How Tough Are You?

I've met some resilient people in the Philippines -- people who survive against what most of us in America would consider incredible odds.  I think they put us to shame when I consider all that we have and how much we complain.  They do it with a smile.

Merlym Tajo

I came to the Philippines with a specific mission.  Although I don't feel like I accomplished all that I set out to do, I am coming back home with an armload of information and ideas.  But like my first visit to the Philippines last February, it has been the side trips which are providing the real story.  Here is a story aimed at the high school students.  So if you're an adult reading this, please be certain to share it with any of the young people you know.

I want you to meet Merlym Tajo.  She is 16 and has one and a half more years to complete in high school.  But unlike most of the high school students I know back in the U.S., Merlym has a little different situation to deal with in completing her education.  Her home is tucked back in the hills somewhere -- I never had the chance to visit her home -- one of the many things on my to-do list which never came to be.  No one makes her go to school.  No one expects her to go to school. But she goes every day.  In order to get to her high school, she has to walk a little over three kilometers (two miles).  But the trail to her school runs up into the mountains through the jungle overgrowth.  There are some roads she could walk but it would triple the distance she would have to travel.  The roads are narrow and extremely dangerous.   There are no school buses.  No mom or dad or older brother with a car to drop her off and pick her up at school.  She makes the trek every day, regardless of the weather.  I've walked in some of those jungle areas and can assure you that you don't really want to be there when it's raining.  It becomes muddy and slippery very fast, it's hot and the humidity reaches 100 percent, the mosquitoes and other insects seem to come out in full force.  I'll say it again -- you really don't want to be there.  Yet, Merlym pushes herself every day, never missing school, never late to class.

The jungle path to Merlym's house.

What is her motivation?  Why does she continue on, day after day?  What makes her "tick"?  She has a goal.  She is determined to go to Bible college after she graduates from high school.  She is already in the process of taking over teaching all of the children's Sunday school classes and she is a leader among the youth of the church.  She is committed at all costs to the work of teaching others about her faith and her love of her Lord.  Don't let the  photo at the beginning of this article fool you.  The sweet looking girl dressed in blue and pink is tough and tenacious -- both physically and mentally.

So my question for any high schooler in the U.S. who might be reading this . . . how tough are you?  Do you have what it takes to possess this level of commitment?  No one expects you to move into a bamboo hut deep in the jungle.  No one is asking you to reject a ride from a friend or family member on your way to school or youth group.  But when you look at the things you have, the opportunities which are so readily available to you, are you going to complain about how difficult your life is?  Or will you step up to the challenges which are in front of you and tackle them with a sense of urgency and purpose?  I hope you chose the latter.  I hope that Merlym can serve as an example for you, to give you inspiration and courage as you face the life ahead of you.

A candid moment reveals some of Merlym's toughness.

One more thing.  Merlym hasn't a clue about where she will get the financial resources for college.  Her family doesn't have the ability to send her.  The church doesn't bring in enough offering each week to pay for its own expenses, let alone support a college student.  Now her schooling is nowhere near as costly as it would be in America.   Fifty dollars a month will send her to a Bible college in Cebu, covering all of her expenses: room, board, books, and tuition.  It wouldn't include any "spending" money, but most of the youth in the Philippines don't know what spending money is anyway.  Here's a thought . . .maybe one of the youth reading this will accept the challenge of raising support for Merlym to go to college.  It isn't a huge amount, and you have over a year to do it in.  What do you think?  Any takers?

Where In The World Is Datag? (Part 2)

I've looked on the best maps I can find -- but I still can not find Datag.  When I do a Google search I come up with a place on Bohol called Datag, but it is not the same location -- it is too far east from where we were.  We had traveled from Carmen into Sierra Bullones, which is to the west, and then up into the mountains from there.  I will try to get some better directions from Pastor David and see if I can actually pinpoint the location.

Novie at the entrance to  Datag Christian Church

So I left off telling about my arrival in Datag (DAH-tag) and how there were several children waiting to meet me.  Actually, it turned out that there was a total of 81 children gathered to meet Pastor David and myself.  There were probably 20 parents there as well. I was impressed.  Not because so many had gathered, but because this little church was holding itself together without the benefit of any "assigned" pastor.  The elders were leading worship services on Sundays as well as Bible studies during the week.  I was told that the list of 81 children was not complete . . . there were others who were unable to meet with us that day.  This was a very large church considering that the town was small and the church building even smaller. We have Sunday school rooms in American that are bigger than this church building.

Some of the children awaiting our arrival.

Novie and Sanny led the children in some songs, with David playing the guitar.  It was a mix of English and Bisaya -- I am picking up on the dialects a little . . . I heard a lot of Boholano "country-folk" pronunciations.  Then I was given a chance to talk for a while with David doing a running translation for me.  I'm not sure what they expected, but I did my best to tell some encouraging stories.  Afterward was a meal that the women of the church had prepared.  I was a little surprised at that.  These are extremely poor people.  Their primary means of subsistence are the vegetables they grow in little garden patches.  Even the church had beds of green onions growing.  They either use the vegetables for their own meals or they take them to into Sierra Bullones to sell.  One man told of his trip down the mountain -- about three hours walking from his place in Datag -- to sell some beans.  He was able to sell them for 150 pesos . . . which is about $3.75.  He bought some rice and a few other items they needed and then returned home . . . about four hours walking, as it is all up hill.  This was his income for his family for the week.  While most of the meal consisted of vegetables, there was some meat also -- pork and chicken -- which surprised me a little as well, as meat is very expensive for them.  I tried to slip some money to Novie for her to give to the woman in charge of meal preparation . . . the woman declined gracefully.  I left the money under my plate.

The children are very eager to sing and worship.

After our meal I sat down among the children and tried to engage in some conversation.  As is typical with Filipino children, they are shy and very reluctant to try their English around a real "kano".  But there are always a few bolder ones who take up the role of "go-between".  I've found that it is easier to get them to help me learn some of their dialect than it is for me to try teaching them English.  They all laugh at the funny sounding American and enjoy correcting his poor pronunciation.  We compared some similarities between Spanish and Bisaya - numbers, sapatos (shoes), la mesa (table) and so on.  It was a fun time and a good ice breaker.  I am sure I will be greeted warmly the next time I visit.

Soon it was time to go.  Junel had gotten the other motorcycle repaired and had joined us just in time for the meal.  David promised to take me on an alternative route -- it would take longer but would not require any walking.  That sounded good to me.  The roads were still unimproved, and there were many muddy places where we "slogged" through but nothing that required any walking.  After about an hour we intersected with a paved road.  Ah, civilization!  The remainder of the trip was uneventful and we arrived safely in Carmen several hours after beginning our ride home.  It was still better than walking.

Datag is one of those places that I will always remember.  I'm not sure how or when or why, but I know that I will return there again.

Where In The World Is Datag? (Part 1)

Datag -- if you've ever wanted to get far away from the crowds, than this is the place.  I'm sure there are more remote places in the world than Datag, but on the island of Bohol this is probably about as remote as you can get.  We were going to visit a small church there and meet with the some of the parents and children.

It doesn't look bad here, but this is the "road" we
traveled on to reach Datag. It becomes much steeper.

We left Carmen early Saturday morning.  I had been warned that the road to Datag was rough.  My host family from Ubay was trying very hard to discourage me from going due not only to road conditions, but also  because the area around Datag has been home to some unsavory people.  My travel companions, one whom  has been a member of the police auxiliary and also police chaplain, assured me that there was no danger.  So, we started out.  Two motorcycles with five travelers.  There was myself and Pastor David on one and Pastor Junel, Novelinda and Sanny on the second.  Please understand - I weigh more than Novie and Sanny combined, so the second motorcycle was far better off than the one I was on.  The first hour was uneventful, but finally we reached the place where the ride started to become difficult.  We passed a walking trail that headed off into the jungle.  David explained that it was used by the people in that area as a shortcut when traveling on foot.  I noted that it was probably a  nice path on a bright sunny day, but if the weather turned wet or once nightfall came, it would not be a very good trail to travel on.

Pastor David waiting near the trail at the first shelter for
his wife Sanny and her sister Novelinda.

David and I ended up ahead of the others by five minutes or so.  The incline was such that I had to get off and walk.  David went ahead and I caught up with him at the next level section of the trail (I'd never call it a road).  We waited for the others.  We waited a little more.  Finally David headed back down to see what was keeping them.  And there I was, standing in the middle of I-don't-know-where all alone and realizing that this was a rather uncomfortable setting.  I checked my cellphone -- I had one "bar" -- more than I'd expected to have.  About ten minutes later David returned.  The other motorcycle had a flat tire.  Junel was pushing it back to the nearest "vulcanization" shop while Novie and Sanny were taking the shortcut on foot.  So David and I started back up the path to where there was a shelter for the walking trail.  Several times during the trip to meet the others I had to get off because the incline was too great for the motorcycle to handle.  Finally we reached the first shelter.  We waited.  And we waited.  My cellphone chimed -- it was Novie -- they were already at the second shelter.  It had taken us so long to get up the path with the motorcycle, they had actually gotten ahead of us.

We continued our little game of walking and riding, and eventually we caught up to them.  I've posted those photos of the Filipino family with four or five people riding on a motorcycle.  Well that was now our situation.  While the road was "level", we loaded all four of us onto the bike - David driving, then me, then Novie -- Sanny sat side saddle on the gas tank.  For me, this was truly a unique experience. For the others, this was just another typical trip to Datag.  David had made this trip two times a week for over a year when he was doing an outreach program in the remote village.  Sanny and Novie also traveled there repeatedly during that same year.

The church at Datag.  It's only a little longer than its width.

So we continued on our journey. Walking and riding, walking and riding.  We reached the edge of Datag and were greeted by a shout from up on top of a hill.  You've seen those bamboo military-looking outposts on the old war movies and such.  That's where the shout came from.  I saw the men.  It looked like they had guns.  Yes, they did have guns.  Oh . . . interesting . . . is all I could think of to say.  It turns out that it actually was a military outpost.  David knew several of the men, and after a brief conversation we continued on down the road.  Once inside the village, the road turned to real concrete and it almost seemed like any other small town in the Philippines.  After several hours, we'd finally arrived in Datag.  I'm not sure of the actual driving distance, but I don't think it was more than 8 or 9 kilometers.  A short distance down the road we pulled up at the entry to the church and parked our one motorcycle along the edge of the road.  From the doorway of the church I could see curious children peering out at us.  Lots of children.  I'm not sure how the building was holding them all as it was just a tiny building.  They were ready for us.  

 Was I ready for them?

Closing Things Down

Today is my last full day in Ubay.  The church here that is associated with Icthus Christian Academy is celebrating its 28th anniversary today.  There will be a big fiesta with a roasted pig and everything else.  The school is closed as the celebration involves everyone. Also, much of the school's facilities will be used during the fiesta, so it is just not practical to have classes.  This will be a nice opportunity for me to mingle with the locals who will come to join in the celebration.  There will also be several pastors from churches throughout Bohol who will also be in attendance.  In all, it should be a promising event for me to meet and greet representatives from many of Bohol's churches.

One of the nicer restaurants in Ubay.

I walked the market today, probably for the last time this trip.  I've been there enough that I don't get as many awkward stares and "Hi Joe" comments.  Instead, I have people greeting me as someone they know -- even if they can't remember how to say my name.  I watched a game of checkers -- a little different than what we play, as it is played on a diagonal rather than on a standard checkerboard.  I had bought some cardboard boxes yesterday to store some extra clothes and supplies in -- things I won't be taking back to the US.  I had asked a lady where I might find some boxes and she directed me there. I saw her today and she immediately asked if I had found some boxes to use.  I can't say that I feel at home, as this is still very foreign in so many ways; but in a way, I do feel at home.

Teachers of ICA working on one of my assignments.

My comfort level with at least the town of Ubay has increased dramatically over the past week.  It seems wrong somehow to be leaving now that I have just become comfortable with the community.  Oh, there is much more to learn, I won't pretend to be any sort of expert.  But I would feel confident taking visitors around and getting them settled in for a short stay. I've visited a couple other hotels and pension houses in the area.  Only one has hot water showers -- and those rooms are up four flights of stairs, so that is one thing that would need to be taken into consideration when having visitors spend time here.  I know of several good restaurants as well as several . . . how can I say this tactfully . . . several "unique" restaurants which provide a variety of meals.  There is a hamburger place I want to visit today at lunch -- I've seen it several times in my walks but was always had some other objective in mind when I passed by.  I will give a report on that -- it isn't McDonalds or even Jolibees . . . I'll take a few pictures to explain.

So yes, I feel a little sad about leaving here.  I do have a few days in Carmen and Sierra Bullones to look forward to on my way back to Manila.  But Ubay has gained a special place in my heart.  Although it has a very rough exterior appearance, it is truly an enjoyable place to visit.  My itinerary on the way out includes the two nights in Carmen (with a side-trip to an out-of-the-way community), one night in Tagbilaran, leaving that next morning on a ZestAir flight to Manila.  Two nights in Manila (where I will do some gift shopping for family) and then catch my flight back to the US early on Wednesday morning.  My flight is scheduled to arrive mid-day on Thursday Dec 6th.

I still haven't captured the scene correctly, but this is a
little motorcycle repair shop across the street from ICA

I'm looking forward to coming home -- don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise.  I've missed my family and the familiar things of home.  I won't miss the mosquitoes but they will miss me, I'm sure.  I'm not looking forward to the colder weather -- although it is certainly hot and humid here, I feel comfortable with that. The prospects of shoveling snow over the next few months is not one I look forward to.  I've learned a lot here and will need some time to process my observations.  Some ideas have changed, some have been reinforced.  New ideas have presented themselves.  In all, it was an excellent fact finding opportunity and I have a good perspective on future assignments.

Iwill be out of internet service while in Carmen, so this will be my last post for several days.  I will be back online Sunday night (here -- very early Sunday morning in the US) and will update everyone on my status.

Until then - please continue to pray for travel safety and good weather for my return to the US.

Salamat


Scott

Be Careful Of What You Say (Part 2)

I had not intended on a second volume to my last post, but there were a few more encounters that are just begging for discussion.  Now let me just clear something up from the beginning: not all communication here is a problem.  For instance, I had the opportunity to introduce the students here at Icthus Christian Academy to a new game.  Well, it's a new game to them -- actually it's been around for centuries.  The game is Nine Men Morris which hails from Medieval history and likely as far back as the Vikings.  I had made up a simple board using some poster board-like material and used some plastic bottle caps as the playing pieces.  I taught it to the faculty a few days earlier but had never gotten around to teaching any of the students.  I had a little time in between lunch and my next appointment and so I brought the game out to where some students were sitting and relaxing. I told them that I would teach them a new game and they all gathered around to see what I had to offer.  Now this is a simple game without too many rules, and most people can figure it out before ever finishing their first try.  These kids learned quick.  I don't think I was into the third or fourth move when they all started giving advice to my opponent.  I was pleased.  I think they were too -- even the security guard came over and started offering advice.  All in all, it was a good spontaneous activity and I think the students will probably continue to play the game long after I leave.

Nine Men Morris

One of the teachers is getting ready to start on her masters thesis.  She asked if I would look over some of her ideas and give my thoughts about what she is planning.  Now it's been a long time since I was in graduate school, so before I sat down with her I looked online to see if I could find any guidelines for graduate writing in the Philippines.  It didn't look much different than what I had done -- perhaps a little less controlling than American graduate school writing regarding format and such, but the requirements for the content seemed roughly the same.  Anyway, I had a very good discussion with her and I think that we understood each other.  I offered to proof read her writing when she gets to that point and she seemed eager to have me do that.  I look forward to reading her project.

So you see, not all communication there has problems.  Oh . . . I went to the barber shop today.  Before I came to the Philippines I had my hair cut fairly short, as I was anticipating hot and humid weather, exactly like what we have been having.  I don't know how the Filipino women do it, as many of them have very long hair -- it must be incredibly hot in the middle of the day.  Anyway -- the haircut was only going to be P40 ($1.00) so I hopped into the chair and described what I wanted done.  A couple of other barbers were listening in and nodded their heads in understanding.  My barber grabbed the appropriate gauge of guides for on his clippers and went to work . . .

The snarky Tony Bourdain getting his hair cut in Cambodia.

So, there's this No Reservations episode on the Travel Channel, where the host, Anthony Bourdain, is in Cambodia.  Somewhere along the line he decides to get a haircut at one of those street-side barber shops.  Well, it didn't take but a few seconds for Tony to realize that the barber had not truly understood  the instructions he had been given.  Too late.  The host was obviously unhappy -- the only thing left to do was to try to make it look neat.  Now we're talking about a television personality, whose looks, whose image, is considered critical to their show's ratings.  They even have it in their contract that they will maintain a certain hair style and so on.

 . . . and within seconds, I knew he had not truly understood the instructions he had been given.  Too late.  And much like my television counterpart, all that was left to do was to try to make it look neat.  Now I do not have a contract about my appearance, but I know when I go into school tomorrow I will have some explaining to do.  There will be laughs and giggles from the teachers.  Nemesio will probably be angry and want to go get my money back (I won't let him).  The students will probably neither notice nor care.  The lesson learned is that even though you think you have reached an understanding, it doesn't mean that you did.

All I can say is, "two out of three ain't bad."

Be Careful Of What You Say

The little darling sound asleep.

The dog whined and barked and whimpered all night long.  And I do mean ALL night long.  They had it in a kennel out on the porch.  I saw it there the day before, so I knew exactly where the little fellow was when I heard him that night.  In the US, some might consider keeping him caged like that as cruel and neglectful.  I don't know why they caged him, but I assume that it was a new puppy and they didn't trust it not to run out into the street.  I'm not going to get into an animal cruelty discussion here -- I already had a heated discussion over that on Facebook last week -- that was enough.  Anyway, I didn't get much sleep and when I got up on Sunday morning I must have looked terrible, as my host family told me I should go back to bed.  The funny thing is, when I got back to the hotel, I could see that little dog in his kennel - fast asleep.   Oh well.  That's how my day started.  I grabbed a few hours of sleep before hearing the pup once again start its whining and such.  It was time to get out and do something anyway.

So one of the lessons I've learned here in the Philippines is to be mindful of what you say to people.  I had one experience when I was here in February that should have served as a warning, but I didn't get the message.  I won't go into details, but I had mentioned that I was thinking about doing something, some "project" for one of the churches here.  I have news for you . . . to say that you're thinking about doing something is the same as saying you're going to do it. Now I'm fortunate that my host family understands this phenomenon and is able to figure out when I'm thinking about something versus when I am actually planning on doing something.

Haggling over the price of eel at the market in Carmen.

Communication here is a little peculiar too. I'm still struggling with how communication works here.  I'm trying to decide if it's just the personalities of the people I've been dealing with or is this a cultural characteristic.  Let me just put it this way . . . interpersonal communication here stinks.  I'd blame it on a language barrier, but most of the people here have a decent command of the English language, so I don't think that's the issue.  More likely it's some cultural norm about sharing information. I always feel like I don't have quite all of the story.  There's either a "back" story that I'm missing in the discussion (and it's assumed that I already know it) or it's a control issue and I'm being kept in the dark on purpose.  It's not like someone is trying to do harm or anything -- they just aren't being clear in communicating plans and ideas.

Now I'll be the first to acknowledge that I need to be checking my own communication skills.  Maybe I'm not listening.  But I did spend two years of graduate school in speech communication and I taught interpersonal communication for several semesters as a graduate teaching assistant.  So it's not like I am unaware of how to communicate.  No, I genuinely think something is amiss, but I can't exactly identify the problem. Suffice it to say that this is one of my "projects" when I get home -- to have some discussions with people who are more experienced than I am in cross-cultural communication.

This isn't just a mild aggravation.  It has actually impacted some of my primary activities here.  I won't go in to detail at this point, but the failure to share information has caused some aspects of my assignment to fall short of the mark.  I'm chalking this up to experience.  As much as I have intended this visit to be about accomplishing some specific tasks, it has also always been an opportunity to learn more about the people here and their needs.  Just like it's been valuable to learn that there are only three towns in all of Bohol where I can get money from an ATM, it's been equally important to learn about interacting with people here and trying to understand their quirks and cultural mores.

Unlike with the dog from the story above, I haven't lost any sleep over it; however, I am hugely aware of the necessity for clear communication -- never assuming anything and being terribly explicit in my conversations has become standard practice.  Every day is a learning opportunity.  Just like last night, when I happened to bump into the owner of the hotel.  He asked how I was doing and if I was enjoying my stay.  I could have complained about the cold water "shower", but that's just part of the culture here and is not likely to change any time soon. I told him that I have been very comfortable, which is essentially the truth.  I did joke about the dog keeping me up all night.  We both laughed about it, and I acknowledged to him that it was surely not the hotel's fault.  Strangely enough, the night has been very quiet.  I haven't heard a single noise coming from the house across the street.  Was it something I said?

A Little Christmas

Christmas decorations at J&N Lodge

I think it's like anywhere that Christmas is celebrated -- some people put out a few token decorations while others go "all-out" in adorning their home or business.  I was up at 6:00 AM and out the door to the market within 15 minutes.  I stopped at the hotel canteen on the way out and grabbed a cup of 3-in-1 coffee.  Now for my fellow Americans who don't tolerate instant coffee, I have to tell you that this stuff is not that bad.  It reminds me of the so-called international instant coffees that used to come in a small tin and cost a fortune.  My cup of  "joe" cost P5 ($0.13) and is satisfying enough to get me started.  Anyway, I noted that the hotel had decorated a little more than Peter's Restaurant and used some interesting ornaments so I snapped a few pictures.  Then I was off to the market to see what there was to see.

Aggressive sales lady turned shy as soon as my
 camera came out.

Saturdays are busier than most days for the same reasons as in America: schools are closed, offices are usually closed and so on.  Being that I was there real early, I think I avoided the larger crowds of people.  Being the only foreigner around (I don't  think Ubay gets too  many foreign visitors just because of it's off-the-beaten-trail location), I was greeted eagerly by nearly every stall owner in the market.  They would point to something (usually an expensive 'something' I noted after a while) and encourage me to buy.  Now what am I going to do with a fresh pig's head in my hotel room -- really!  Of course I was always as polite as I could be as I brushed off their offers.  One lady tried to sell me some t-shirts.  They were nice t-shirts and she promised me that they had sizes that would fit me.  I had this experience before -- 3XL does not mean American 3XL and all this woman had to offer was XL . . . I allowed her to try, but as I held the shirt up to my chest it was obvious to all of the onlookers (half a dozen at least) that there was no way that shirt would fit.  I smiled, said "thank you" and started to move on. I felt bad as the woman really did try hard to find a shirt that would fit me.  Then I noticed some Christmas decorations.  I decided to let her show me some of those as well.  There were some interesting ones, but the one that caught my eye the most was actually just made out of plastic drinking straws and a length of garland.  For P35 ($0.87) I couldn't refuse.  I told her that it would cost her -- she had to let me take her picture.  Immediately the somewhat pushy sales woman turned into a shy little girl. I snapped my pictures as she placed my ornament in a plastic bag (everything gets put in a plastic bag, regardless of whether it needs it or not).  She quickly recovered her composure and offered to sell me a Christmas tree.  When I declined, she turned and pointed to her two companions sitting nearby and informed me that they both needed boyfriends.  I wished them good luck in their search and  moved on.

Selection of dried fish at Ubay market.

One of the more popular items in the Philippines is dried fish.  They are generally salted to preserve them, although I don't know how long they last before going bad.  I've had dried fish several times now, and as someone who really enjoys seafood I can appreciate their flavor -- albeit quite salty.  You wouldn't want to eat too much of these dried fish, but as a supplement and source of some protein, they would be fine.  And of course, as I pulled out my camera, the saleswoman immediately became shy and started babbling on to her coworker something that I didn't understand, but I assume was a complaint about tourists with cameras.  I snapped some pictures anyway.  I didn't buy any fish, so maybe that was a part of her complaint as well.  I thanked her and moved on.  I enjoyed a second cup of 3-in-1 at Peter's Restaurant and watched as people piled on and off of buses, Jeepneys and E-vans.  The town was truly coming to life, and as much as I wanted to hang around and observe, I knew I needed to get back "home" and do some writing.

I stopped at my little favorite eatery for a little breakfast: a couple little pieces of pork, a cup of rice and a glass of filtered water. I had some good conversation with the owner and her family while finishing my meal.  I paid for my meal (P15 - $0.45) and returned to the hotel.  I'm not sure what the rest of today (Saturday) will hold for me.  My only scheduled event is dinner at 6:30 with my "host" family.  I will have to close up my laptop and go find some lunch in a few hours, so who knows what I will discover. I do think I will try to find someplace different for lunch -- and maybe I'll find a few more camera-shy Filipinos to take some photos of to share with my readers.

Until then.