I have had long days in my existence, days that I probably should have cut in half by sleeping for a few hours or sitting down for five minutes… today was not one of those days. Julian and I had a great day with the assistance of the FGP employees. The day began at 5 a.m. with sweet and sour fish and coffee for breakfast. We needed to take a Jeepney to the town of Allen and then head to Victoria via tricycle… with our travel companion, Am. It was about an hour and a half ride, which was not short on entertainment. First of all, the Jeepneys are not meant for people over 5’ 8” and Julian is probably 6’ 2”, so while I am quite uncomfortable in a Jeepney, I could not get over how hunched over Julian was the whole ride. I will skip to the good stuff, because this is going to be a long post.
We arrived at the Victoria Branch to open arms and, of course, smiles. They were all very nice people and all stayed at the Branch every night. One item to note, the atmosphere at NSCAP is one of camaraderie and friendship. It is almost like the workers were friends’ first and then co-workers second. They all stay in the same living quarters and see each other every day, all day, and don’t seem to mind it the least... quite spectacular. They enjoy having guests and at Victoria Branch they scheduled a “day of fun” for Julian and me. And fun it was.
First, Julian and I boarded a boat that took us to the island of San Antonio. The boat ride was on the same type of boat that we were on before on the way to Biri Island and was a very pleasant ride. We arrived at the island and there were many people waiting on shore (not for us, but waiting for something, I would assume). The tone of the island was a bit different from the rest of Philippines because the people waiting on shore, males, did not have the warm, open look on their faces (but by no means disgustful) that the rest of the Philippines has. I have a theory why: First, the island of San Antonio is a resort island and typically the persons that come to the island that are foreigners on vacation. The foreigners that typically come to the island, I can only assume, do not pay the same respect to the locals that they deserve, but rather just come and spend money and sit on the resorts all day… not meaning to be disrespectful, but some people may take offense to this “invasionism”.
Like I stated before, San Antonio is a resort town and this was to be where Julian, Bembooy and I were to spend our weekend, at a resort. I believe I have already stated that I was a bit weary of going to stay at a resort, but my feelings were confirmed right when we stepped onto the resort. It was extremely nice, don’t get me wrong, but that was part of the problem. Julian agreed (in a discussion later), that this was not the purpose of our trip. The resort had a very nice beach and cabanas (air conditioned). It had a staff waiting on you and all of the amenities that you would expect at a beach resort. Within about 10 seconds I had made up my mind that maybe this was not the best way to spend one of my weekends trying to alleviate poverty… I do not regret my decision one bit (although it would have been nice to sit on the beach for a bit… but I can do that in Catarman, or anywhere on the island). I am very happy that the thought of Julian and I staying there was in the plans and appreciate that Mme Juneth wanted us to see a resort while we were here, but in the long run, I think we would have been cheating ourselves if we decided to take the offer.
Next, we went to a Center Meeting and learned the most at a Center Meeting that I had learned yet. I finally opened up and asked the right questions, such as, “What would you like to see offered by FGP?” It was extremely rewarding and I learned what the clients of FGP truly want out of the program. After the meeting, we continued back to the Branch and thought we had the remainder of the day to rest and take it easy… again… wrong. We got back to the Branch and we had another adventure in store.
Some of the Loan Officers had already returned from their morning meetings and had the day planned for us. The ringleader, Abba, told me and Julian to get ready because we were going to get some “boku”, or baby coconuts. I thought that just meant we were going to the market and were going to pick up a couple to eat for the day… you guessed it, I was wrong.
We boarded the tiny boats in the same fashion as we board tricycles and habal-habals (dirt bikes), with way more people than there are seats for. Abba, who I dubbed in my mind as my Filipino Maria, was our tour guide to the remote residence where we were going to get boku. For those of you that don’t know Maria, she is a spark plug, full of energy and extremely nice, all of the time, Abba was exactly the same. She was also about the same size as Maria and had the same look to her… anyways; I thought it was kind of funny. We got to the remote residence and watched one of the guys climb the coconut tree to claim our prize… he climbed it barefoot and it was very impressive.
We ate baby coconut, which isn’t as sad as I thought it was going to be (if you don’t get it, that was a joke). The juice of the coconut (or milk) is very good for the kidneys and I had a swig, it was sweet and I can already feel the difference! There were a couple of kids there that were very interested in the size of Julian and me, but when I would approach one, they would scamper away and then come back when we weren’t looking. Eventually, they warmed up to me and I gave one of the kids my sunglasses to wear for a bit, it was a highlight.
Post-boku we went back to the branch and prepared for our next endeavor. We were going to a client’s site to see what they were using their loan for (a standard process for new loans). This client had a fish and crab farm, which she used the loan to purchase baby crabs to put into the farm. It sounded very exciting and, as they say, half of the excitement is getting there! Whoever “they” are, they are typically correct. We boarded a tricycle (a motorcycle with a side car) to get to San Isidro.
Did I mention that the entire Branch (and then some) went to the meeting? I don’t think I did. We fit 10 people onto the tricycle (which “comfortably” seats 3). We had three people in the sidecar, three people on the back seat of the motorbike (not including the driver), two people on top of the sidecar and one person hanging of the back. It was impressive to say the least. When we arrived at San Isidro, I asked one of the Loan Officers if that was some sort of record (it had to be!), he hesitated to answer and then pointed at a tricycle and said, “No”. The tricycle heading towards us was filled with school children. Based on my estimate, there had to be at least 13 people on the tricycle. There were three children on top and two children hanging off of the back, three on the back seat, the driver and at least four in the sidecar… I was no longer impressed with our feat, but wanted to recruit four more people to our efforts just to say we held the record… we had bigger fish to fry though.
We arrived at the entrance of the client’s business to see my worst nightmare. There was a pen of about eight roosters all lined up next to eachother (I definitely got a picture). As near as I can tell, roosters pretty much feed off of eachother. When one crows, another crows to show off for the hens. So, since these roosters were in such close proximity of each other, I could hardly imagine that they were doing a “round” every morning to wake up the locals. I kept my distance and prayed for sweet dreams that night.
We went to the client’s business via a bamboo raft. The bamboo raft was one of those rafts that you might see Huckleberry Finn riding on. There were no seats however, and you had to stand while the driver pushed a long bamboo stick into the ground to propel us. It was a balancing act and, since Julian and I had cameras in our pockets, was a bit nerve-wracking. I gained my steady and actually had enough balance (which, if you know me, is quite impressive that I had any) to become the assistant driver. Once we reached the other side of the “pond” and we trekked along man-made “dams” between the river and the fish farms. The dams are about three feet wide and three feet above the water with random palm trees that have to be maneuvered during the trek. This walk was at least a kilometer and half, but was well worth it. At the end we got to watch the client’s husband fish for crabs and one of the client’s children took a liking to my camera and me. I would like to say it was just me, but I think he was definitely more intrigued by my camera. He wanted me to take a picture of everything… so many pictures that my battery died halfway through the journey, but I still got a lot of pictures. On the way back, the kid tried to teach me some tagalo, but I am not sure that I retained any of it. I humored him and repeated everything that he said, I think he enjoyed it and it took my mind off of potentially falling into the river.
The next part of the journey was back to the Branch for a rest, so I thought. There had been mention of going to the beach, but since it was dark at this point, I was pretty sure that we weren’t going to the beach (I gotta stop doing that… thinking). We arrived back at the branch and within 5 minutes the Loan Officers and Branch Manager were ready to go again… to the beach! It was another 10-person tricycle ride to Buenos Aires to a “resort-type” beach. I am not sure it was actually a resort, but there were very nice cabanas and lights on the beach, so I think it was. The experience and scenery were breathtaking to say the least. We got into the water and, even in the dark, I could see the bottom of the ocean. I floated on my back and could see hundreds of stars in the sky. It was an experience unlike any other. I tried to take a picture of the stars, but the aperture of my camera is not as adjustable as some (allowing you to take very good night time pictures). This is a memory that I will take with me for a long, long time.
At the beach we played some games and Julian introduced us to a game that I still have no idea who is the winner… I can’t explain. Also, something to note, I am not sure the consistency of this, but the majority of the Loan Officers could not swim, so they stayed relatively close to the shore. Julian made a comment that it is ironic that I am about 2,000 kilometers from the nearest ocean and I know how to swim, but they are an island nation and the majority of them don’t know how to swim. I am not sure why this is the case, maybe it is because the water is so salty and buoyant that it would be near-impossible to drown if you were paying attention (knock on wood).
We went back to the Branch and had a bucket shower and changed into some dry clothes. We also had some crabs for dinner and Julian ended up getting sick (like I was the first week I was here) and I was short to follow the next day. I am not sure if it was the crab that made us sick, but whatever it was, it did not feel good… more on that later. It was a great day and I was looking forward to what Friday had in store!
2 comments:
baby coconuts to funny!
I thought you would like that... not as sad as baby lamb... but just as delicious... I spelled it!
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