Visa renewal…aka sightseeing in Manila

Having only applied for a 3 month visa before leaving the UK, the time had come to get it renewed in Manila. So we thought why waste a trip to Manila?

We left Cabiao early and arrived in Manila at about 7am. We went straight to the immigration bureau and lined up to get our alien cards (yes we are officially now called aliens). It was actually nice not to be stared at quite so much as we weren’t the only white people in the building. Although it didn’t take me long to realise that most of these people were elderly white men who were being accompanied by their much younger, filipino wives.

Once the formalities were sorted, we had a short tour of the old city walls originally built by the Spanish before heading to the National Museum which houses lots of artwork by various filipino artists. After lunch we were let loose in a shopping mall which interconnected with 4 more shopping malls. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many shops in one place. Earlier on in the day, when we first arrived in Manila, I had noticed a family living on the corner of a street. They quite literally had made a home for themselves by having a sleeping area, cooking area and the children were going to the toilet in the road. It never ceases to amaze me when you see this level of poverty so close to designer shopping malls and so much wealth.

About 5pm we all started to get ready for our night out in Manila. This was the first time we had had the opportunity to get dressed up as Cabiao is quite a conservative community so we made the most of it. We were taken to a Mexican bar for dinner and drinks. They served a platter of meat skewers and it was only when I was chewing my way through one, that one of the filipino volunteers informed me I was eating intestines. Apparently the skewers offered hearts, livers, intestines and pigs ears as well as your run-of-the-mill meat skewer.

The next bar we headed to specialised in rum. A couple of us managed to get some free tasters of apple and cinnamon rum, mango rum and pineapple rum. Next was the most impressive tequila bar I’ve ever seen. I have never seen so many types of tequila in one place so had to buy at least one shot to try.

On our way to the next place, our jeepney broke down so we had a late night stroll through Manila to the next bar which was a speakeasy. You had to walk through a cafe/ice cream parlour to get to it and I got the impression you would only know it was there if you knew somebody who knew somebody. The whole place was pitch black except for the bar area which was lit up by a yellow wall. Our final destination was a reggae club where we all finally got to dance. There were some pretty amazing street dancers that kept showcasing their skills on the dance floor but I like to think that we gave them a run for their money!

Tribal Hall Build in Katutubo Village – Day 4

We were all so tired this morning it took a while for us all to get going. But when we finally did start working, we managed to get the back wall painted, a group of us made a desk and bookshelf to put in the hall and the carpenters managed to get the roof on and finish the brick work. Before lunch my Lola had taught some of us girls some dance moves to help stretch out our aching muscles and I think she approved of our own moves especially when we tried teaching her the macarena.

Just before lunch she was telling a couple of us about her experience when Mount pinatubo errupted. She said massive rocks and boulders were flying everywhere and being pregnant at the time she just got on her knees and prayed. The Aytas believe that a god lives in Mount Pinatubo and that the volcano only erupts when the Pinatubo God is angry. She said she prayed to this God to keep her alive and left it to fate whether she survived or not. She sang some old songs they used to sing when they lived on the Mountain and became very emotional. I gave her a big hug and she said she just wished some of the younger generation would take their history more seriously as not having experienced it themselves, many of the children in the village don’t care about learning their history. She explained that this is why they appreciate so much our help to build their tribal hall.

In the afternoon, one of our Team Leaders who had gone out hunting with the Chieftain brought back a chicken they had caught using a bow and arrow. I think everyone assumed it was dead until it started twitching again so my Lola picked up a stick and just smacked it hard on the head. Apparently, instead of cutting it’s head off they slit its neck and just pulled its entire spine out of the body. They also found a formed egg and 2 yolks when they butchered it still inside the chicken. They cut it up and put it in some bamboo with lemongrass and salt and left it cooking over a fire for an hour. When it was done, we all had a taste of probably some of the freshest meat we’ve ever tasted seeing as it was roaming around less than 2 hours previously.

At the end of the day, just before we were about to leave, the Chieftain and the Pastor gave a speech to our whole group. They thanked us for our kindness and hard work and seemed genuinely grateful for all we had done. The Pastor even thanked our families for letting us come to the Philippines and to their village to help build the hall. They said our hard work had made us part of their family and that we would always be welcome in Katutubo Village. We all had a group photo and said our goodbyes. Unfortunately we ran out of time to build wooden frames to put the walls up so they Cheiftain said they would do this bit. I hope they manage to do it before we go back again in 2 weeks for our last visit and final farewell as I think we would all love to see the finished tribal hall. I can honestly say that the last few days have made me feel a lot closer to Katutubo Village and the people who live there. Experiencing what these people have to do each day just to survive makes you realise how fortunate we are to have the wealth and technology that we do and also how we take it for granted every day. I definitely think this experience will stay with me forever and help me to appreciate the smaller things in life.

Tribal Hall Build in Katutubo Village – Day 3

Our group got up early this morning as we were cooking for the whole group. I can honestly say that my liking for rice is quickly turning into hatred especially after trying to cook 2kg of it in a huge rice cooker. Trying to balance out actually getting it cooked without burning it is impossible and I’m sure there’s a knack to it that a non-filipino would not know but I still don’t want to see a grain of rice after I get home for a good few months. My host sister Hannah who is a bit of an expert cook, came to check on the rice at one point and told me it was burning. I asked her how she could tell and she told me to smell it – all I could smell was rice!

When we reached the village, I helped one of the Filipino volunteers to cook lunch for the carpenters. We went to the chieftain’s house and mainly watched as some of the village girls took over and showed us how it was done. They had converted an old rice cooker into an electric stove which was really clever and made cooking a whole lot easier than using a coal fire.

Just before lunch the other half of our group who had gone up into the mountain to fetch more bamboo arrived with 80 bits of bamboo. I would like to point out that they left earlier than us so didn’t have the midday sun to deal with and had a much larger group hence the larger amount of bamboo. Again we started splitting, hammering and weaving the bamboo. At one point when we had become a bit stuck on the weaving side, some of the village elders turned up and showed us how it was done. They managed to make 3 walls within a couple of hours. If they hadn’t turned up we probably would have still been there weeks later working on one wall. It was amazing watching them work although I was slightly distracted by a group of kids who were so fascinated with my camera that they wanted a photo shoot. Just before the end of the day, we were asked to fetch water again so down to the river we went.

By sunset, we were all exhausted and ready to go back to the resort where we were staying.

Tribal Hall Build in Katutubo Village – Day 2

On the second day, the materials we had bought the previous day were delivered. Due to our Carpenter dropping out at the last minute, one of the Tatay’s (Father’s) of one of our host homes had agreed last minute to come and supervise the build. This was fortunate as none of us are exactly experts in building tribal halls in the Philippines.

Sadly, we could not start working that morning until later than anticipated due to conflict between the Religious Virgin Mary Order (a Catholic Order run by nuns in the village) and the elders of the community. The Nun Superior had suddenly decided that the location of the tribal hall was actually on land belonging to the RVM so they would prefer us not to build it there. Instead they wanted us to build it on a stage located next to their church. At this point many of us were furious as this was the first we had heard of ‘RVM land’ and one of the Filipino volunteers actually said the church is not allowed to own land so it all sounded very dodgy. The Chieftain and the Nun ended up having a heated debate over the issue as we could not start building until it was sorted. He argued that this plot of land had been standing there for 25 years since the Aytas moved down from Mount Pinatubo to this area and the nuns had done nothing to help develop it. Now volunteers were actually trying to help build something, the RVM just wanted to exploit us and gain a lobby to their church for free. We were also not happy as this was not what we had fundraised for and the whole thing stank of corruption.

I am personally already not a fan of the RVM having conducted surveys on a previous visit to the village. We learnt that they charge the villagers P3 for each pail of clean drinking water and that although they give out free materials to the villagers to make souvenirs with, the villagers must then sell them back to the RVM for a measely P10 which covers their labour costs. I have no doubt that these souvenirs are later sold on at a profit that is not handed down to the villagers who made the items in the first place. Anyway enough of me ranting…you can see how much I distrust the RVM. I actually joked to the rest of the group that we should start a revolution to kick the RVM out of the village…that would definitely provide some sort of sustainable development for the village as they could then take control over their own livelihoods.

So luckily, the Chieftain won his debate and the nun backed down meaning that we could carry on starting to build. The first thing to do was to fetch water from the river which was a 10 minute walk away and uphill all the way back. In 35 degree heat this was not a fun task but necessary to mix the cement. On the way back I caught a glimpse of a baby snake wriggling into the grass ahead of me.

Our next task was to go up into the mountain to collect bamboo. As we had not raised the whole amount needed, we could not afford to buy hollow blocks for the whole structure. Instead we would be learning to weave walls made out of bamboo which most of us considered to represent the community better anyway as it is how most of the houses are constructed in the village. So we rode the jeepney up to the mountain as far as we could go and walked the extra half hour to where the bamboo was growing. We were already hot and sweaty by the time we arrived and we hadn’t even started cutting yet. The views along the walk were breathtaking and we passed some Aytas who were still living in the area. There was also a disused hut where families stay when they come to harvest their crops during harvest season.

So we got going with cutting down bamboo with machetes. I had a go and it was great to get out stress but the Chieftain’s son who had accompanied us made it look a lot easier than it was. We then had to carry the bamboo back to the spot where we started. All in all we managed to cut 36 pieces of bamboo in an hour and a half but by this time it had reached midday and we were all feeling quite hot, tired and weak. So we bundled the bamboo up and carried it all the way back to the jeepney in pairs. The Chieftain’s son and his friend who were carrying double the amount of bamboo that everyone else was, sped on ahead putting us to shame. It definitely made us realise the hardships this community go through to survive each day. We found out that it usually takes 3 months for the community to build one house as they cannot afford transportation so must carry the bamboo 2 and a half hours back to the village and that’s before they even start preparing it.

That afternoon, we were shown how to split the bamboo, flatten it out with using hammers and rocks and then the Chieftain’s Mother came to show us how to weave the bamboo into a wall. She made it look much easier than it was. We all got a few blisters and a lot of splinters and we were exhausted by the end of the day but satisfied that it was all slowly coming together.

Tribal Hall Build in Katutubo Village – Day 1

We arrived back in Cabiao late last night after 3 long days constructing the Tribal Hall in Katutubo Village. After 6 weeks of fundraising and raising awareness of this project, we were finally going to be spending the money and leaving a place where the Aytas of Katutubo Village can teach future generations about their culture and history.

On the first day that we arrived, we managed to clear the plot that would be used to build the hall. There were old and crumbling foundations already exisiting that a previous NGO had started building years ago but never finished so our design was going to be built around them. Our next job was to take the jeepney into Porac to buy the materials from a hardware store as well as food for the next 3 days, as not only would we be building the hall, we would also be taking it in turns to cook for the whole group – breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Volunteer Exposure Day

As part of our experience as volunteers, a new thing that VSO ICS have recently introduced is a Volunteer Exposure Day. This is an opportunity to volunteer with another charity or organisation in the area for a day during your 3 months. Personally, I wanted to get some experience with children so looked online and found an orphanage in a nearby town that looks after homeless and neglected children. Not wanting to adhere to that cliché of going to an orphanage to be a saviour, a group of us a spent a day there knowing that this would not be the case. For me personally, I just wanted to get experience with children and for everyone else, we just wanted to go and have some fun.

A few weeks ago, one of my fellow filipino volunteers and I took a trip to this orphanage to ask if they would be happy for us to spend a day there. We didn’t really know what to expect when we arrived as I had this vision of the nuns who run the orphanage being very strict but we sat down and spoke to one of the nuns who was so friendly and encouraging…she was lovely. All the kids seemed very friendly too. I can honestly say I’ve never been anywhere with such an amazing and happy aura. We both walked out and could not stop smiling. So we arranged to come back a couple of weeks later for our volunteer exposure day.

So first thing in the morning we went to the market to pick up some bouncy balls and a few prizes for the children such as colouring books and hair accessories. When we turned up there were 6 volunteers and 41 children so it was hard work but fun all the same. We started by playing dodgeball with the older children while the younger kids played musical statues. There were two children who were deaf and mute so we made sure they were included in every activity. As soon as we got the bouncy balls out they all went crazy and had loads of fun throwing them around.

After a while, we regrouped and taught them how to play ‘Duck Duck Goose’. They absolutely loved it and I have a feeling they’ll be playing it for weeks even after we’ve left. The younger kids took off their flip flops and wore them on their hands so as not to lose them which looked quite funny while they were running around. We then played ‘Stuck in the Mud’ but stopped for lunch after incurring a few minor casualties.

After lunch we organised some activities to help teach English. Their english was already very impressive but they seemed to enjoy the activities all the same. In the hall where we were, there were beautiful murals all over the walls so we shouted out an object in english and the first person to touch that object in one of the murals would win a point for their team. We then organised a treasure hunt and an obstacle course with the clues and instructions in English. They had to find a blue ticket at the end of the treaure hunt which they could swap for a prize.

By this point everyone seemed exhausted so we started to pack away to leave. One of the UK volunteers became fond of a stray kitten that the kids were playing with (quite roughly). That’s one thing that has been very hard for us UK volunteers to adapt to here in the Philippines. There are so many stray dogs and cats on the streets and they’re not treated well. Many dogs are kept in cages and never let out which is distressing to watch when they’re barking and scratching to get out. So the kitten was unofficially adopted and taken home by the UK volunteer as the children told us they weren’t allowed to keep it anyway. One of the deaf children started teaching some of us sign language too which was great as it really helped us communicate with her.

Overall it was such a nice day and the children all seemed to really enjoy themselves. It was great to see how happy and well looked after they were and have the opportunity to experience such a happy and amazing place. The Head Nun even showed us their church which had been built using donations from benefactors and it was stunning. We all had a great time and would love to go back to say goodbye before we leave Cabiao if we can find the time.

Mid Phase Review

I cannot believe we’ve already been here 6 weeks! It’s gone so fast and it feels like we’ve crammed so much in already. At the mid-way point we were allowed to leave the community and head to a resort for 2 days to reflect on our work so far and have some much needed relaxation as part of our ‘Mid Phase Review’.

We left Cabiao at 2am to avoid traffic and took a 3 hour, very bumpy jeepney to Bataan. Having not been able to sleep too well on the journey it’s safe to say that most of us were quite grumpy and ready to fall asleep on the first bit of sand we could find. That first morning was spent generally swimming, sunbathing and sleeping. After lunch we had some discussions reflecting on how our group is working so far. In the evening we had a BBQ followed by a camp fire and finally got to chill out together as a group.

Although we were only away for 2 days, our MPR was a much-needed break away from Cabiao where a few of us are starting to develop ‘Cabiao syndrome’. Constantly being stared at, shouted at, beeped and harangued by every person who passes you can sometimes start to drain on your patience so luckily we had the whole resort to ourselves and bathed in the fact that no one bothered us for a whole 2 days.

Our first livelihood workshop

As part of the profit group, our work placement is based around supporting local businesses and helping local people – especially vulnerable groups – to learn new skills in order to generate greater incomes.

Over the last few weeks we have been working towards putting on livelihood workshops in as many barangays as possible. Our target is to carry out a workshop in each of the 23 barangays but again, this goal is unreastic given that it has taken 6 weeks to prepare for our first one. Therefore we are just going to try to cover as many barangays as possible.

Our first task was to complete surveys in 3 ‘active’ barangays to ensure there would be interest in our workshops. We then had to source a guest speaker to talk about organic urban gardening, source materials for demonstrations, book venues and encourage people to actually sign up.

During the workshops we are teaching those who attend, skills that we ourselves learnt in our first week in the Philippines including how to make organic soap, salted eggs and information on organic urban gardening. Both workshops were successful and we had a lot of interest particularly in the soap-making.

At the end of the workshop, we had arranged to hand out a leaflet enclosing all the relevant information and a certficate to show that the participant had attended. They all seemed so pleased with their certificates, it was nice to finally feel like we were doing something useful and giving back to the community.

The idea is that if there were ever a serious disaster in Cabiao or the surrounding area, these people will have alternative skills to fall back on in order to make a living. It forms the final pillar of our group’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management work here in the Philippines.

Our fundraising challenge!

So when we first arrived in the Philippines, we learnt that one our our goals was to raise P55,000 before the middle of June. That would give us just over one month in a brand new community to raise this amount for a different community in a completely different province. This was some challenge and in my eyes quite unrealistic, especially since I am one of four members on the fundraising committee so felt slightly responsible for whatever outcome came about. But we eventually got to it and thought we would do the best we could in the time we had.

The money raised is going to Katutubo Village where we have already spent two visits, the last involved organising a youth camp. The Chieftain of the village has asked that we raise the money and help build a tribal hall/community centre in the middle of the village so that tribal elders can use it to meet and they may display their culture/history for younger generations and visitors to learn from.

Among other things, we decided to try and organise a couple of events here in Cabiao where we are spending the majority of our time in the Philippines. We came up with many ideas including a dance contest but based on the last two cycles’ successes at fundraising, we settled on the idea of a movie night and a zumba class.

The movie night was reasonably successful with quite a few kids turning up to watch ‘The Lion King’, ‘Pirates of the Carribbean’ and ‘Bimyana’; a short film based on the life of a girl who actually lives in Katutubo Village. We baked cakes and sold ice tea on the side and although the event started late due to lighting issues, it went well. Our Community Action Day group even got to do their first talk about Katutubo Village.

Our second event the following night was a zumba class. What with a last minute venue change and a heavy downpour just before the event was about to start, I just hoped people would turn up. I didn’t need to worry however as an estimated 150 people turned up and everyone had a lot of fun! I definitely haven’t laughed that much since I got here and I think I sweated half my body weight out in two hours!

Over the weekend, we had managed to raise P6123 in ticket sales and donations which was more than double what I had expected us to raise. We are also printing T-shirts to sell, have contacted local businesses/rotary clubs for sponsorship and hardware stores for donations of materials so with any luck we will raise enough to help in some way even if we don’t raise the full P55,000.

Youth Camp at Katutubo Village

Yesterday we returned to Katutubo Village to carry out a youth camp. Initially aimed at the teenagers of the village, by the end, children of all ages were joining in. When you see how loud and boistrous these children are, it is unsurprising that they wanted to get involved and by the end everyone were having loads of fun.

When we first arrived, we went straight to the daycare centre that we painted last time we were in the village. They were having their official inauguration so there were lots of people present including the Mayor of Porac and media/news teams. They all seemed really pleased with our artwork and continually thanked us for our contribution to the centre.

After that we started our sports clinic. The first activities were volleyball for the girls and basketball for the boys. These sports were chosen by the village as boys and girls are not allowed to touch until they are married. So I helped out with the volleyball despite being pretty rubbish. It was a laugh though and we encouraged the teenagers to come up with team tactics and start leading the game themselves. Sadly our team lost (probably because I was on it!) but we all had a laugh and they all worked really well as a team.

We then went on to races where all the younger children joined in. The first race was an eggplant race which my host sister Hannah had been explaining to me the night before. This involved tying a piece of string around your waist which is attached to an eggplant (aubergine). You have to swing the eggplant so that it hits an egg on the ground until the egg has passed the finish line. Luckily I managed to escape this one but managed to get some good pics of Hannah swinging her eggplant!

We also taught them classic races such as the egg and spoon race and sack race. They were having so much fun and making A LOT of noise…it was great to see. We bought them sweets as a prize but when we started to try giving them out they descended on one of the UK volunteers because they were so hungry. Luckily lunch was next and some of the returned volunteers who had accompanied us, cooked a large pot of pansit to feed everyone.

In the afternoon, we carried out an English clinic to some of the older children. We taught them greetings, time, places, useful phrases and slang. They seemed to get into it although everyone were pretty tired by this point. They particularly enjoyed the slang section and were going around calling each other ‘chicken’ and ‘bonkers’ afterwards.

Overall, it was a really fun day and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Some of us girls even got hair makeovers by some of the younger children and although we were all exhausted by the end, it was a really great day.