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"

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.