Catching Up

The past couple of months have been pretty busy (and there's always more to tell than can fit inside this little monitor), but here are some snapshots of June's highlights:

*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?...

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.