The Gift That Keeps Giving

3/22/11

Last Christmas we came across a request for LDS Charities to help finish a Comfort Room (CR). That is the Philippine terminology for bathroom. It was a small cement structure divided in half with room for a toilet on each side. They had started it but only had done about half the work and needed a little over $200 dollars to finish it. LDS Charities would not consider funding it because it was a communal toilet for a squatter’s community. We don’t do projects where there is no clear title to the land or at least written consent from the owner. It was really unhealthy situation, these people were doing their business wherever. I wrote about this group in our blog dated 12/19/10. Anyway Dennis and I decided to forgo Christmas gifts for ourselves, no big sacrifice because we want for nothing, and pay for materials to finish the CR. We didn’t think anything of it; we just took their list and went to the hardware store, bought the supplies, had it delivered to the site, and took the next flight back to Manila. With the exception of one person we tried and have been successful in remaining anonymous. To our surprise our simple gesture has turned into a big deal and a real blessing for Sitio Fatima, Barangay Tugbongan. Members of the local LDS Church along with community members made it a work project and finished the work. The whole community turned out for the dedication ceremony, including the Barangay Captain and council members, even the mayor came. The officials gave speeches, the local Catholic Priest blessed the toilets and refreshments were served.

The first picture shows men examining the two door CR. The second shows the water seal toilet, it is flushed by scooping water from a near by bucket into the bowl. The third is people sharing a celebratory snack.

Wheelchair Training

2/26/11

For years LDS Charities has been providing wheelchairs in at least 90 countries throughout the world. In the Philippines shipments of as many as 2,000 chairs at a time have been turned over to government organizations. Usually large publicized ceremonies were held, even in shopping malls, where needy handicapped individuals would be brought up to the stage and put into a wheelchair. The organizations including LDSC would publically be thanked profusely. The individual would be plopped into a chair and sent on their way with no consideration to size or type. Aside from providing a chair the purpose seemed to be to glorify the giver at the expense of receiver. Fortunately that is all changing. LDSC is realizing that putting an individual in an ill fitting chair can actually be harmful. An example is a woman we know who cannot straighten up and sits permanently bent over far to one side. We asked her why and she explained she was born with spinal bifida and as a child her family could not afford a wheelchair. She was “awarded” one by a well meaning organization. All chairs were one size appropriate for an adult. As a result she could not support herself with the arm rests but slumped to one side. She developed scoliosis because her spine grew crooked and her rib cage sort of protruded out her back leaving a large hump.
In keeping with this new policy we have just finished training seminars in four venues located in far flung but strategic locations in the Philippines. Each three day session covers assessment, fitting, and methods for teaching the handicapped individual how to care for and live in a wheelchair. On the final day we had potential recipients come and each trainee fits, and instructs at least two handicapped individuals. The recipient goes home with an appropriate wheelchair. With us we had four trainers from the United States: two experienced physical therapists, a nurse and a wheelchair technician. We trained key individuals in our partner organizations that serve the handicapped. They in turn are eligible to train additional people in their organizations. In keeping with the new goal of,”Do no Harm” we will no longer provide wheelchairs unless the individual has been assessed and fitted by a certified and trained individual. This program has been so successful. The people who go through the program are very enthusiastic and even feel so bad for the previous practices.
Dennis and I were in charge of logistics: arranging travel, hotel, venues, catering the meals for participants, printing materials, assembling tool kits, acquiring and shipping in all the appropriate wheelchairs, etc. Remarkably it all went as planned; the only exception a catered lunch that gave the whole bunch (thirty) of us food poisoning. The pictures are: a happy family after Dad receives a new chair, one of the groups trainned, new trainee doing an assessment, a young amputee in his new chair, training how to manveuver a curb.

A New Year

1-19-11

Christmas is a big deal in the Philippines. It starts around the first of September and builds to a peak on the 25th of December. Even humble huts are festooned with lights. Our office officially closed on the 23rd but in reality most people took off sooner. We attended two potluck dinners with other stranded Americans but mostly it just passed a few hours for us. We spent the rest of the time waiting for the appointed time to call our kids. It was boring, sad and lonely. We could hardly wait to get back to work. However that was disappointing because there were only a few people who showed up. The time between Christmas and New Years is like a continued holiday here. All our contacts and partners were out until Jan. 3rd. So Dennis and I decided spend a few days in Subic. We’ve been there before and it is one of the few places in the Philippines that hasn’t been de-jungled. This is a big area that used to belong to the US military it was a huge base, like a city. It was a key US location during world war 2 and Vietnam. It was given to the Philippine government, and they have maintained it as a resort area. You still have to pass through gates and check points to get in. It is like a slightly run down beach community you would find along the California coast. Because it belonged to the US the jungle is still there and the wildlife has not been eaten to extinction. There are even crows there, and monkeys troops. The monkeys are aggressive and scary. There is a cheesy wildlife park we visited there called Zoobic, thus the pictures.

New Years Eve was like World War Three. All the eleven million people in Manila were constantly shooting off some type of explosive devise. We were warned not to go outside because of stray bullets from the celebrants shooting guns into the air. Obviously not a wild threat because the news reported people killed and injured by stray bullets the next day.

I'm glad the holidays are over and we are back to work now and busy as ever, thank goodness.

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.