Barangay Tugbongan

12-20-10

We just returned from Cebu Island where we investigated a potential water project. This community was different in that it was an urban area. We will not do a water project there mainly because the people have access to the city water system. They do have to pay for it, and perhaps that is the problem. Never the less it was an interesting trip, and gave us insight into the challenges faced by many urban communities. I understand why rich communities build walls, and form compounds with guarded gates. Idealistically (with my western middle class culture) I don’t think it is “right “but I do see the point of it. The population of the barangay we visited was over 5,000. There were 3,400 registered voters and over 2,000 others, referred to as “squatters” who are only estimated. As I could see there were broadly three categories of people living in this Barangay. First and smallest group were the economically successful folks, who had money and most likely commuted outside of the community for work. They had running water, indoor plumbing, and trash pickup just like in the states. The majority of the people in the middle were fishermen or unskilled labors working in and out of the barangay. If they didn’t have water piped into their houses they had a community pump that they paid for it monthly or as they used it. These folks usually have a water sealed squat toilet. You dump a scooper of water from a bucket to flush it and the waste goes into a septic tank like thing. If not the water seal toilet then an old fashioned outhouse. Finally there were the squatters; these are poor semi-transient people who build their homes on vacant land. This particular barangay is along a tidal plain that is mud when the tide is out, but has access to the ocean when the tide is in. The squatters have built their huts in this area so they are close to a food source (ocean). Their houses look like forts kids make with scraps of this and that, all crammed together like eggs in a carton. These poor people live in conditions that are unhealthy, unsanitary and unsafe. There are no toilets so the human waste goes under their homes into the mud, as does all the refuse that comes with thousands of people crammed together in a small space. There is a hose from which they can purchase water. The cost is about 2 cents a small bucket. That is a lot when you have nothing so if bathing and washing of clothes take place it’s when the tide comes in. However with all the waste that tidal flow is polluted. The squatter’s camp is full of little children and dogs that followed us with curious faces. The dogs were skinny and covered with sores. The kids were dirty but cute. One poor boy had big sores all over his head. They were mostly scabbed over, but they looked like what I saw on the dogs. I was told the squatter kids don’t generally go to school, or access the barangay health center which is financed by the government. When I asked the barangay health worker why, her general feeling was that the parents are ignorant of the benefits, didn’t care, or didn’t trust the government. A community worker told me that the squatters are lazy and don’t want to work. To prove her point when we walked through the area she pointed out all the people sitting around playing cards and gambling. When we talked to the barangay captain (like our mayor) she was conflicted about the squatter issue. She felt compassion for these poor folks, but also realized they were having a negative impact on the community. In addition to the ecological damage and pollution she reported increased robberies, vandalism, drugs and alcoholism. They recently instigated a volunteer barangay security detail where men walk the barangay in shifts all night long. In the richer areas residents are banning together to set up check points and hire security guards. Some have increased the height of their walls and topped them with barbed wire. They are like prisoners in their fancy houses.

Blessed are the Peacemakers

12-10-2010

We have partnered with an unlikely group of individuals who are incredibly helpful in promoting the Lords work of serving others here in the Philippines. I am talking of the Philippines Marines. We have become good friends with the officer in charge of humanitarian activities and the Marines have been a tremendous help on several official and non official projects. This is particularly true in the southern regions of the Philippines that have historically been an area of conflict and civil unrest. Local politics are dominated by oppressive families who with private armies are a law unto themselves. There have been many kidnappings, bombings, and murders. Due to safety concerns we are not allowed to travel there. However the Marines are there and have decided to dedicate 80% of their efforts in that area to humanitarian projects. They believe that peace can be better served through acts of kindness, rather than aggression. To this end we have worked together on water projects, agricultural and livelihood projects, wheelchair distribution and school supplies for children.
Dennis and I have been involved personally, not through LDS Charities, in helping the Marines gather toys to distribute to children in the Muslin regions of Basilan and Sulu, in Mindanao. They put on a “Winter Celebration” (Muslins, so no Christmas) where they feed the kids, play games and give each a gift. Yesterday the Major General was coming to pick up the toys, and we felt so bad because due to time constrains we only had a few things to offer. We had even contacted the US Marines trying to hook up with their “Toys for Tots Drive” but we were too late. Our version of a “Christmas Miracle” happened when just hours before the general's arrival the local mission office called and asked if we could use a toy shipment. It was heaven sent! A mother of a local missionary from Canada had been collecting toys all year that she was able to ship to the Philippines free of charge in a huge box. It was a generous and much needed addition to the supply of toys. We were overjoyed and the Marines were so excited, “like kids at Christmas.”
Also included in the box was children’s clothing and canned food. We have another personal project and that is Mabuhay Deseret, a house for poor children and their caretakers to stay while the patients recover from free surgical services. They had sufficient toys but were in need of food and clothes. We were so happy to spread the blessing of the Canadian woman’s efforts to them.
We are so humbled and thankful for the knowledge that the Lord truly is involved and blesses us at every turn. He is mindful of the needy little Muslin kids in Mindanao, and even the Philippine Marines who are striving so hard to be peacemakers.

These pictures I added later, they are of the party that was held

Floating Pig

11-15-02
(You can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

We are up to our elbows in disasters again. We have teamed up with the Catholic Relief Agency to help with the reconstruction and rehabilitation of homes lost in the typhoon. That is a very good thing because there is a level of animosity between the members of ours and their church. This will be an opportunity for us to work together helping others and getting to know each other on a personal level. Fortunately we have not started the project because we are now in the throes of another disaster in the same area. There have been torrential rains causing severe flooding. The amount of rain necessitated the releasing of water from the local dam causing even more damage. A good thing is just two months ago LDS Charities donated three zodiac type rescue boats with motors to a volunteer search and rescue group. These have been put to good use rescuing scores of people off their roofs and ferrying them to higher ground and emergency shelter.

We have been so busy we have to split up more now. I know you are never supposed to leave your companion, but it is different for seniors, and we have to be in two places at once. It is challenging for me to go out to meetings and make decisions for LDS Charities on my own. I'm not used to this type of high pressure job, and I am really a boob. I am not used to traveling about a big confusing and scary city like Manila in a taxi. It makes me nervous that I might be taken into the slums and dumped off, or kidnapped, or even just over charged. However in truth, the taxi drivers have been very nice, they take me where I want to go, and to my knowledge the fares have been reasonable. The Lord takes care of me.

Today we went to a kick off celebration to start the measles immunization campaign in the Philippines. It was fun with political dignitaries, bands and baton twirlers. LDS Charities donated a million dollars to buy vaccines for the Philippines. As a result everyone loves us and treats us like big shots. Interesting what money can buy, we were given a seat on the front row with all the political who’s who, introduced to the audience with great fanfare, and Dennis was asked to speak. After the ceremony we walked out into the barangay and witnessed the first child to be vaccinated. Such a brave little boy, flanked by the mayor and a congresswoman and surrounded by a news crew and dozens of strangers he took his shot without a flinch.

Typhoon Megi

10-28-10

We are back from assessing the damage from the typhoon. We drove about 10 hours the first day. Dennis had it in his mind to just drive until we got to the hard hit area and sleep in the car. I convinced him to stop. To give you an idea of our accommodations a deluxe room at the only hotel we found was 10 dollars for 12 hours. I don’t know how much the truckers had to pay that were cooking and sleeping in the parking lot. The place was noisy with people coming and going all night. The room was shabby but clean. Unfortunately it was covered with bugs. They were on the walls, the ceiling and floor. Interestingly swarms of ants rushed in immediately to eat the few bugs I stepped on, and then disappeared again. The window in the bathroom wouldn’t shut so more came in attracted to the light. Dennis had the brilliant idea of turning off the lights and most went back out the window to the light outside. Fortunately they were not biting bugs, but one did go up my nose. Early the next day we arrived at the province where the typhoon made landfall and it was extensively damaged. The typhoon damage reminded me so much of television footage that I had seen in the states of the aftermath of hurricanes in the south and southeast. The landscape was bare, most trees were blown down and the ones left standing were stripped of leaves and branches. Many houses were flattened, more were without roofs and had partially collapsed walls and of course those with glass windows were blown out. It was difficult to view the devastation. Megi was a category 5 typhoon and lasted a terrifying six hours. One Stake President and his wife told of lashing the roof of their humble wooden home down with rope and then they and their three children, the oldest being only twelve, struggling to pull down as the wind lifted it up. We drove around their neighborhood and were happy to see that miraculously their house stayed relatively intact while the houses around them including the cement block houses right next door were heavily damaged. There is a beautiful LDS chapel that Dennis and I stopped at on a previous trip to use the restroom. It was situated along a river surrounded by trees. When we stopped this time I didn’t recognize it because there were no trees. From the outside the chapel didn’t look too bad, but inside was a mess. The wind came in from broken windows and roof; it was like an explosion inside. We spent the next two days driving around the area surveying damage. We met with government officials to discuss their most pressing needs. There was no electricity but we drove north at night and stayed in a nicer hotel with a generator. In the tree to the right is a piece of a roof and the cross bar of a electric pole. On the fourth day we drove to the other side of the country to check where the typhoon crossed over before it left the Philippines. The damage there was flooding. When the typhoon first hit the winds were so strong that it blew the rain along with it and the landfall area, except for the coastal area that got a 6 foot tidal surge, didn’t flood. As it passed over the country it slowed down and the eastern side got the flash floods and heavy rain. The picture I've added is not of a lake but a flooded field. There were people with sticks looking in the bushes along the water's edge for rodents and snakes for dinner. The young men are showing us a string of rats. I'm told they taste like pork.

I am not as strong as I thought I was, and still being on the tail end of a bout with the flu, this experience took a lot out of me. Not just physically but mostly emotionally. This humanitarian missionary job is a hard one. It is so tough to see and be involved in suffering on such a large scale. It is hard to request supplies and then have to defend and “sell” your request to those who control the humanitarian funds; especially when there is so much immediate need. This is also a country that is so full of corruption and deceit, and that you have to be very careful that the money or supplies are not misused. It is hard to help people while trying to encourage self sufficiency and discourage a culture of entitlement and “easy money” living on the charity of others.

A bright spot in this tour of destruction happened when we stopped for lunch. The locals who were showing us around could not find a restaurant that was not destroyed or that had food. They reluctantly (not wanting to subject the American visitors to what they considered we would think substandard) suggested a pancit (noodle) place. It was the side yard of a house with tables under an overhang. Dennis and I like pancit so we were happy, but what made it really special was after we got our food who should walk up but a group of young missionaries. There were about 12 of them. They had been out in their grubby clothes helping to clean up and reconstruct. We told them to sit and we’d buy them lunch. There were 4 Americans among them, 3 boys and a girl. There was instant recognition; the girl was from Sequim, Bailey Eveland. It made me so happy to see these beautiful young people with such positive attitudes and so full of enthusiasm.

Basureros

10/11/10

Life is hard for many here in Manila. This is true for the children. There are thoes who make their living recycling. They search out and sort through trash where ever they can find it. They are called Basureros. The following is talk given by a Filipino church employee at the weekly devotional held every monday morning here at the church office building.

The Basureros (20 Sept 2010-Devotional talk)

Ever since I was diagnosed of having a possible heart enlargement in the last APE, I have exerted more effort to do physical exercises.
I do jogging during week days and do long - ride mountain biking every Sunday.
But this Sunday is a special Sunday to me. While I was on my way to the mountains of Busay (Cebu) hoping to strengthen my heart by this exercise, instead, I personally encountered a heart-breaking scene that changed me.

I already passed the Marco Polo Plaza (formerly Cebu Plaza Hotel) when I decided to stop to buy bananas at a small carenderia located along the road. I haven't taken any solid food that morning so I need fruits to have the required energy to get to my destination - the mountain top.
I am almost done eating with the second banana when I noticed two children across the street busily searching the garbage area. "Basureros" I said to myself and quickly turned my attention away from them to sip a small amount of water. I cared less for these kind of children actually; to make it straight, I do not like them, and I do not trust them even more.
You see, several times I have been a victim to these kind of children who are pretending to be basureros looking for empty bottles and cans when in fact the pans, pots, and 'hinayhays' (damit na nakasampay) are their favorites.
I remember one afternoon while I was watching a Mike Tyson fight when I noticed that the TV screen suddenly became blurred then the signal was totally gone. I checked outside and saw two young basureros running away with my newly installed antenna.
Hatred may be the little bit stronger word to describe my feeling towards these basureros, but I do not like them, honestly, not till I met these three children.
I was about to embark on my bike again when I heard one of the two children, a girl of about 7 or 8 of age saying aloud to the other, a 12-yr old boy, "Dodong is looking at those who are eating, it’s embarassing", only then that I noticed a small boy standing near to me biting slightly his finger. He's a few inches shorter if compared to my 5 years old son (but I knew later that he's also 5 yrs. Old).
Though he did not ask for food from anyone in the carenderia, the way he looked at the customers who were eating is enough to convinced me that he is intensely craving for it.
The older boy then quickly crossed the street and gently pulled out the little one who politely obeyed. As I watched the two cross back the street to the garbage area, I heard the tindera saying, “Those poor children are very kindhearted”.
I learned further from the carenderia owner that the children are from a good family , both parents were working before, and that their father got a stroke 3 years ago and became partially paralyzed and their mother died of heart attack while their father was still confined at the hospital. The parents were still in their early forties when the catastrophe happened, and the children became basureros since then to meet their daily needs and for their father's medication.
Deeply moved by what I heard, I went to a nearby bakery and bought 20 pesos worth of bread and gave it to the children who initially refused including the little boy.
It’s OK sir, we’ll just buy later when we get to sell our stuff," the young girl said to me.
I explained that they needed to go home because it started to rain.
“We’re used to getting wet,” the girl answered again.
Again, I explained that the rain could make them sick and if they'll become sick there's no one to take care of their father. Upon mentioning their father, they nodded and accepted the bread but I noticed that the older boy did not eat.
When I asked him if he does not like the kind of bread I bought for them he smiled but as he's about to explain, the little girl, who is the more talker of them interrupted,
“We take turns at mealtime. He eats on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, while the 2 of us eat breakfast. Monday to Friday, because he goes to school, he gets to eat breakfast, while me and my little brother just eat at dinner time. However, all of us get to eat at the same time when we have made enough money to buy food.” she continued. . .
“Why don’t you just divide the food equally among yourselves?” I countered . . .
The young girl reasoned out that their father wanted that her older brother to come to school with full stomachs so he can easily catch up the teacher's lessons. “When he graduates we’ll stop doing this; you see, he’s an honor student”) the little boy added proudly.
Maybe I was caught by surprise or I am just overly emotional that my tears started to fall. I then quickly turned my back from them to hide my tears and pretended to pick up my bike from the carenderia where I left it.
I don't know how many seconds or minutes I spent just to compose myself; pretending again this time that I was mending my bike.
Finally I get on to my bike and approached the three children to bid goodbye to them who in turn cast their grateful smiles at me. I then took a good look at all of them specially to the small boy and patted his head with a pinch in my heart.
Though I believe that their positive look at life can easily change their present situation, there is one thing that they can never change; that is, their being motherless. That little boy can no longer taste the sweet embrace, care, and most of all, the love of his mother forever. Nobody can refill the empty gap created by that sudden and untimely death of their mother. Every big event that will happen to their lives will only remind them and make them wish of their mother's presence.
I reached to my pocket and handed to them my last 100 peso bill which I reserved for our department's bowling tournament. This time they refused strongly but I jokingly said to the girl, “I’ll hit you if you don’t accept this. . .”
She smiled as she extended her hand to take the money. “Thank you very much, now we can buy medicines for our father,” she uttered.
I then turned to the small boy and though he's a few feet away from me, I still noticed that while his right hand was holding the half- filled sack, his left hand was holding a toy... a worn out toy car. I waved my hands and said bye-bye to him as I rode towards the mountains again.
Did he just found the toy in the garbage area or was the toy originally his - when the misfortune did not take place yet? - I did not bother to ask. But one thing is crystal clear to me, that in spite of the boy's abnormal life, he did not give up his childhood completely.
I can sense it from the way he held and stared at his toy.
My meeting with that young basureros made me poorer by 100 pesos. But they changed me and made me richer where lessons of life are concerned.
In them, I learned that life can change suddenly and may catch me flat-footed.
In them, I've learned that even the darkest side of life cannot change the beauty of one's heart.
Those three children who sometimes cannot eat three times a day are still able to hold on to what they believed was right. And what a contrast to most of us who are quick to point out our misfortunes when caught with our mistakes.
In them, I've learned to hope for things when things seem to go the other way.
Lastly, I know that God cares for them far more than I do. That though He allowed them to experience such a terrible life which our finite minds cannot comprehend, His unquestionable love will surely follow them through.
And in God's own time they will win.
Be BLESSED!!!
James 1:27 --- Pure Religion and undefiled before God and our Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Alma 39:14 --- “Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you.
**God calls us to share from our abundance with those in need---and blesses us when we do.
“God has given us two hands--one to receive with and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for sharing.”- B. Graham

Six Projects in Three Weeks

9/24/10

What a busy three weeks we have had. We been traveling and out of the office. We traveled north to the beautiful city of Baguio, then up into the Mountain Province. It was amazing to me to be in a tropical country then travel up into the mountains and be among pine trees. The air was fresh and relatively cool. They grow vegetables up there in the cooler weather and so we ate wonderful fresh salads. It was beautiful but very hard to get to. It took us 9 hours to travel 72 miles. The roads were terrible and very prone to landslides. We were stopped at one point so they could dynamite the debris off the road. Fortunately we had a heavy duty high clearance vehicle our regular car would never survived on the dirt roads. We met with leaders of the village of Sagada to start the process of bringing clean water to the community.

Next we drove out of the mountains to Tuguegarao where we delivered a specially designed three wheeled tricycle like vehicle that is powered by hand peddles to a woman who lost both of her legs in a terrible accident. She had a stand alongside the road where she sold food before a truck smashed into her, this new wheelchair (trike) will make it possible for her to continue selling from the container mounted on the back. While there we visited the farmers who participated in our organic gardening program. Their vegetables are growing great and some people have harvested already. Their yield has been so good they have been able to sell what they don't need. It was so satisfying to see the tangible evidence of the Lord blessing of these humble people.

We then flew south to Bacolod. We had a very interesting few days on the two islands. First we investigated a isolated village up a mountain and through a sugar cane plantation. I've never been on a rougher road, and I've sure been on plenty here in the Philippines. Lucky we were in a truck with high clearance. Then 2/3rds into our journey it started to rain, coming down in buckets like only it can in the Philippines. It was very exciting to say the least, I am so lucky, what other old lady gets to have such adventures. It was a good visit and it looks like the people have the makings of a good water project. An interesting thing I learned while driving through all that sugar cane is that it is home to big fighting spiders. At night I noticed men out in the cane with flashlights. They capture the biggest meanest spiders they can find and then match them against another person's spider, it is a fight to the finish. The looser get bound up in a web and eaten by the winner. People bet money on the spiders. I was told that some people actually sell fighting spiders in the street market.

The next day we took a fast ferry to Iloilo to meet with doctors in preparation for a vision project. Before setting sail a prayer was said; I didn't know if I should feel frightened or comforted.

We just got back from a celebration of the completion of the water system for about 2,000 people on east Samar island. They all now have water that is close to their houses. For a few who could afford to pay an extra $1.50 per month they have a facet actually installed in their house. It is hard for us who think nothing of having running water to comprehend what a luxury that is. It was fun with lots of speeches, singing, dancing and thank yous. After the program we had an interesting pot luck meal where many people brought their specialities. The party was just getting started, but it was getting late and we had a 4 hour very rough ride in front of us to our hotel. We said our good-byes. How blessed we are to be able to do this rewarding work.

Stuck in Manila

9/02/10

One of the definite perks of being country directors of humanitarian projects is the travel. Unfortunately we have been stuck in Manila for almost a month now. First we had the church auditors from Salt Lake. The church is very fussy about how the money is spent and rightly so. You can be assured that every penny donated to the Humanitarian fund goes to helping people. There is no overhead or administrative costs. August 26th was our 44th wedding anniversary, and this time we have had in the Philippines has been great and brought us closer together. We have been able to do so many good things. It is wonderful to have a united goal and common avocation that we both feel so strongly about. It sure doesn’t hurt to have the financial resources of the LDS church behind our efforts. Every day you can do little things that will brighten someone’s day, but we are so blessed to be able do big things. This last week we've been involved in a symposium with the World Health Organization (WHO). It was concerning controlling and eliminating measles, hepatitis B, and polio. Countries in the southeast Asia area had come together to discuss their inoculation campaigns. It was very technical and boring. The only reason LDS Charities was invited was because we donated a million dollars toward purchasing the measles vaccine for the Philippines. Also LDS Charities will be involved in the social mobilization effort as volunteers. It is amazing how donating a million dollars can make you so popular, we had no lack of people who wanted to sit with us at the lunch table. I actually began to wonder if boredom could have lasting physical or emotional side effects. The up side is we met many interesting people, and made some good contacts with people who can help with our other projects.

We love the Filipino people that we have been blessed to associate with. They are so generous with their time and talents, helpful, kind and accepting. An example of this is the sweet tolerant people in our branch; we are assigned to attend a branch 2 hours from our house in the provinces. There is a young man in our branch named Mike, he has no family with him and attends by himself. The members marvel that he finds his way by himself and knows when the church starts. He is severely handicapped, Down’s syndrome, blind in one eye, deformed face, unintelligible speech, and mentally retarded. He likes to stand at the door greeting people as they come in. After exchanging hugs with several people, he likes to stroke my hair (I guess because we are the only people that don’t have black hair) he makes his way to the stand. He prefers to sit with the Branch Presidency; one of them usually puts an arm around him affectionately. His attention span wavers, often after the sacrament and he gets up and wanders a little. One Sunday he discovered the numbers on the hymn board and rearranged them. When he was done he proudly gave the Branch President a big smile and a thumbs up. Once he discovered the remote for the air conditioning and walked around adjusting each blower, rather than taking it away from him the congregation just sat patiently through the varying blasts of air. He thinks he is helping, but the following Sunday the remote was kept out of sight. Last Sunday when we stood to sing the rest hymn Mike stood up straight and proud next to the branch presidency and sang at the top of his lungs; of course he didn’t sing words just sounds. As I looked at Mike and around at the accepting, sweet and gentle people in the congregation I couldn’t keep the tears from my eyes. I know Jesus is pleased to see his teaching of love practiced in the Baliwag Branch, Philippines.

Lake Buhi

8/19/10

Here we are on Lake Buhi, one of the most beautiful places we have seen in the Philippines. We came here to investigate a potential water project. The people of the barangay or village are experiencing many problems with water borne illness. When tested 67% of the water was contaminated with e-coli. In addition to diarrhea there have been outbreaks of cholera and typhoid. They currently have two water sources that are open springs.

To get to the barangay we needed to travel 45 minutes across the lake in a rickety wooden boat. The boat had a flat bottom and so it was driven right up on to the shore where we literally jumped off, traversed a rice field, and hiked up a slippery hill. Quite a feat for two old fat folks. Our meeting was held in a tiny catholic church where the villagers did a great job of making their case for a water system. The purposed system would capture water high on the mountain in a spring box and pipe it down to the village, thus preventing the current ground water contamination.

LDS Charities does not just give stuff away so the residents will need to provide sweat equity and attend educational classes in the village to learn how to run and maintain their water system. Another source will provide material for the people to install toilets, currently the people use the great outdoors, thus contributing to the contamination.

1,000 White Corn Farmers

Our 1,000 White Corn Farmer families project is finally finished. What a relief, and what a blessing. We were fortunate enough to visit some of the people who went through the first session at the end of June and they are so proud of their vegetables and fruit gardens. They are also happy with their corn that is now almost a meter high. There were actually 1,057 farmers who went through the program, and when you consider their families that is more than 5,000 that benefited. We have witnessed the power of the Lord paving the way and making things happen. When asked some of the farmers, “What has this project meant to you?”, the responses were heartwarming. One man said, “Now I can sleep at night know there will be food for my children” another said, “Selling the excess vegetables and fruit will allow my children supplies so they can go to school”. We were so incredibly impressed with the caliber of our volunteers who worked tirelessly to make this happen for their community members. Brother Hector, the original farmer we talked to and I wrote about in a blog on 3/29/10 was a key player in this process.


1) Bags filled with corn seed that was for about 200 farmers

2) Farmers heading home with no room for people except for the roof

3) A group of farmers that stopped to post for a group picture

4) Individual family heading home

5) Volunteers helping farmers fill out their paperwork. Many can't read or write

6) Donna helping fill the LDS Charities bags with corn seed

7) Transportation provided by one community for a group of farmers










8) A women who was overheard telling her neighbors that her vegetable garden was a gift from the heart of the Mormon Church

Television and Typhoon

07/14/10

What a busy time for us, I can not believe how the time flies by. From previous blogs you know we have been involved with one of the Filipino TV stations. On the 5th of July they decided to dedicate their morning show to "Our American Friends". They asked us if we wanted to be interviewed on the show. I declined but Dennis said yes. For the most part it was fun to picked up by a driver and get to watch the production of a news and talk show format. It was also embarrassing, Dennis did very well with his segment, but they kept showing pictures and video of us and our various projects every time they went to a station break. I didn't know they had so much footage of us. I feel very self conscious of our size in this country of small people and there we were these big fat white people. I told my kids I felt like the Stay puff Marshmallow Man in the old Ghost Buster movie. (I've included the picture my son Adam sent me) The worst part was when they showed picture after picture of us while someone sang the Stars Spangle Banner, a too long song in the best of circumstances, made unbearably longer.

I have also included a picture of a wheelchair distribution where LDS Charities provided custom wheelchairs for severely handicapped kids.

Last night we had our first typhoon. Fortunately we got home before the worst of it hit. We really live in a safe place, we are up high enough to avoid floods, and our apartment is in the middle of the complex, so while we have no view we have no direct hits from the wind. The winds were from 72 to 84 miles per hour. Not extreme, but surprisingly consistent for hours. Many people were not as lucky as we were and roofs were blown off and walls blown in. Homes closer to the ocean were flooded. There are lots of downed trees and branches. The power was knocked out and is reported to be off for another 2 to 3 days. It is so stinking hot and humid and no air conditioning, not even a fan. Our apartment is so miserable that we are now at the church office building where they have limited generator power where we can use the computer and have a fan blowing on us. We will spend as many nights here on the floor and couch as necessary.

1,000 Farmers

6/28/10

We have been so busy with a huge project with 1,000 white corn farmers that we have not been able to keep up with our blog. The white corn farmers are dry subsistence farmers whose crops were first wiped out by a typhoon and their second crop by the drought. (Refer to Blog 3-29, "North to Tuguegarao") We were blessed to find two wonderful partners, first the human interest story department of a local TV station (ABS CBN) and the Philippine Marines. For this project we held a workshop for 200 farm families at a time teaching them how to organically grow a garden of vegetables and fruit to supplement their diet. Each day a new group was taught by agriculturist in class for 4 hours and in the fields for 4 hours. We slanted this to mom's and kids thinking they were the ones who would tend the "kitchen gardens" near their homes while the men worked in the fields. We were wrong 2/3 of the participants were men. After the training the participants received fruit and vegetable seedlings. They also were given corn seed and fertilizer for up to 2 hectares. The turn out was phenomenal. We had people lined up at the door hours before the class started. The people were so enthusiastic and grateful, that they willing volunteered for hours setting up and hauling in by hand over 225 tons of corn seed and fertilizer. ABS CBN helped with the organization of the project and had the contacts to get the government and local support we needed. Also because we had the events covered by the news media LDS Charities received a lot of good press. The Marines were fantastic, they provided crowd control, registration and individual instruction for the hands on field work. We flew up there with ABS CBN last week-end to check on progress. Here is a quote from a text message we received from the news reporter that says it all: "We are AWED at what we're seeing here! (if awed is the right word). The seedlings have been planted, backyards that used to be idle for months are now homes to squash and ampalaya seedlings. Neighbors lent their idle backyards to those who have no space of their own, 4 to 8 farmers sharing with the plots. This is bayanihan at its BEST!" We have give credit to where credit is due and acknowledge the Lords hand in blessing these humble farmers. I'd like to end this with another text message quote from Brother Hector, he is the farmer we visited in the first place and it is his family that is pictured in the 3-29 blog. "Prayer works best when nothing else works at all. When the situation is hopeless, prayer fosters hope. God never leaves His people alone, without a witness or guide. Living by faith sometimes means walking in the dark, but it never means living without light"