Smokey Mountain Kids

The above picture is of an area on the outskirts of Manila called 'Smokey Mountain'. Here, people, many of whom are children, earn a living (if it can be called that) by sorting out rubbish that gets dumped there and selling what can be re-used. In essence, they are recycling.

A mother from my (Lara’s) class visited this area 10 years ago. She saw that there was no hope for these children. As young as 3 years old, they spent their days scouring the dumpsite, barefoot, for plastic, paper, cardboard... anything that could be recycled. Their older brothers and sisters and parents and grandparents were all doing this too. It’s not too hard to imagine what these children will be doing when they’re 30, 40, 50... And their children like them.

Her heart was greatly moved, and she decided to come back to the Philippines permanently and set up a school for these children. Ten years later, there are about 430 elementary aged children attending her school. They no longer spend their whole day on the rubbish tip. They are learning to read and write. Maybe, just maybe, these kids will have a different future to their parents and grandparents before them.

What a blessing it is to partner in this ministry.

Our new friends

A week ago we wrote about our angry little kittens. Well... our angry little kittens pretty soon turned into our cute, lovable, attention seeking little kittens. We've been giving them milk every day, and one day decided just to pick them up (even though they were still hissing at us!). That pretty soon softened them up, and now it's no more hissing... just crying out for us. All the time! All they want now is attention. But we don't mind too much. They're pretty cute, and so very curious. I (Lara) think Stefan especially loves them. ;) (And these photos prove it!) So, whether we like it or not, I think we have ourselves some new pets.

Angry, angry kittens

Recently, we've been hearing kittens making a whole lot of noise - more than you think would be possible from such small things. Thinking that they were next door and there was nothing that could be done, we tried to ignore them. Out of curiosity one day, we decided to look in our back yard and look what we found!


Two little kittens, left all alone in the big bad world..... how cute!


Well, in a word, no. These kittens are not very cute at all. They are down-right mean. It seems they have adjusted all too quickly to the world, skipped the cute stage and gone straight to looking after themselves.

Life can be harsh.

The photos show us trying, in vain, to reach out to them.

No such thing as a comfort zone here.

We had our church's 34th anniversary last Sunday. And since it is quite natural for Filipinos to get up on stage and sing whenever they get a chance, someone in our church thought we might like to do the same. Let's just say that we were not exactly looking forward to our time on stage!
The day came, we had practised singing our song with each other but not our accompanist. Hmmm, this might turn out to be interesting.

We had asked the lady who would be playing the piano for us if she was going to be ok to do it. I guess we should realise by now that Filipinos really don't like to say 'no' so she say "Yes, yes, it will be fine."

Our time finally comes and we get up on stage, only to look down and see someone totally new behind the piano with our original accompanist looking on!

Lara and I glance at each other nervously, knowing there's no way to back out now. In the end, it turned out well, even though I'm pretty sure the music was being played by sight - quite impressive....

Some people there even mentioned that they want us to sing again. But maybe they were just being polite...... :)

Rev-head security guards?

This one made me laugh - so I had to stop a take a photo.

We were in Thailand, going to a bar on the roof (literally) of a 60-something floor hotel. As we drove in, I noticed this sign, accompanied by two guards:



"Hey Joe, check this one out - it's modified!"

"Gee, it's nice. That's gotta put out at least 200kW! Well, we should probably let the nice people through now."

"Yeah, good point. Thanks a lot!" says the security guard, as he drops the bonnet and we drive on by.

Needless to say, it didn't quite happen like that. They only checked the boot. Or the trunk. Whatever.

Welfareville

You might have heard us say it before, but poverty is one of the hardest things to deal with in Manila. It's literally everywhere you look. One of the most obvious outward signs of poverty are the squatter settlements. These are basically areas of land, on which people who don't have much have built a place for themselves.

One of the biggest squatter areas in Manila is called Welfareville. It is divided into 45 blocks, and thousands of people live in each block. We had the opportunity to visit Welfareville in June, and it was quite an experience.

There are narrow alleyways running between tiny, dilapidated houses, made out of wood, tin, cardboard and occasionally cement. Most houses have one room on the bottom floor and one room on the top floor. Usually a different family lives on each floor.

On the day we visited, we saw cock fights with dozens of men eagerly clustered around, women scrubbing at clothes out the front of their house, and semi naked children, sent out into the rain by their parents (I assume for a shower). Everyone greeted us with friendly smiles.

We were there to visit the Sunday School of the church which OMF has helped to establish in Welfareville. (OMF also runs various other ministries, including livelihood programs, youth educational scholarships and health programs).

It was great to meet some of the 30 or so Sunday School leaders. Young people from Welfareville themselves, who don't have very much, yet they serve the Lord joyfully and enthusiastically. Encouraging and also challenging.

I did it! I should be on 'Fear Factor'!

Balut.

There's a reason the producers of 'Fear Factor' decided to include this delicacy on the show.

I had to work very hard to detach my mind from thinking about what I was eating. And I came close to failing in that regard which would have certainly resulted in some nasty display from me. Thankfully, I managed to keep that outcome at bay and ate the whole thing!

Here's what it is, from 'Wikipedia' -

"A balut is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell."

Look up some higher resolution pictures to get a better idea of what it looks like! I'm happy to answer questions on this one, not so happy if I somehow, sometime, need to re-live the experience!

Bangkok and Manila

We have just spent 3 weeks in Bangkok, and were really struck by some of the differences between Bangkok and Manila. Here are just a few...

1. Traffic They say traffic in Bangkok is bad, but Manila is honestly 100 times worse. You’re pretty much guaranteed when you go out in Manila to get stuck in traffic. After careful observation, we have deduced that this is primarily the fault of the thousands upon thousands of jeepneys (see picture), as they stop whenever and wherever they like to pick up passengers.

2. Poverty level Now, we didn’t go everywhere in Bangkok, but from what we did see, the poverty in Manila is far more widespread and commonplace than in Bangkok. In Manila, it seems like we see squatter settlements (see photo) every 2-3kms. This didn’t seem to be the case in Bangkok.

3. Language Getting things done in Manila is so much easier, because pretty much everyone speaks at least some English. In Thailand, it’s difficult to find someone who can speak and understand English – more often than not, they expect that you will speak Thai.

4. Food The food in Thailand is amazing! So tasty, so cheap and so readily available! You can pick up an excellent meal at a roadside stall in Bangkok for 25-30 baht (1 Australian dollar). You just don’t get food like that here in Manila.

5. Queuing In Bangkok, people line up in neat, orderly lines, all of their own accord! People don’t push, shove or crowd. Let’s just say, it sure isn’t like that in Manila!

We really enjoyed our time in Bangkok, but it was actually quite nice to arrive “home” on Monday morning!

What is Halo Halo?

This is the coolest dessert I have come across in the Philippines. It's called Halo Halo, which literally translates as Mix Mix.

I actually don't really know what's in it. What I do know is that it has a lot of crushed ice (very good to combat the heat!). The purple ball is ube flavoured ice cream. Ube is some kind of root thing - I'm not really sure. There is some real ube in the picture, it's the really dark purple thing to the right of the ice cream. Other than that, there's some young coconut strips, a few sweet corn kernels, and I don't know what the rest is.

It tastes good though.......

I've heard that it's been used as an analogy for the Filipino culture. That is, neither simply Asian or simply Western, but a mix of both with many different influences from various times. Or that's something like the analogy goes.

I think that we have subjected the experience of trying Halo Halo to everyone who visits us. Maybe I'll be able to introduce it to all you Australians when we get back.

Hope I haven't put you off....... :)

Time, from a Filipino perspective

Well, you may not have realised, but it is Stefan who has written every post on our blog so far. I (Lara) decided it was probably time to change this state of affairs, so - here I am!

Since we've been here, we have noticed that Filipinos do not have the same sense of time as us westerners do. For example, they might say that they'll meet you at 7, but in reality it will probably be 8, 8:30, and that is not a problem for them.

We went to see a movie the other day (Spiderman 3), and noticed another manifestation of this time relaxed-ness. We're sitting in the cinema, and 20 minutes into the movie, there are still people coming in. Not overly unusual, I thought to myself, but figured it would stop pretty soon. Half an hour in, people start to leave. Even though I wasn't overly keen on seeing this movie, I didn't think it was that bad!

Forty five minutes in, people are still trickling in. And, every so often, a group of people leave. This trend continues throughout the movie, even up until about 20 minutes before the movie ends, when a group of about 15 people walk into the cinema, loudly finding seats and squeezing past people. Unbelieveable, I think to myself.

Yet when the movie did end, and most people got up to leave, there were some people staying behind. And that's when I realised. These people that came in 20 minutes before the end of the movie, were going to stay to watch the next session of Spiderman. And I can almost guarantee that they would have left 20 minutes before the end of that session.

You see, time doesn't matter to Filipinos in the same way that it does to us westerners. They wouldn't want to rush whatever it was they were doing before the movie, just to be on time for the session. So, they arrive when they arrive, watch the full movie (even if it's not in chronological order) and leave when they have seen the whole thing. Simple as that!

Inefficiency - a way of life

Last night, Lara and I made probably the most stupid decision to date. We decided to go do some shopping before catching a movie at Mega Mall (the biggest shopping centre around!).

Study the picture - see if you can figure out where all the traffic is going.

Figured it out yet?

The big building is half of Mega Mall, there's an identical one attched to the northern end. On the southern and northern ends of Mega Mall are two carparks and the line of cars in the picture are all going to the southern carpark.

This isn't too weird, not yet. To make it a little stranger, check out the line of cars in the top right corner of the picture. They have been diverted onto the wrong side of the road to meet oncoming traffic and are subsequently forced to turn left down a one way street.

Not that they mind, because the car park is where they're headed. Hold on to your hats, more weird-ness is on the way!

Despite the fact that the car park is full - they had a sign saying so - a traffic controller is still directing traffic into the car park and parking tickets are being issued - P40 flat rate (about AUD$1). Hmmm ...... moving right along......

The most crazy thing about all this is the design of the car park. As far as I could figure out, there was no way to go down levels - only up! We didn't know this at the time so we figured 'head to the roof - there's bound to be spots there!'. We get there only to find a bottle neck, because we can't go down and the only options are to drive around, at a crawl, that is, waiting for a park or pay the ticket and exit!

This whole ordeal (and it really was one) took us more than an hour, in which we drove less than 1km.

We gave up, parked about 500m away and walked to Mega Mall instead.

They say being efficient is not real high on the priority list here in the Philippines - it really has to be seen, or experienced, to be believed!

Black Friday singing

Ok, here's the challenge:

Turn your speakers up to a reasonble volume, start the movie playing at 5:30 in the morning and let it repeat for about 12 hours.

If you do this, you will be all the more able to sympathise with us.

Just down the hill from the OMF guesthouse in Calapan, there is a Catholic grotto. Every year, on Black Friday, people (with the aid of a loudspeaker, of course) sing through the passion of Jesus Christ narrative.

I'm not sure how it works, or how they could possibly keep on singing ALL day. We were told that they don't repeat anything. Who knows?

Either way, the one thing that was definitely repetitive was the tune - I was convinced the next day that I could still hear them singing, not just in my head, but in the grotto down the hill!



But for all the negative impressions I had of what they were doing, there were many questions raised.

Do they sing a sorrowful song (some sections certainly sounded that way)? Is it with heavy hearts that they do this?

Is there joy in their singing? I wish I could have understood them.

Is it a mix of both sorrow and joy? Or maybe they sing because that was what happened last year, because that is the tradition.

One thing is for sure - their committment was real. We could see it, or rather, hear it. In a strange way, I feel rebuked by their committment. Sometimes, it's just too easy to let the days slide by without remembering (and I mean remembering in a purposeful way) what the Cross achieved.

Well, I'm not sure how to end this, and as usual, there are more questions than answers.

For the moment, I'm ok with that.

Fresh from the coconut tree

Now there's not all that much to do in Calapan - it's not really a place where tourists go and the Lonely Planet guide mentions it as cursory information (a stepping stone to other places). One of the things we did do, though, was to go snorkelling off one of the islands nearby. There was a family there for the day who had built a small shelter (see the photo).

They were very friendly, and after climbing one of the coconut trees and getting a few coconuts, they offered to cut them open for us!



I was interested in trying to get one open myself - the guy made it look so easy! So we borrowed his bolo (what we call a machete) and I set to trying to get another coconut open.



I'm sure my attempt was not as pretty and took much longer but I eventually succeeded and was able to taste the fruit of my labour. The next thing I want to learn is how to climb the trees and get the coconuts for myself. But the trees are seriously high and the thought of climbing to the top of one freaks me out! I'll let you know if I ever succeed.....

Crushed at Batangas

It's been a while since our last post - Sorry if you've checked often and not found anything new. I received some advice that I need to write more often. So here goes....

Last week, Easter, is known as 'holy week' here in the Philippines. Mike and Kara Wong were able to visit us for more than a week, which was an awesome blessing. We figured that we would travel to the OMF guesthouse in Calapan to relax and enjoy their hospitality. The only problem with this idea was that 'holy week' is the time for everyone to travel out of Manila and go somewhere else.

I wish we had taken a picture! To go pretty much anywhere by boat, you need to leave from Batangas. To get into the terminal waiting area, there is one door before the security check. Before the door are all the counters where you buy the tickets. I've never seen that room so crowded before. Actually, I'm not sure I've been in anything that crowded.

The whole room was filled with people, all trying to get through that one door. Some people were cutting across the door in order to buy the terminal entrance ticket (a boat ticket is not enough to get in, you need a terminal ticket as well!). Anyway, I'm carrying our bag with all our stuff in front of me, my arm cramping beacuse there's not enough room to put the bag down, pretty much leaning on Kara in front of me, all the while trying keep my balance and not fall over.

I saw the head of a young boy - couldn't see the rest of him - at about waist height. He looked as if he was just being carried along wherever the people around him went. I imagine it would have been quite a scary experience.

Well, we got through and just made it for our 7:15am boat ride.

Something from KL

I went to a butterfly park while I was in Kuala Lumpur. It was on one of the days we had off where we got a good chance to explore various things around the city. A great big enclosure with heaps of butterflies flying around. It was quite dangerous actually - for the butterflies, that is. They would land on the path (to rest or something) where the people were walking. I think you can think of some of the consequences for the butterflies.

As we exited from the park, it turned into more of an insect exhibition and it was here that I came across this bug/beetle that I just had to get a photo of.

What can you see?

How about upside down?

Strange Things

So I was down south in a place called Puerto Galera during our mid-term holiday with Lara and a few friends. The particular area we stayed in was called Small La Laguna.

Walking down a little alley one day, lined with shops filled with Filipino and other foreign items, we turn into a store with international items.

Then I see something that reminds me of home .....

Yes, that's right, not one, not two, not even three, but four Australian beers! And not only that, Mersey Valley cheese as well, among other things. Cheeses aren't very common here. In fact, it's almost impossible to find good quality cheese anywhere.

Anyway, I was suitably impressed and thought I'd share it with you.

Random photos

I couldn't think of a way to insert these pictures into the existing posts so I thought a new post, consisting only of photos would be nice.

The photo on the left shows part of the OMF Mission home in Calapan on the island of Mindoro. We stayed there for a weekend while visiting a 20th anniversary of a church started by one of the OMF'ers.

This photo was taken at a nice little 'restaurant' while we were visiting Intramuros, a town surrounded by stone walls. Visiting there was part of our historical education.

Anyway, this restaurant served the food wrapped in banana leaves. We were suitably impressed, having been in the Philippines for less than a week.

I think I recall trying some intestines. It turned out to be quite nice, albeit with some crunchy tough bits. I was later told that ordering food with intestines can be very dicey at times because of the kinds of diseases that can be transmitted. I'm still alive. So that's a good thing.

This is a view from our balcony. We are on the third floor of an apartment block (commonly simply called 'The Condos') surrounded by green-ness, overlooking a golf course.

It's a strange place, because it feels so far removed from the rest of what Manila is like. We only have to drive two minutes down the road and there are roads which are busy 24 hours a day, shops lining the streets only to be broken up by the squatter settlements resided in by the urban poor.

It is a nice place, with a nice pool, for which we will be very thankful when the hot season comes. It's hard to believe that we're not in it already!

The last photo shows that some good does come out of lots of pollution - awesome sunsets! The colours are really striking. For you Australians reading this, the colour of the sun every day is like that when there are far too many bush fires creating too much smoke. The sun shines through and it's a brilliant red. Thats what we see every day. Already we've taken too many photos, trying to capture it perfectly. But our camera just can't do it justice. So you will all have to settle for second best. Unless you come over here, then we can show you personally - any takers? :)

Beer, here, from an Australian POV

From the outset, let me say that I am not an expert on this topic and am still learning more.

Being an Australian, who likes the occasional beer, I was most impressed that beer in the Philippines is actually quite cheap. I happened to mention this interesting fact to some of people I work with and what followed was an interesting insight into more of the Filipino culture.

Bisyo. It's a Tagalog word that is commonly associated with alcohol. It's roots are in Spanish and it can be translated as 'vice'. That's how the people here see alcohol - as a vice.

However, from what little I have seen so far, the place where it is drunk plays an important part in determining whether it is 'bisyo' or not. For example, we went out last Saturday night to a fairly nice area where people were drinking beer with their meal.

Is this an example of 'bisyo'? Or is it socially appropriate?

Having one beer with a group of people down the road. Is it 'bisyo'? Or a way to mingle and converse with the local Filipinos?

Drinking a beer in the heat of the afternoon because I like the taste. 'Bisyo'? Or acceptable? Or maybe our house-helper (another topic to write about, actually) will see the empty bottles and her impression of me will become tainted?

There are many questions and not many answers.....yet. However, I am leaning towards not drinking alcohol so that I may be 'above reproach'.

Ist entry, one week in.....

Before anything else, our apologies for both the delay in which this first post has arrived and the lack of photos included. We really want to include photos because they would be able to explain, more than words could, the sights we are coming across. Stefan forgot to bring the cable to transfer the photos from camera to computer. But never fear, that is coming along soon.

We don't want this blog to be a daily review of what we are doing each day. Most days from now on will be teaching, so much the same things each day. But, being a different country, with different people and cultures, there are a few things which will, on occasion, pique our interest and curiousity. These things we will write about.

The first thing that we have noticed is the disparity between rich and poor. We've always heard about it but witnessing it first hand is something different. On one of the main roads here (another thing we could write about!) there is a, what looks to be, brand new car dealership. Walk down the road 100m and there is a squatter settlement some 200m square.

The interesting thing is that, up to this point, we have not seen anyone seriously malnourished, lacking adequate clothing, etc. Some of the Filpinos we have met live in these settlements and that fact certainly flipped us out. So we can't understand it - what we see is simply so different to anything we're used to that we haven't got any answers.

Before this gets too long, we're better stop and be off to bed. After all, it is past 9 o'clock! Good night to all, hopefully the next post will come complete with photos.

much love,

Stefan and Lara

P.S. We wake up at 5:30am as school starts at 7am