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"

Dumagat Kids

6/11/10

We had a great week. We were able to present 50 wheelchairs to people who needed them, made by people who are in wheelchairs themselves. I don' have pictures yet. What I do have here are pictures of the most fun things we have done in the Philippines to date. We were able to travel with a local news crew 5 hours up into the mountains (Dona Romedios, Trinidad, Bulacan). The last half was in 4X4 trucks, you can see the river we had to cross. The family pictured had to walk two miles over the mountains to reach the school where we were handing out the bags. They were very proud of their heritage because they were "pure tribal blood" not mixed with lowlanders. LDS Charities provided around 2,000 school bags that contained, in

addition to school supplies, 2 white t-shirts , soap, toothbrush, and a multipurpose washcloth hand towel that folks use here for all kinds of things. The foundation we are partnering with is busy traveling by foot, plane and boat to reach the other indigenous people. This is the only time we were able to go along and we had such fun. The children were so polite. They were also very curious about us, and a little scared. Many had never seen a white person before. One little girl through a translator said this was the first time she ever got anything new. Given the fact that there is no transportation in the mountains, except for a couple of horses and a few motorcycles, and the closest town is hours away that may be true. The small school we visited only went to grade 6. If students want to continue their education they must live away from home. This is not realistic unless there is a relative outside the village who is willing to take the student in.

Cebu and Borongan

6/9/10

We spent last week traveling, and it was nice to get out of Manila, but surprisingly to me also nice to get back "home". We first went to Cebu, an island south of us in the middle of of Philippines. We needed to look into a wheelchair manufacturer. We also took the opportunity to visit the new Cebu Temple before it is dedicated. It is beautiful and I have included a picture. From there we flew to Leyte and hired a car and driver to take us the four hours across the island to Eastern Samar. There we stayed in a small town call Borongan. It is a nice little town right on the Pacific Ocean. The beaches are clean, unpopulated and the water invitingly warm. Sunday we attended a wonderful little branch there which was really fun. We didn't have access to a car, there were very few in town, but we rode the tricycles (motorcycle with a modified sidecar) to get around. The purpose of our visit was to get things organized and contracts signed for the water project we are starting for the four barangay located in the hills about 20 kilometers east of Brongonan. Everything went well and the project will start this week. LDS Charities is paying for the contractor and materials, the people are providing the labor. It all goes according to plan we should return in September for the ceremony where we turn everything over to the citizens of the four barangay.

Typhoon Damage to Schools

5/25/10
We have been working to rehabilitate schools that are still in need of repairs since the typhoon last fall. School will open in a few weeks and still there are many school that will open their door with unsafe conditions and significant damages. The pictures are of one such school we are working on. We supply the money for materials and volunteers do the work. There are so many schools in such disrepair that we can only scratch the surface. Our thinking is that it is better to help some then none at all. I have to control myself when I go into these schools, I get very angry that children are subjected to such conditions, in the USA these schools would be torn down. I have come to expect a "free and appropriate education" for all children, but I have to stop myself and remember I am in a third world country.

Carabao's and Wheelchairs

5/19/10

We were very excited to go to the Carabao Festival and Parade. I have included two pictures, one of the parade route and another of a carabao pulling a cart before the parade. We got there early and stationed ourselves by the church where the carabao decorated with flowers are trained to kneel for the priest to give them a blessing. Unfortunately it was not to be, while we were waiting in 105 degree temperature Dennis starting to have symptoms of a heat stroke, with headache, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision, weakness. I was able to guide him to a courtyard in the church where he drank water and rested until he was able to go to the car and air conditioning. It was very scary for us because it came on so fast with no warning. Now we are being very careful with the sun and keep hydrated.

This week we are concentrating on wheelchairs. Our goal this year is to provide 2,000 for people who would not be able to afford wheelchairs. That is not as easy because you just can't plunk a person in any old chair. They need to be fitted, or it will not be as useful. About 50% of our children in need of chairs have cerebral palsy, and they need a specialized chair. I'll also include some wheelchair pictures. One is a 12 year old CP boy who we are measuring for a chair. He is really skinny but still big for his Mom to lug around all day. It makes me happy to be able to provide for these families, and they are so grateful. It is probably not so cheap in the US but here you can get a decent chair for just a little over $100, a really fancy one with all the braces and attachments to support a non mobile severely handicapped person is less than $300. Still these poor people will carry and struggle with their loved ones because $100 is way beyond their reach. It is so satisfying when you know you are helping individuals.

Election Day in the Philippines

5/7/10
Elections happen every six years in the Philippines. It is an exciting time with both local and national candidates all campaigning at the same time. The Filipino people like the personal touch so there are not as many T.V. adds as in the states, but instead huge rallies and parades more on the local level. The poor people have the same vote as the rich so candidates are down in the barangays courting constituents shaking hands and making promises. For once the poor get a lot of attention. It seems the most popular method of getting your message out is piling as many people as possible in a flat bed truck decorated with campaign banners and flags then having a long procession of cars similarly decorated, also accompanied by motorcycles, bicycles. From this procession catchy campaign songs are blasted from loud speakers. Travel in the Philippines is difficult at best, but every six years it is even crazier. The Philippine people are the nicest, friendliest, kindest people you would ever want to meet, but they take their elections very seriously. It can turn nasty. We are told an average of 120 people are killed each election time. We have been instructed to stay home on election day, and our travel has been curtailed the week before and after.
I can add Avocado to my list of weird ice cream flavors. I had a cone the other day that was three kinds of ice cream, mango, avocado and cheese. I felt like I needed a tortilla chip. Cheese ice cream actually has chunks of processed American cheese in it. It is bright orange/yellow the color of Cheddar cheese. There is a bright purple ice cream called Uve, it is made from a root vegetable. There are so many fruits and vegetables here that I have never seen or heard of, not to mention strange meat and fish.