanup, we did a short program for the participants with interactive lessons about pollution and waste management. The adults did an activity called “Who Polluted the Ocean,” a story that shows how human impacts have progressively affected the coastal environment, and the kids did a “litter relay” race where they had to sort waste into different categories (reusable, recyclable, compostable, and residual). Afterward, both communities joined together for a meal.

[barangay captain addresses the group]

[Who Polluted the Ocean?]

[litter relay]

[litter relay debrief]

We were fortunate to have secured donations from community members for the meal, and our nanay’s daughter who was visiting from the US provided funding for materials and prizes. With this support we were able to give school supplies to all the kids who participated.

Everyone pitched in to make it a success – our coworkers gave mini-lectures during the program about waste management and the significance of Earth Day. Barangay and fisherfolk captains led the interactive lessons and talked with participants during the cleanup about reducing their use of plastics.

We hope to build on this and have a larger Earth Day celebration next year, when we don’t have the constraints of the election. But it was good to have our first fully-organized event under our belt and it was great to see the communities working together toward a common goal. Plus, really, in Peace Corps, it’s rare that even a simple event comes off without any real glitches, so we’ll take it!

[our work team + barangay & fisherfolk captains - plus, not a bad location for our day's work!]

April So Far (3)

4.19.10

Baptism


April 10th was a big day for our household – our goddaughter, Dana Briseis, was finally baptized on her six month birthday. A big difference from baptisms in the US is that only the parents and the godparents attend the baptism (not the entire family, even grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc). So it was just us, the other godparents, and the mother, Carol, who is our closest friend here in the Philippines.




[Before the ceremony, outside the 16th century Church of Immaculate Conception]



It was such an honor to be part of this tradition. Before the ceremony, we attended a short class on the responsibilities of being godparents. During the ceremony, we stood with Carol and Dana at the front of the church and held lighted candles as part of the ritual.


About a dozen babies were baptized at the same time. The priest prayed over them all and rubbed holy water on their heads. Little Dana slept through the whole thing.


There was a reception at a local restaurant afterwards. As ninong and ninang (godparents) we gave gifts: a photo album (which is a rarity here) and a stuffed panda (my family will like the significance of this…)

[Three generations: Carol (“nanay” = mother), Dana (“iday” = baby girl), Julie (“lola” = grandma). Julie also lives at our house and is the primary caretaker for the baby, because Carol is finishing her degree. These three ladies, plus our nanay, make up our family here and the six of us share lots of laughs together. We really enjoy living with these ladies.]

This was a big day for many reasons – for Dana, it was her first time to leave the house. (Here, the belief is that babies should stay in the home until baptized). For her mother Carol, it meant that her daughter was growing up and officially part of the Catholic Church. And for us, it was another step forward in becoming part of this community. We are constantly grateful for new inroads here and for the privilege to share in some of our friends’ most important life moments.

April So Far (2)

4.19.10

Birthday!

As we’ve explained before, the mananita (early morning birthday serenade) is our favorite Waray-Waray tradition. Knowing this and because of our past participation, the mananita troupe from our work arrived bright and early on Easter morning to sing Brandon’s 28th birthday praises.

As the tradition goes, the group sang outside our front door, complete with guitar, still in the early a.m. darkness, until Brandon came outside (and pretended to be surprised). [We say ‘pretended’ because the celebrant is expected to prepare a meal ahead of time for all the singers!]

The group came in, showered him with songs about how awesome he is, and then ate a simple buffet breakfast. We prepared the traditional mananita fare: pansit, boiled eggs, sliced white bread, chiffon cake, coffee and hot chocolate. After they left, we definitely had some fuzzy feelings, realizing that we’ve made some solid work friendships since being here and we’re making some headway on the cultural integration front.


[Outdoor serenade – 4:30am]


[ ‘Surprise!’]


[After the surprise outside, the singers come inside and the music continues. There’s a standard list of songs, which end with the traditional ‘happy birthday.’ Sometimes the guitarist also takes requests after the meal.]


[No celebration is complete without the cha cha. The cha cha partner here is Virgie, Brandon’s officemate.]


[Another important tradition: on your birthday here, you provide a snack for your office. It’s the complete opposite of the US tradition, where the birthday boy or girl gets gifts, a cake, etc – here it’s your big day to provide food and entertainment for friends and family. Ice cream is a popular bday treat, but expensive here and outside our PC budget. So we brought a classic Filipino mid-afternoon snack of spaghetti and coke.]

April So Far (1)

4.19.10

Work has been slow-ish here due to the election season and all the corresponding bans and restrictions. For example, community organizing by municipal employees is not allowed, so our counterparts haven’t been able to work with us on community projects. Also, all funds are frozen, so our proposals are sitting on a desk somewhere. There are good reasons for this, like keeping corruption in check, but it has made it difficult for us to get our new projects off the ground. But we are trying to focus on all the unique experiences we get to have here. To keep spirits up this month, we had been looking forward to several big events, which all converged over the course of two weeks:

Volunteer Invasion

First, almost all of the other volunteers in our region came to visit Guiuan for Holy Week. We were nervous at first about how to accommodate 16 people here, keep them entertained, and still remain sensitive to the religious holiday and our community. But somehow the nearly week long visit was practically perfect.

We used their visit as an opportunity to see some sites in our community that we hadn’t yet visited and also took them to some of our favorite spots:


[We rented this sweet ride on the first day. We squeezed 17 giant Americans into this thing.]



[First stop was the wave watching point on the Pacific side. This was a new spot for us and is now one of our all-time favorites. We were here at low tide and explored the many tidal pools full of little creatures.]


[We brought a picnic lunch and avoided the midday sun under this overhang, which is underwater most of the day]



[Second stop was the famous tuba (palm wine) brewery. A local fisherfolk group produces and bottles this stuff as a secondary livelihood project. We’ve become pals with the president of the association, whose house doubles as the brewing headquarters. In his backyard he’s constructing a “tuba resort” for folks to sip tuba while watching the sun set over Leyte Gulf. He and his wife were amazing hosts, showering us with all kinds of food and tuba concoctions. Their favorite: mixing tuba with grape Tang…]


[Last stop for day 1 was another of our favorites, Sapao Beach. Right in front of this little island there’s a great natural swimming hole, with rocks set in a circle around it to perch on. We’ve heard that soldiers during WWII set up a diving board on this spot. While we were here I stepped on an octopus, which retaliated by latching onto my foot, sending shrieks of ‘There’s a CREATURE on my FOOT’ echoing off the nearby cliffs. It ended well for me, but not so well for the octopus, RIP.]



[On Friday, most places were closed, so we relaxed at a small local resort and kept up some American Easter traditions as well]


[The mayor graciously offered us a boat to use for Day 3, so we took a trip out to the islands in Leyte Gulf. The local bantay dagat (coast guard) served as our three man crew for a half day on the water.]


[Our main destination was tiny Pearl Island, a giant clam sanctuary run by our regional Bureau of Fisheries.]





[Folks spent the morning snorkeling the sanctuary and checking out the clams, which were the biggest and healthiest most had ever seen. Giant clams don’t produce pearls (so I’m still confused about the whole ‘Pearl’ Island thing), but they do act as great ocean filters.]

[Pearl Island is also a great spot for napping and picnicking, our other two major activities for the day].

On Good Friday, we woke early to watch the “stations of the cross” procession, where scenes from the last days of Christ were reenacted in the streets. Unlike in the US, emphasis during Holy Week here is on Friday, not Easter Sunday. Most of our community spent Thursday – Saturday in their homes or attending daylong church services, and almost all businesses were closed. On Sunday, the town came alive again and families picnicked at the beach.

After the visit we realized just how lucky we are with our site – many thanks to the Peace Corps Placement gods. Compared to other communities, we have plenty of transportation options (some sites have none), internet access, plenty of outdoor activities to keep us busy (as you can see), and even a small grocery store. On the other hand, we have one of the most “isolated” sites in our group – it’s three hours to get to the nearest city and an hour and a half to the next nearest volunteers. With everything we need here at site, we rarely have to leave, which has been great for getting to know our community better.