Philippines

Introduction

On December 16, 2021, Typhoon Odette struck Cebu Island as a category 4.  The tropical storm season was supposed to have ended in early November and therefore quite abnormal as to timing.  Most young Cebuano's were not old enough to remember the last time Cebu was hit by a storm of this magnitude.  This was no ordinary storm as the damage was immense.  Homes were destroyed.  Corrugated metal sheets ripped off buildings clapped like cymbals during the gale force winds.   Trees were uprooted and power lines toppled.   Odette also dumped torrential rain, triggering floods and landslides. The morning after showed the landscape was like a bowl of chunky soup made out of building debris, tree branches, and electrical lines, in a  broth of mud, a war zone creating disorganized chaos.   Any properly constructed walls from cinder block construction remained in place, but that was about it.  Windows were  shattered and lighter building walls crumbled,   Everything else that was of their possession could have been blown away.

In the days following there was no violence, only uncertainty, and fear.  There was no looting because everyone was in this together and no one had much of anything anyways.   It was a matter of finding what corrugated metal was part of their roof and perhaps some timber and other stuff and to start remaking their crude dwelling.   Cebuano's waited for their turn in line at the convenience stores  supermarkets, gas stations once they reopened. They waited for their water rations.  One Filipino lady said with steady determination; “We will build the roof again, but it will not be the same as before. It will be stronger.”  That is fine to think this way, but how can they afford to do much more than what they had is the question.  Odette wiped out 80 percent of the coconut trees in Cebu province. “Our coconut trees are gone,” said one farmer. “It will take six or seven years for them to grow back. We need to find another livelihood until then. " 

Given the rapid progression of climate change, storms like Odette will occur with greater frequency and severity in areas where local governments are not used to facing such challenges.   There is a need to act now so that hopefully further damage can be prevented when another disaster hits.  Filipinos are prepared to change if only they could because they know more storms are coming.   How can they avoid just going back to the way they lived before?  The Philippines needs help beyond government agencies.  They need investment.  They need ideas.  Meanwhile, more children are born here and now need to be taken care of.  

Day 0

Since Habitat Global Village never started up post covid and it is already well into 2023, over four years since my last mission to Cambodia, I went with some Habitat buddies to the Philippines with the Developing World Connections group based out of Kamloops, BC.  An advantage going with them is that you get two full weeks of volunteer work and more variety of work as you do not necessarily build a home. 

If you are looking for quality flight, excellent service, look no further than Eva Air for your travel experience.  Top notch like no other as provided by the Taiwanese flight attendants.  There were many of them all dolled up to look so pretty with their fine features, white skin, hair done up, some flesh to cover up their bone framework.  They must be vegetarians as there is no meat on them.  With their bean pole figure two could easily walk side by side down an airplane aisle and maybe three. Ideal for the type of service they provided.    They talked to us in broken English with their high pitched squeaky voices and demonstrated very efficient, almost robotic programmed service activity. They were there for us and efficiently kept us well hydrated and fed. I love them all, so adorable.

A question was raised as to whether the  Philippines is 14 hours different as to time, or 10 hours?  I claimed it was 10, but Brenda corrected me that it was 14 (lose 10 hours but gain 24). She is technically correct, but all I know is we crossed over 10 time zones getting here and that to me represents the answer I was looking for.  On the plane Richard from Quebec found me first, a Habitat buddy who was with me in Chile in 2014 and I had not seen him again until now. He has done 19 missions, the last four with DWC and was on his way to Cambodia with a group.  I guess this was bound to happen sooner or later as we do the same type of volunteering.

Once out of Mactan Cebu International Airport in Cebu City, we we were greeted head on by a wave of hot steamy air to let us know what we were in for.   We also met up with Fleming, a Danish fellow who is the supervisor for DWC's in-country partner, Rise Above Foundation, a non profit, non government organization based out of Cebu.  We are to help repair classrooms and rebuild toilets to benefit an elementary school and its six teachers, from grade 1 to 6 and it's approximately 140 students.  A new roof had already been installed on all buildings of the school,   We are to stay in Toledo City on the way, once we get to the other side of Cebu Island.    Loading into two vans with all our stuff and heading off, Dana and I both agreed based on what we saw that we were in Central America, such as Guatemala or Nicaragua.  I reminded myself that there are eight times more people here than in any Latin America country, but on multiple islands.  Everyone lives along the road like they do in the Dominican.  I was not expecting as much poverty and such congested conditions, with little hope for a prosperous future for any local.  I can see why people want out of here and why so many come to Canada.  

I did not see any Marriott styled hotels on our way to Toledo City, suggesting that this island is not a place that foreigners normally visit. The locals also are taking an interest in us. After over 24 hours enroute, we had a brutal two and a half hour van ride through congested street and roadway full of scooters, tuk tuks, bicycles, big trucks needing engine overhaul, animals and people on roadway.  I thought I was going to throw up at one point breathing in exhaust fumes for a half hour with jerky risky moves  taken by the driver.  There are generally no speed signs as it is virtually impossible to reach highway speed since there are too many motorists, pedestrians, and animals on the road.

Other than road signs there is no way to know where a city starts as the jungle flora and fauna and mankind try to coexist.  You never know what to expect around the next curve on the road.  Green vegetation quickly takes over an area if left undisturbed.  Cattle graze on low lying plants, but they are walking in muck and therefore cannot be healthy.   At least that would be the case for the Brahma bull as the wood buffalo is more resilient to wetter conditions.   Surprisingly there is not much sign left of what the typhoon did, but after all, jungle vegetation grows back quickly and the locals worked to get their life back together.  We did see some road and bridge damage in one section getting redone that could have been caused by the typhoon. 

We are staying at a minimal maintenance hotel, as they only do what is necessary to get by.  Some things are beyond repair.  Similar to the first place we stayed at in El Salvador, the hotel looks really posh until you study the detail.  This is a place that the average foreign tourist would not stay at as it is only maintained to acceptable standards expected from locals.  I think it has great potential though for DWC work crews coming in and the staff really want to take care of us the best they can as they gave us such an overwhelming warm welcome.

We found a little place close by: Bulad Cafe that had good reviews as per Google Maps.  We braved the heat and walked through some local streets to stop in for a refreshment this Sunday since it was so hot and sticky.  I had a mango smoothie which was so refreshing.  There was a bit of a breeze coming our way from ocean water that we enjoyed in the shade while we sipped our drink. We checked out the beach after and found that there was absolutely no sand and no wave activity since the water gets stilled by the presence of other islands.  I have never been so hot before beside ocean water.  My roommate Marc could not stay long in the pool at the hotel later as the water temperature is too hot and the air is so still by the hotel.

I had one long chat with a Filipino lady in the hotel lobby who is a mother of three and has been unemployed for three years.  I don't think she had other intentions in mind other than being curious of me.  It must be tough trying to get a job that pays well and take care of her daughters.  She spoke broken English.  She does not know anything of the world having never been off Cebu Island her whole life and knew nothing about Canada.  I did not show her any pictures of our home in Canada, as this was not going to help her in anyway, knowing how Canadians live compared to how she lives.   I also remained polite when commenting about what I thought of Cebu.

We have our planning meeting after supper tonight at the hotel as we head off in the morning to start our volunteer work. The two pictures attached do not show what it is really like here, only Philippines at its best.

Day 1

Wow, what a day and what an adventure.  I never expected our school to fix would reside in such wild rugged mountainous terrain, with steep cliffs and panoramic views.  By mountain we mean probably 1000 feet elevation gain.  Temperatures remain tropical here and there are a lot of locals living in such a wild country.  There is no even ground anywhere.   Lots of dogs and cats and roosters on the road and lots of children walking along the side of the road, coming and going. 

Our school is named Caba-Asan Elementary located in the district Pinamungajan, a 20 minute drive north of where we are staying in Toledo City.  At the school, we are still in a jungle as the vegetation remains lush.   I have never seen a jungle take over a mountain range before.  No wonder our school had been damaged by a typhoon as it was at the top of a peak, exposed to the elements.  We were a lot more comfortable working than originally expected as there was a slight breeze blowing to keep us refreshed.  There is no air movement back at the hotel at a lower elevation and therefore making it more difficult to cope with the heat and humidity.

Upon arrival we had the most incredibly warm welcome being expressed from the school of 140 children. The kids were in clean school uniforms and they really were special, waving their flags to greet us.   God's children so full of love.  I even had a tear in my eye like other buddies did since the experience was rather overwhelming for the gratitude expressed and what a difference we are going to make to their education.  We were treated like royalty.  They are so vulnerable and need to be taken care of and to learn.  Each grade had a child speak to us.  A grade one child selected sang to us, so cute and a grade.five student who wore a sparkly dress with high heels and lipstick pretending to be an adult  lead us all on a dance of happiness and celebration.  There was nothing wrong with her self esteem.

At the end of the one hour ceremony, we were invited to be in the crowd of kids and mingle with them as if they belonged to us, to definitely make it feel we were one, united as family.  I would say 50 children shook my hand, then touched their forehead to the back of my hand that apparently was done as a form of blessing and to show their respect for us.  So touching.  I should have taught my own kids how to do that for elders when younger.  Very unlikely I could talk them into it now!

Our first day of work was to take out the old window shutters from four classrooms as they were quite decayed and to be replaced with glass vanes encased in a metal framework.  I had to take down some ceiling lights that will need to be reinstalled once a new ceiling is put in place.  Sue and I  worked together to complete the separation of wooden vanes from its metal strapping.

The bonehead move of the day was my own, so embarrassing.  Being too caught up in my thoughts I wore open face sandals to work, not my sturdy work boots.  I did not want to wear my work boots for breakfast back at the hotel, then forgot to put them on before loading into our van. This was the day I could have used them the most because of the type of work we were doing along with a tough long sleeve shirt.  I scratched myself twice on jagged metal, drawing some minor blood and dropped three planks on my vulnerable feet.

The weather remains hot and steamy with rain showers.  We could see the black and blue clouds coming, so dark and heavy.  Just before lunch the skies opened up and I swear we must have gotten more rain in an hour and half than Alberta gets in one year.  The rivers of water washed down the slopes.  One could not stay under shelter the whole time and it did not do my sandals much good walking in the rain.  We were all drenched but stayed warm.

In addition to the mango smoothie drink we had the day before, now Marc and I have another favorite drink: C2, which is half apple juice and half green tea and they really go together well, very flavorful.  The tea helps to reduce the sweetness of the apple juice, and it really helps to quench your thirst.

Day 2

Everyone has a dog and they are always walking across the road, laying down on the shoulder of the road within inches of vehicle tires driving by and therefore death or destruction.  I swear we pass hundreds of motorists on bicycles, tuk tuks, trucks, or cars, on the trip to our work site and back, and often it is a matter of giving that extra second for a dog or rooster to get out of the way.

It was my day to help out with the painting shift to give Glen a break.  We were painting 1/4 inch sheets of plywood on both sides using a smelly oil based paint. The paint helps to discourage termite activity.  It took some organizing, but we finally got a production line going.  We even received help from a young Filipino who painted with us most of the day.  This freed me up to move the boards and paint around as needed to help keep the others going.  As we  were confined as to space it was a constant struggle  to keep freeing up a board to paint when there were so many boards set aside for drying in the humidity.

The heavy clouds of blue gray rolled in right on time to start the day's rain at 12:30. This time the rain was not as heavy but we kept getting showers all afternoon.  You can imagine what my clothes looked like with globs of sticky paint on it.  At the end of the day on our way back to the hotel,  I had lots of paint on my tilley hat because of rubbing it along boards often and figured it was all but ruined.  Then I realized the paint was not set because the hat was always wet.  So I took a disposable wet wipe and cleaned it all off rather easily.  I even took a wipe to my t-shirt to get the worst of the paint off.

We have concluded the Spaniards influenced this area the same way they did in Central America as for lifestyle, religion (Catholic), their form of capitalism, including  making use of the peso as their currency.  I am sure a similar climate was also a factor.   What is surprising though is the Philippines never adopted Spanish as their official language although there are similar words being used in their native language.  North America life might have been a lot different today and third world if the French and English never took it away from Spain and gained control.   

There are some Christmas decorations coming into display already despite only being mid October, similar to Latin America, thanks to the Catholic influence.  It does not really cool off at night whatsoever.  At least we get a break with air conditioning.  For the locals who sleep outside in their hut, how do they survive living in a sauna 24 hours?  One load of laundry for the hotel to do already.

Having two old men share a room sometimes does not work out that well,  but Marc and I are getting along fine as roommates.  I am at my best first thing in the morning while he is still trying to wake up.  In the evening I will be ready for sleep and he wants to read his book for awhile, which is fine. Therefore I always get the bathroom first in the morning or when settling at night.  I also give him space when he needs time.

Day 3

We observed just outside the school yard some roosters that had one leg roped off and tied to an anchor to keep them confined along the side of the road.  Imagine living your life tied up as a prisoner.  At least they will not get run over. Today we noticed the owner giving them some bird seed. I have no idea how much water they need but water is usually flowing past them down the road each day.  The story behind this is that the Philippines are into rooster fighting. Studying some birds while they ate, they looked to be tough and perhaps best to keep your hand away.

We have been filling in cracks, muddying and sanding, filling in cavities in walls, building walls for the bathrooms using cinder block, installing strapping for the ceilings (similar to suspended ceiling) and a quarter inch board will get screwed to it from underneath.  Each classroom will have its own private toilet/ bathroom so the kiddies do not have to walk out the classroom door.

I only saw the kids twice briefly today but for whatever reason they chose to touch their forehead to the back of my hand as they see progress in our work.  Seeing them inspires me to keep working.  So far so good as to health with everyone except Trevor who is experiencing back issues.  Some of the scratches I received earlier this week are healing nicely.  Dana gave herself a beating earlier when bashing out the window shutters, but also healing.  She was looking like a bruised warrior for awhile. She won with her job, but she should let the hammer take more of the beating going forward. 

It was a very special day for Chris as word got out that it was her birthday.  Several Filipino ladies went to great length to decorate a patio so we could have a birthday celebration at the end of the day.  Chris could see the preparation work taking place.  Most of the school got involved so they could have a celebration with cake.  Somewhere between 60 to 80 children showed up after class to sing Chris happy birthday.  All had prepared a nice birthday message on some paper, with one child even bringing a little bouquet of flowers she had picked along the way.  Each child was given an opportunity to give what they had prepared to Chris which she received with much gratitude.  The time had come to share a birthday cake with all and we figured it was going to be rather difficult to get all children a piece of cake limited in size.  One square of toilet tissue was their napkin which held one spoon size piece of cake on it.  They seemed very content to have just a taste of sweet as opposed to a complete slice only to come later for more.   Every child got a taste.

The children look in awe at us tall elderly white Caucasians.  They must think of us to be like giraffes as we tower above them.  They want to be with us.  All you have to do is look at them and their eyes lock into yours and they have such a warm radiant smile on their face.  The teachers sure have them educated to show so much gratitude and respect and to know we are just friendly giants from Canada who have their best interest at heart.

Fleming's team who work for Rise Above Foundation includes a happy married Filipino couple, Marie and Gabe.  Marie helps with the cooking of the meals at lunch and Gabe is the hands on supervisor of the construction work taking place.  They are ideally suited for the role they play where they do get paid, but they also are making a difference by improving the livelihood of locals.  They care.

The marriage of Developing World Connections with Habitat volunteers is working very well.  It only took an hour for us to bond on a united front for a common cause. I certainly am enjoying the DWC experience.

Day 4

Today's rain came one half hour later to give us more time to paint some boards outside.  Cindy got paint in her hair, a good glob of it.  Because of being oil based it historically requires a smelly toxic chemical like turpentine to take it out.  This represented a problem as she did not want to damage her hair or cut some hair in order to get rid of it.  I had the solution and brought out antibacterial wipes as it magically takes out the paint.  Industrial wipes from a hardware store work best but I had Vim that you can buy in a pharmacy that did the job.

Half of our team of twelve had the opportunity to visit the children before lunch while they attended school in their gymnasium since we are working on upgrading the classrooms.  The kids are always so excited to see us and give us lots of warm smiles, shaking our hand and pressing their forehead on the back of it to bless us.  We intermingled, observed their homework, and took lots of pictures.  It must be difficult to keep on schedule with their curriculum with so many children in the same room getting distracted when noisy such as when special guests arrive.

Our group chose to go out for dinner this evening as opposed to staying at the hotel.  So how do you load six volunteers into a tuk tuk?  Well, you just make it work! You load two in the front seat of a side car, two in the back, and two sitting side saddle behind the driver on the actual motorbike that probably was driven by an 80cc motor carrying a ton of weight on three motorbike wheels.  I had to scrunch down under a canopy and had difficulty getting my feet in and out of the unit.  Being tall I chose not to sit side saddle as there was no foot rest and you have to keep your feet off the road and away from getting hit by other vehicles.

I clunked a dog on the head onsite because he chose to sleep in the entrance way of the storage room. He is fine.  A little puppy half dead onsite is getting nourished back to life thanks to Chris and the dog is already looking healthier because of the attention given and even wagging his tail.

The walls between classrooms really need work for appeal. When you push on the wall it moves as there is only weak metal strapping or studs that a particle board gets screwed to.  Wall instability will remain the case.  There is little wood in the whole school due to termites and other insects. A cedar plank would not last a month.   Only hardwood is used at critical places like beams and roof trusses.  At least they never have to worry about there being a fire.

Filipinos know how to cook a delicious and nutritious meal for the hungry. The leaf lettuce is locally grown and so fresh,  the quality you will not find in your grocery store back in Canada.  It is picked from a local field in the morning before lunch.  The bananas are fairly small but so flavorful when given the chance to ripen on the tree.  Similarly the pineapple and mango have been so juicy and refreshing to eat.

Now for some trivia:

• What do you think is the number one sport played in the Philippines?  It's not soccer, it is basketball.  This caught me by surprise.  I saw some kids playing on a half court.  I have not seen a soccer field yet as there is no room and would need to be maintained regularly.

• Philippines population growth grew by five-fold during a 52 year period of time.  You can imagine the challenge it was at that time for the economy to keep up.  Canada has to be careful as its population grew a lot last year because of immigration and probably a lot were young people.  Doing some crude number crunching, if the population grows by 4.5% per annum, could be wrong, but you will have 220 million people living in Canada in 50 years. This works similar to compound interest when investing.

• Trevor learned from a local that there is quite the serious problem they are having here probably due to a lack of education and certainly lack of control practice.  Many girls are getting pregnant, some only 11 or 12 years of age.

• No one has seen a horse here but the Filipinos say they have some.

Day 5

Filipinos in this area are not used to serving Canadians or Caucasians and they are learning what we like or dislike when it comes to food and service.  They thought one little sip of coffee would do for breakfast when ordering when we normally consume three times as much.  The toast is just warmed up bread that is already cold once delivered.  No pepper for the scrambled egg.  No jam as they never use it. This is a two way street as we cannot expect to have western style cuisine, especially for breakfast.

We worked only a few hours in the morning as we were off for our R&R weekend in the afternoon.  We are going into painting mode for most of next week as each classroom gets a makeover.  There will be nothing like bright clean paint to lift the spirits of the whole school.

Someone brought around an iguana for people to see captured in the jungle.  It must have been two feet long  at least if not longer and was getting handled very carefully so it would not escape or bite.  Unfortunately for the reptile he was going to be cooked for dinner later that day.  Not for me.

Another bumpy van ride for over two hours to get to Moalboal, Philippines for the weekend's R & R.  Considering the painful drive to get here, it is a nice relaxing resort, very quiet and laid back.  Ocean  breeze was so refreshing by the water.  Once you are a few meters from shore, you are back in the sauna regardless of time of day.  There are a lot of crispy critters crawling around down here all over the place.  What seems like a peddle can all of a sudden start moving.

The trouble with age is you have a tendency to go the safe route now and sacrificing having a life to remember.  It is a fine line about what you should or should not do as you can go too far with risk. But with Sue and Dana around they can get me going.   They at least convinced me to go kayaking with them on wannabe open kayaks  but I chose not to snorkel.  I was to rescue them if they were in drowning mode, but to be honest I was next to useless in the very salty choppy water.  We had life jackets to keep us afloat but the ocean current was heading us north if it was not for a platform anchored and proper life tubes and ropes to hang onto.  

Dana convinced me to use her goggles after the ladies had their turn.  Gasping for air a few times, as I could not get into a proper breathing rhythm, I did manage to swallow some very incredibly salty ocean water in the process.  Although not that extravagant as to size for coral reef, I did see some fantastic coloring in the sea life. We saw swarms of probably sardines along with bright blue starfish as examples. I have never seen a blue starfish before. We also saw where the edge of the reef ended and dropped way down into the bottomless crystal clear blue ocean.

The joke was on Trevor at happy hour as he ordered a margarita.  The hotel gave him what was requested as they have what is known as a margarita pizza!  They do not normally carry tequila as this is not a common drink for a Filipino and no one has ever requested the margarita cocktail before.

Day 6

The constant ocean breeze first thing this morning was so refreshing to break up the stillness of the air with such high humidity.    I had already checked out the swimming pool the night before, so warm was the water.  Dana and Sue also went in the pool with me this morning.   As it has a kiddie slide,  Dana went down it a few times catching me off guard the first time as she splashed into the pool.  Sue went way under from her slide and I thought I would need to pull her up to the surface perhaps by grabbing her hair, but she eventually emerged.

One thing that I will not miss and as a matter of fact will continue to hate is the clangy bumpy rides in rickety old tuk tuks with jagged  crooked metal frames and hard seats. These modes of transportation are not made for my height and therefore I have difficulty getting my feat and head in.  Not being as nimble as I used to be does not help matters.  I am constantly bumping my body against the frame as we make our way down the road.  These are rides on roads you would never take your car on as so rough.  You could hardly call a road as a road in spots.  They have spots of rough tarmac, rough concrete, holes, rocks, and ruts everywhere else.  It would take near impossible conditions to trigger a road repair; otherwise it is good enough, as long as people can make it in one piece.

Thus was our ride down the road to a resort area of Moalboal along the ocean front full of restaurants, cafes, bars, scuba diving, and snorkel rentals, and massage parlors.  Here there is more reef and big swarms of sardines that the area is famous for.  But we are always into food before anything else.  It was so pleasant to go into the Smooth Cafe, so modern and clean and have a juicy burger and smoothie.  We did see afterwards what looked like at one time rental units attached together with cinder block construction along the beach front, but with no roof and therefore had been abandoned.   No money honey to fix.  We concluded this must have been caused by the typhoon and it had not been repaired yet,  This resort area by the beach was in major need of a facelift.

Although originally interested, Dana backed out from going out to the reefs to look for the clouds of fish  The only other person interested was Sue.  All others including myself were not because of the need to rent snorkel gear and how clean would it be, not having our bathing suit on, etc.  Lots of garbage on the beach and water did not help.  Sue never had her swimsuit, debated about going out, then went for it, keeping on her casual clothes and just needing to rent snorkel equipment. She figured her clothes including bra would dry afterwards.  Everyone else looked on with some amazement, but then this is Sue after all, and watched her head off towards the reef to be amongst the boats and locals splashing around in the area.  All you could see was her head and snorkel tube and the occasional flipper until she got too far out.  A half hour later she was back, all satisfied to have been swimming with the little fishes and whatever else she came across on her journey in the water.

My comment on the way back to our resort:  

"All I want to find is a tuk tuk with a built in suspension and a hole in the canopy so I can stick my head out to see the world."

Day 7

What I have noticed while here is how sticky we get from the humidity, but fortunately we had a little break early this morning before breakfast as the sky was clear of cloud.  So still and quiet, outside of the odd bird chirping.  The break did not last long as the heat brought on the humidity once the sun was above the tree tops.  So many pretty flowers on the grounds around this place that probably bloom year around.  Marc chose to lay down as the heat was getting to him.  It is better by the ocean front as some went into the water one more time before our trip back to Toledo City. 

We hope to get to a hardware store on our way back right after lunch as we sure could use some supplies and the odd tool to help us out this coming week.

Back to Toledo City by bus to get back to the Ranch Resort for another week of work.  A good break.  We met up with Cindy, Val, and Chris who chose to stay behind to check out Toledo City area while we ventured south.

Going to a MacDonald's on our way back was an experience.  Very busy place, so popular, very modern and attached to a shopping mall. Any parking around there was jammed with tuk tuks.  It looked like the drivers like to hang out around the mall.  If a Filipino can afford to eat at MacDonald's and shop, then they should be able to afford a ride.  

The menu was not quite the same as it has been adjusted to what Filipinos like and dislike, or are used to eating.  They sell rice as an example, which is their staple food.  I had a crispy chicken but it did not come with much in the way of garnishes and was quite small.  Pineapple juice was my drink even though I was looking for something like a shake or smoothie.

I am getting the impression that there is a middle class starting to emerge where certain younger Filipinos can afford to stay in a resort or hotel for a weekend or special event and go out to eat, rent a boat, etc.  Others such as those stuck with driving a tuk tuk for a living, or doing subsistence farming, not so much.

There was a rooster fight drawing a large crowd just down the street from us when we got back.  Marc walked down to investigate but there was so many people involved, he left as it was just too noisy and crowded, so popular.  Trevor and Natasha did attend and even placed a bet on their favorite rooster.    I was not interested in witnessing any killing, but it is their culture to have such events on a weekend.  The good news is, lets face it, we kill chickens for food and those roosters killed here are also a source of food.

Day 8

I found this big ugly gross dung beetle, just the ugliest, squigliest thing that was upside down but still wiggling its legs.  Sue picked it up to show others.  Her choice,

Before starting the days-'s work, I commented to Fleming that hopefully they built the roof to be stronger than what they had before so it could withstand the next major typhoon.  Fleming said no, that it was about the same quality.  With new metal and beam perhaps it might be a little stronger for the first few years, but heaven help them if the next category 4 comes along, and if it turns out to be category 5, then forget it, they will have to redo as it will get blown away.

I managed to scrape the skin off a finger really good in the morning, then cut myself, and then scratched myself in short order working on gutters (aluminum). I then said forget it, I walked away from what I was doing, fired myself, and let Glen and others continue in my absence.  I helped out others doing miscellaneous work until the ceiling in the first classroom was ready for installing the quarter inch board.

We had quail egg in our salad with the stew today.  It tastes like chicken egg hard boiled, but they are smaller (bite size);

Chris wrenched her knee quite bad working with Trevor, caused when carrying some heavy stuff.  Cindy took her to get x-rays and she will get the results in a couple of days.

I finally was able to teach some kids how to play patty cake and they really got into it and had a big beaming smile on their face.  They were too shy before, but must have gotten used to me enough to give it a go.

Day 9

Chris chose to take the day off to rest her knee hoping to come onsite tomorrow and be able to continue on with her vacation next week.  Something must not be right and possible ligament damage as her knee is swollen.  I seem to be healing more quickly in the heat?  I am down to one bandaid after wearing four yesterday.

I never get a chance of working with Glen and Dana in Canada as we are crew leaders. We are the ceiling team here and making good progress.  There are about 50 - 60 rivets that need to be applied for each 4 x 8 sheet of ceiling board.  The local contractors did not do what Habitat does for ceiling installation, which is draw a straight line and work your way back to a wall.  With two rows of ceiling done by them, we have to work with what was done and keep the sheets straight with minimum gaps in between.

My roommate Marc has been doing the electrical the whole time while here.  What would they have done without him?  It is slow progress, but he is figuring things out for 220v and installing fans, lighting, switches, plug ins, etc., to make things so much better.  Hopefully it is the humidity that is making his hair look so frizzy, wiry, and curly these days.

We all came with our own set of strengths.  This diversification allowed us to become quite productive.  It was Trevor who spent a majority of his time doing the cement work needed to finish off the bathrooms for a couple of classrooms that were in dire need of attention.

Since we only have three days left, we are going to focus on one classroom to complete what needs to be done, including window shutters if possible. What's left is to finish installing the ceiling, filling cracks, sanding, and painting.  Marc has all electrical working other than finishing installing ceiling lighting.

Cindy got some compound in her eye and was out of commission for awhile flushing it out , but she thinks she will be fine

Miscellaneous observations:

•  No dwelling meets building code;

• Everything takes ten times longer than normal to do because of not having the right materials or tools;

• In regard to the thousands of Filipino children in this area, I was not expecting them to be so slim, similar to what we experienced in Cambodia a few years ago;

• Consumables such as food are dirt cheap;

• Filipinos do not need much to be happy.

We have been working with the teachers to figure out what they needed for supplies.  The government gives them some money over the year, but it may not be enough to cover just the utilities.  Some supplies were brought in with us from Canada.  We went shopping with the teachers after work who came up with a list of other supplies needed and I made a donation to the cause with others.  What they needed the most was writing pads/  scribblers by grade.  The teachers were most appreciative of our generosity. 

Day 10

Unfortunately Chris remains out of commission and it is not looking good for her to come back.  She may have to go home and cut off her vacation following if she is in too much discomfort.  Hopefully things will settle down and she can manage with just a knee brace.

I was the official cutter of boards this day to keep the installation of ceiling and wall board going smoothly.   I helped out Marc a bit today as he continues to work on the electrical.  He had some challenges testing his limits. rewiring in spots to make things better and more convenient.  I learned you use the same type of wiring whether that be for 110v or 220v.  The way he is doing it is making the wiring so much better and more convenient.

Everyone is sweating like pigs.  Nothing new here.  Brenda did some research about healing more quickly in the heat and now agrees with me.  When I get a cut or scratch drawing blood, enough to require a bandaid, I only need to put it on for two hours and then the need for a bandaid is gone.  A minor scratch completely disappears in maybe three days.   Moral of the story: If you have a need to heal more quickly, live in a sauna and cook yourself for a few days!

My glasses are broken, similar to a problem I had when on vacation this spring, only this time the frame is definitely broken.  I have my prescription safety glasses as a backup plan.  I will just look like a nerd for the remainder of my stay and probably get more questions asked going through security at the airport.  I may try to glue and tape my frame back together when onsite.

Today's interaction with the kids was all about measuring how tall they were. Once I got the first little guy to cooperate, I ended up doing it to a whole bunch of others and they were all giggling in the process.  I got quite popular quickly.  I don't think they ever have been measured before.  For who I measured their height varied from 43 inches to 54.  A couple of mothers came to watch the fun.  The kids are curious about our progress, but they also want to be with us.  I want to be with them.

Shirley is a member of some sort of international picket ball club and therefore was able to play with other members of this club, only seven minutes away from where we are staying.  We live in a different world now.  Who she played against were middle class younger Filipinos.  They were very friendly and safe to be with.

It seems a little strange but understandable the influence that western civilization has on the Filipinos.  Our driver is usually playing music from the Eagles.

If you have a slightly runny fried egg,  mixing it with rice makes such a nice meal.  I know when you buy Chinese food at home and you order chicken fried rice and it comes with egg, I can see why.  The meal I had at a restaurant last week had basically a raw egg with other food on a hot place.  Once you mixed up the food, the egg cooked and helped bring the whole dish together.

Day 11

My digestive tract is telling me my time is almost up.  It must have been something I ate as I have been very careful with water consumption.  I have a day and a half more of work to do and then I should be ready to return home the next morning. I get to check in with Eva Air later on today (done).

When wiring yesterday Marc took a picture of this reptile like creature living in the wall where he was stringing wire through.  The creature was too big for a gecko.  But unlike a mouse, no damage from chewed wiring has been noticed throughout the building.  Marc banged the wall with his screw driver a few times to move the creature out of the way.

Chris remains back at the hotel.  I asked her to email me the facts she had about her experience taking care of a malnourished and actually starving puppy on the job site who just needed some tender loving care.  It will make such a great short story.  If she does not write it herself, I volunteered to do it as long as I get the facts.  She is very capable doing it on her own and this would be my preferred choice.

This morning there was ten of us painting all at once in one classroom!  You might question why, but we were using probably four different kinds of paint depending on surface and coat layer and color and the push is on to finish this room.   I have been getting a lot of value out of those Vim Disinfectant Wipes to keep me clean of paint, dirt, and bacteria.

 A rain shower tested our rain gutter drain on one building of classrooms which proved to be operating effectively.  An attached picture is the principal's office completely redone.

One area we have been working on is to have a bathroom closed in at the back of every classroom.  This caused an unbelievable amount of work.   The ladies wanted me to take their picture in a completed bathroom.  There they were all eight of them in one small bathroom.  I was really tempted to close the door with them still in it as it seemed like a fun thing to do.  I started on this idea until they screamed at me to stop!  I chose to back off to stay out of trouble because after all, I still needed to get along with them!  I then took their picture!

You cannot get a feel for the Philippines and their way of life without experiencing a pig roast.  It just so happened that the owner of the hotel was having a special event for her son as he was running for office with provincial elections coming up.  As well, it was his birthday and therefore a special celebration was in order.  Instead of ordering off the menu, the owner, along with family and friends, and other election personnel were invited to come and join in the festivities, which included a buffet of Filipino food to eat, and birthday cake for dessert.  The locals were quite willing to include us in the celebration knowing the humanitarian work we were doing in the area, the revenue stream we were bringing the hotel, having a need to eat from a day of hard work, and  when hotel staff needed to focus on putting the special meal together.

Day 12

Chris came with us today as the last day for volunteering.  She was able to hobble around quite well with a knee brace and so it looks like she will continue on with her vacation with others after today.  Looks like I will be putting that short story together about an experience she had before she got hurt.

Marc (a la 'Sparky') was able to complete his rather challenging wire project.  The existing wiring was a big mess and not color coded properly.  When figuring things out Sparky claims that he was electrocuted probably two dozen times over the past two weeks!

Natasha is by far the youngest person in our group from Fort Saskatchewan who came with her Uncle Trevor.  She is in her early 20's having graduated with her Power Engineering degree from University and has a job lined up next month.  She is very popular with the kids of course being the youngest.  She has her whole leg and most of her arms covered in tattoos that they have never seen before making her an interesting subject for the locals.   She also is very muscular with broad shoulders as she lifts weights.  She fits right in with the elderly crowd. 

I commented to her that I thought she could take out the average Filipino man in short order.  She agreed with me completely: "oh yeah" as she does look rather intimidating and I am sure Filipinos have noticed. Today she demonstrated her strength, taking an 88 pound bag of cement from a classroom down a steep flight of steps to the storage room with no problem whatsoever.

We came close to finishing off a large classroom to be ready for use.  After repairs to a heavy wooden door by termite activity, a fresh coat of brown paint was applied.  One local took it upon herself to repaint a sturdy wooden chair for the principal's office  that no longer had any wood stain on it as it had worn off with use.  

For the closing ceremony, it was so special having the kids and teachers  give us such a warm thank you and goodbye.  We all received personalized thank you cards along with a certificate of appreciation.   The principal received the keys to her brand new office.  We all signed a Canadian flag with a special note to the school wishing them all the best.

Filipino kids (similar to their parents) like to dance and sing in order to express themselves, their gratitude and happiness.  One of the songs they like to dance to is a remix of the Rivers of Babylon.  Apparently they play this song at school every day so the kids can get up to dance, get some exercise, and burn off some energy.   When it came to dance for celebration, we decided to reciprocate and do something special for the children.  We came up with the old fashioned Chicken Dance song as we could not think of anything else, which seemed to be most appropriate and this ended up being a big hit.  They really got caught up in it and were laughing and actively participating in the dance, quickly picking up the moves.  Natasha had never heard of this song before and therefore must have never made it to her generation.

What a good way to end our time here  going back to the Bullad Cafe for a mango smoothie in the afternoon sun, which is how we started our stay here.  On top of this we had mango cake back at the hotel which I would die for along with a very chocolate cake.

This mission work was everything I hoped it would be and has rekindled the urge to continue to do more of the same.   I am on my way home now and looking forward to getting back to cooler drier weather, but I will miss my buddies and those precious school children.  This mission was all about the children.  We made a difference.  I will remember the children.