Day Camp

This last weekend I had the pleasure of being part of a quickly planned day camp. After coming back from Manila, all of the trainees got together in Olongapo to begin planning one day camp. Instead of being given a full week for planning, we had about three, but even that didn't last. Let me explain.

I have two “classes” a day. Language and Technical. Us trainees have to have about 50-50 of both each day but sometimes we spend a week in Manila, away from Language. The week we had to plan a camp was the same week we had to “make-up” Language time. That's fine had we spoke briefly about a camp in the weeks preceding but alas we hadn't. We had to attend split classes of 30-70, Language getting the lion's share.

That all aside, we still got together to plan what we could. Thankfully we have a seasoned pro in our group concerning all things camp, and she cobbled together a basic schedule and presented it to the big group. We spent a goodly amount of time arguing over this and that, feelings were hurt, voices ignored, snide remarks whispered, and so on. Whatever the cost, we made it through and had a basic schedule to work with. This was Tuesday.

Come Friday I was paired with Kaiti sitting on a small list of games to facilitate to our youngsters, expecting to be paired with 17 nine and ten year-olds the next day. We were ready, packed, and only slightly concerned.

SATURDAY: We were dropped off with our day bags at the end of a paved road, one the unpaved portion. After a 15 minute walk up one side of a hill and down the other, we had arrived. We had figured we would be there early enough to prepare for the kids arrival. They were already there.

Fizzle, it was a slow burn to get our bearings and get moving. A few commandeered the check-in process and after a few bungles, Kaiti and I found we had a new group of twelve and thirteen year-olds. Alright, let's do this.

I opened the event, it wasn't spectacular by any means. I started with a little song each trainee from our batch learned in IO (Initial Orientation), Baby Shark. Afterward we split into our groups and did our respective thing.

Here's what Kaiti and I tried:

Communicate (not a game, actually communicate)

Make a group rallying call/cheer

Color a team flag

Facilitate ten or so games

Only moderate success was achieved.

After a full day of chasing kids here and there, we had wrapped it up. The kids scampered here and there before heading to their large dorm rooms. The ladies retired to a small dorm in the nearby church, it didn't have enough beds to go around even for them. The gents had to hack it outside, sans beds. Munya and I set up camp in the church, on the stone floor, the other guys from our group slept under the stars.

I woke up and realized I've slept better. After breakfast, our group of trainees came together for some processing. Here's what we learned.

-Language is pretty important

The kids were great. They seemed to have a good time and really, that's what we wanted.

Street Immersion Notes

I climbed a thirty year dormant trash mountain in Manila. I passed several houses on the mountain, trekked through fields of camote and saw corn stalks speckled about. The ground looked almost normal, the road was muddy (but not mud at all), the crops looked fine, the landscape was rolling and looked serene. It's what's just under the surface, and even still sticking out, that makes this mountain different, it's just trash. Trash that's older than I am. It hadn't been added to in a long time so the mountain just decomposed as best it could and began to look like a shaggy hill. The farming done on the mountain certainly adds to the lushness of the mountain, there are tight rows of camote that look just fine to eat (I'm not so sure though). It's pretty and it's impressive, the most beautiful trash mountain I've ever seen. After climbing down from the summit, my group of trainees went down the street to the new budding mountain.

This is a much different mountain. It's low lying in comparison and has nothing growing from it's surface. One side of the mountain butts against Manila Bay, the other side is against a Barangay full of people who live right there. The road into the small town is muddy and it's the blackest mud you've ever seen, slimy and thick. Children run along the roadside in different states of play, some have boots, sandals, or are barefoot (a majority I'd say) and quite a few children were stark naked, staring at the Americans piling out of a caravan of vans. We walked to the edge of another section of the Barangay where charcoal is made. The smoke was very thick and billowed out of so many buildings. We didn't get any closer. This was a fully functional town, it had a Barangay hall, basketball court, sari-sari stores, and places to have your hair cut. Just had a landfill right next to and spilling into it.

On the way home a friend of mine was transferred to the van I was in and we rushed to the hospital. My friend was having trouble breathing and was complaining of losing feeling in the arms. We made it to the hospital in about 25 minutes, which was pretty fast considering how much time we spent passing on the left, in the left lane, of huge strings of traffic backed up at traffic lights. My friend is fine.

At night we left the hostel we were staying at and went to see what prostitution looks like. My idea of what it would be was pretty spot on, it's still hard to see. I'll paint you a word picture of my first stop. It's dark out. Imagine a square open park, without grass and with brick, that has a water fountain in the center. Well lit by flood lights, dark outside the park. Each corner of the park has raised benches that are part of the park, the benches are sides of plant filled concrete boxes. The plant-benches part for openings into the park at the center of each side of the square. Seat yourself on a corner, and put about seven girls in another corner. You can see them and they can see you. Now put in twelve men here and there, not far off but not next to the girls. Put a couple guys really close to the girls, you can't tell if they're customers or pimps. Finally have four families spread across the rest of the park, the parents seated, the children running around. This is what I sat in and watched prostitutes from.

I think it's a pretty tall order to ask anyone who really doesn't want to, to proposition a prostitute. That's what I was asked to do, although I could just say no and walk off. I didn't actually get to to talk specifics with the prostitutes I did encounter, I couldn't think of what to say to them. I did tell Sugar that “that's not your real name, is it?”

The next day I watched a man of about sixty (I'm guessing here) haggle with three prostitutes of young age, about 16-18 years old. I saw the pimp too, he didn't look stereotypical at all, could have been any guy off the street. This time the location was directly beside a carousel.

The street kids were fun to work with. We watched an educational session occur and returned the next day to run some games. We did one where you race the clock to make a hula-hoop travel all the way around a group of participants holding hands. First time we did pretty bad, second we did it three seconds faster, third time we knocked ten seconds off the tree prior. The second game is a favorite of mine but is also hard to get off without a hitch, action relay. It's like telephone, you have to relay a word or series of words through actions, without talking. We did alright and I think the kids had a good time.

That's what I did for twelve hours a day for two days in Manila.

More About My Site

It's been awhile since I've posted and I've got a lot to write about. Let's start with my permanent site.

I'll be living in Cabanatuan City come September 18^th. I've not been there yet but I've heard some great things about it. It's a good sized city and that's just what I wanted to have. It has tons of trikes, so transportation isn't an issue. I'll be living inside the city and only about ten minutes from my job site.

I'll be working for the CSWDO (City Social Welfare Development Office) under my supervisor Helen Bagasao. The CSWDO is a LGU (Local Government Unit) and is funded by the government and by donors who the CSWDO can acquire. I was poking through the paperwork detailing the performance of the CSWDO and in Cabanatuan they garnered a rating of 150% (outstanding) in its adjectival rating, this is pretty impressive. Leading the CSWDO is Helen, she's my supervisor, and she appears to know what she's doing. After meeting and working with her a little, I feel confident that she won't have my sitting around. She has some big plans in the works and she can't wait to have me lend a hand, neither can I.

Off the top of my head, here's what my work will include, could change though:

-Street Education with street children, mainly basic literacy. This is done in a center inside a market.

-Computer education for OSY (out of school youth). There's a computer lab, put there by an engineer from Canada, that are beginning to age.

-Assist in development and preparation of “Kariton”, a mobile classroom. I didn't know what this would look like but as it would happen, I worked with some street educators in Manila a few days later and I have a good idea what it includes (A van, TV, speakers, stacks of plastic chairs, DVD player, educational videos, and a generator).

-Assist in Saturation drives. This is where the city does a massive collection of street children and feeds, performs medical check-ups, and calls the parents of the street children.

-Anti-Medicancy campaigning. This is a campaign against giving alms to distance begging from being a realistic source of income. Surprisingly I could wind up back on the radio doing this.

-Collect, input, and analyze data regarding street children. This is actually pretty big in scope, this could span my entire stay and has the potential to show the issues that contribute to the situation street children find themselves in. This is both exciting (I like running data) and is also very daunting. I'll have to chat up my sociology professor friends back home to get an idea of what I can do.

-Out of left field is related to the study, a documentary. This sounds very hopeful as I have no illusions over my skills in this department, I have none. I was part of one video in university and it was wildly awful. So, we'll see.

That's a rough sketch of what I could be doing. The street education is really my main job. I also get to wear different types of shirts, depending on the day of the week. Mondays are Barong Tagalog day, Fridays are casual shirt day. I can't remember the other days but they're all polos, I'll be happy to finally own my own Barong Tagalog (it's comparable to a three piece suit back home, it's only a sheer shirt). The office also has air-con, I don't spend most my time there though.

The closest current-trainee (Volunteer when I get to site) site to mine is Natalie's. She'll be living and working in Tarlac. There's also two current PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteer) nearby my site, both of the PCVs are a year into their service in education. I met one of the two, Emily, she made it clear that the two of them were happy to have another friend nearby. It's nice to be welcomed.

I just have four weeks to go. Training is about to get more intense too.

Within Four Hours, I'll Know

That's right. I'm currently sitting on a beautiful veranda, outside of Island Cove. Its only a few hours before the big reveal. I just wish I brought deodorant.

I'll update this soon!

UPDATE: I'll be working in Cabanatuan, a city within Nueva Encija. I feel as though I was dealt the greatest hand. No joke, it feels like I'm accepting a cushy and exciting job over my peers. What is Cabanatuan like? It's a fast growing city, just ask wikipedia. It's home to the trike and it's where I'll be calling home for awhile to come. Seriously, I'm over the moon. I wish I could bottle my excitement and sprinkle it over the planet. It feels unfair.


It's not though. Ask anyone, they have the best supervisor. I can't deny it but I feel as though mine is ready to have me join her team and use my enthusiasm. I have pictures of where I'm going and I'm just giddy. Seriously, pinch me. I scored big time.

All things great: My supervisor, site, nearby PCVs, my enthusiasm, next host family, friends' sites, and everything in between.

I'm so happy.

Not on Vacation

I've had a couple conversations recently on appearances. Typically I post about colorful activities with colorful people in my new colorful country. I have photos on my facebook where I'm always smiling and having a good time (why else smile)*. I won't deny that I love my work and my new locale, but I'm not in Eden on vacation. Lets see what my schedule last week was like.

7:50: Wake up

7:52: Get up, dress, get almusal (breakfast)

8:15: Finish almusal, sit on my bed and prepare my backpack for language.

8:45: Walk to language (if it's raining, substitute wade for walk)

9:00: Language training

11:45: Walk home

12:00: Tanghalian (lunch)

12:20: finish tanghalian, repack bag for technical and tutoring, grab money

12:40: Meet Kaiti to wait for a jeepney or bus headed to Calapati (dove, it's a landmark in New Cabalan)

1:00: Technical training

5:00: Technical training usually ends here, if not I'm still stuck in New Cabalan thanks to the impossibility of catching a jeepney back after 5pm, why would I go back? Here's why

6:00: Tutoring

7:00: walk to Calapati to catch a ride home with Kaiti

7:15: Home, eat hapunan (dinner)

7:45: finish hapunan

What do I do after that? It's tough to tell, there's a lot I'd like to do but not a lot of time to do it in. Maybe one or two of these: internet, blog, read a book, language practice, exercise, laundry, watch fuzzy TV with the family, or some technical work. It's always a tough call and some important things usually are forgotten, like laundry.

That's everyday. Saturday is a half-day usually, and Sunday is free (except for church and volunteering). I'd like to say I'm on the beach everyday, I went twice total, but that's not the case.

There's drama you'd wish was left on the tarmac in LA, there's assignments, there are deadlines, there's trainee assessments, complaints (valid and otherwise), heat, rain, diarrhea, longing, and so on. I'm not trying to whine, I just want to make sure to alleviate undue envy. Want the job, the opportunity, the challenge, the teamwork, the good, and the bad. The scenery is just pleasant garnish.

*I'm smiling because it's weird to have a photo I'm staring into with a question written on my face, inside I'm probably thinking of what I might be forgetting to complete or study.

Working With Nuns

For a couple weeks now I've been volunteering my Sunday afternoons to a local missionary. The Missionaries of Charity, home of nuns and malnourished children. The first time I went there I didn't know where I was going and what was going to be going on when I got there. I brought my bag full of papers to study if things became boring. I didn't need to though as I was put to work immediately when I walked into the secure compound.

Seated at a blue painted table were four women, three of which were nuns, one the head (?) nun. They were busy packing medication for the Aetas, a small group of native Filipinos. The specific medication at the time was for TB, a number of different sized pills were being counted and poured into small plastic bags for distribution. My host family that brought me got me a chair and I turned into a pharmacist.

After two hours, several different medication bulk containers emptied, and thousands of small med packs crammed in containers, I was relieved of my duty. It wasn't for lack of enthusiasm, rather the nuns had run out of meds for me to count, I'd helped restore their stocks. I was then told to follow a nun-in-training to see the kids. At this point I'd forgotten all about kids being in their facility, the child I'd seen for the preceding hours was AJ, who was covered in cracker dust at this point.

Children are awfully cute usually. This time was no exception, I walked into a room of mostly empty cribs and was mobbed by all the little ones who could walk. I couldn't walk, I had two kids grabbing each hand, one standing on my feet, hugging my waist, and others vying for position to be anywhere in between. This is where I felt pretty strong, I was able to lift two kids up on each hand, them just pulling a couple of fingers. They're pretty small, so don't get too impressed, it was just fun.

The kids adjusted to me being there and gave me some breathing room and I was finally able to walk around and see who all else was in the room. Aside from the ones I'd just been swinging around, there were the infants on the cool tile and or in cribs. One child had a double cleft-lip, I asked and it turns out kiddo is only a couple weeks out from an operation for correction. Some kids were visibly malnourished, one infant seemed deflated, where baby fat should have been was skin hanging loose. That was the hardest sight to see. The children have plenty of food now, they're recovering.

The nun-in-training was my main source of information. She's from Pakistan(!), relatively young, intelligent, friendly, and even funny. She told me that some of the kids in the facility are repeat visitors, as their parents have let their children fall into a malnourished state time/s before. The children usually stay for a few weeks or months, regain their strength and happy glow, before going back home. It's most obviously an imperfect system but I love that it exists.

I went back the next week, packed meds, brought a friend, and revisited the children. A reception like the first was had and I was more brave this time, playing more with the kids. Kaiti was the one to tag along and she seemed to really like it, both the packing and playing with the kids.

I didn't know much about nuns before volunteering at Missionaries of Charity but now, I think I know a few nice ladies who place orders for important medications and watch over abused children. They may not talk much, especially to me, but I still look forward to counting next to them next week.

What I know

I've been all but explicitly told that I'm working with street children. What I know is that I'll be working weekends in Olongapo for my internship, with some group that does street education. I just know these broad strokes of details but you should know that I'm very excited. It's just a couple more days til I find out where I'm placed in country. I'm pretty sure it wont be in Baguio. 

It's been raining for a few days now and boy is it inconvenient. Just today I wiped some mold off my camera case, of which wasn't near water (as far as I thought). My duffel bag also suffered a bout of the moldies, it does just slough off thankfully. I'm currently moving more items into my zip-loc bags, I packed for just this situation. Preparation!

I had my hair cut today in town. Cost 50 pesos and I think it turned out pretty nice, just the way I like it. It was done by a friendly man, dressed as a woman. I didn't catch his name but he was friendly and really good at cutting hair. I was a little nervous when he pulled out a regular ole razor blade and started going along the entire edge of my hairline, excluding the front. The widows peak is still there. 

 I have to pack tomorrow for a week in Manila and I'm just hoping everything dries in time for said packing. I'm fairly well trained in laundry doings, but with my crunched schedule I've been only mailing-in my laundering. I just go heavy on the soap and risk losing some layers of skin instead of smelling like an arm-pit, my arm-pit. Anyway, I'll be packing for that.

All week we have been doing life skills training. This concluded in us making life-skills lessons and teaching them to each other in our group. I did "the longest line", went off without a hitch. 

Another week down. I've been here over a month. Looking forward to seeing where I'm going!