Tuesday, February 24, 2009-“Introducing Mardi Gras to the Philippines Cannot Be Done by One Man”

When I got up this morning and told the Loan Officers at Hina that it was Mardi Gras all I received were blank stares (really, pretty typical when I talk to receive blank stares, whether I am in the US or the Philippines, people always don’t quite understand me, follow?).  I indulged the unsuspecting staff on the traditions of Mardi Gras and how it is a very festive time and a celebration before the Lenten Season.  Since the majority of the population is Catholic, I thought it was tradition that Lent was a time of sacrifice, but it turns out, the only thing that is given up here is meat on Fridays (fish is okay).  I could tell I had my work cut out for me, so my preparations began.  I was going to have Mardi Gras one way or another.

…

Turns out my efforts were futile and even Sir Vivencio would not (“could not” would be more appropriate) join me for Mardi Gras.  But, however, I was able to attend a fiesta for one of my fellow co-workers.  It was her birthday (I did not bring a gift as I was invited five minutes before the start of it.  Even if I did bring a gift, I probably would have brought something for 10 year-old boy (see prior birthday story if this does not make sense)).  Laarni was turning 24 (I think) and she is the Branch Manager for the Bobon Branch (also known as the Rainbow Branch).  Her mother had prepared many dishes, all of which were fantastic.  She had shrimps (I stayed away after my recent bout with crab), pork, chicken and sweet potatoes that aren’t really sweet potatoes.  She had all of the people over from the Branch and family members… it was quite fun and was probably more appropriate than Mardi Gras… not probably… it was.

It would drive my father insane, but the light switches are backwards here… up is off and down is on.

Had another round of tuba last night and it was good.

Monday, February 23, 2009-“Waking Uuuup Is Haaaard to Do… unless you are in the Philippines”

There is no thing that Filipinos would rather do than videoke… it is simply amazing how much their culture sings and listens to music.  In the United States, many people listen to music and we always have it on in our cars and iPods are always going, but it is more of a passive listening… not as an active listening that Filipinos do.

Which brings me to my next point.  Many things in my time here have waked me up in Northern Samar, namely roosters (Richard), rain, and the occasional chirping of a lizard (another one bit the dust today, by the way).  There has been one recently that has been of great surprise and that is of a girl in a house behind me that videokes at the ripe time of 5:30 until about 7.  She is very good, but really?  5:30?  I guess it is better to be woken by her than by Richard, but it is astonishing how early everyone is out and about here.  I would say the average wake-up time for Filipinos (going back to the rooster thing) is around 5:00 am and their sleep time is around 11 pm.  It is very impressive how much energy they all have and I just hope it rubs off on me.  For example, I have started working for 8-10 hours a day (sporadically) for an entire week (I know, an anomaly!) and I am pretty tired by week end, but all of the bank workers are still raring to go and ready for the weekend…  there must be something in the water (that I can’t drink)… maybe I will try it one of these days… ssssiiiiike.

More Pictures!

Lavezares Branch Staff (minus one)
Julian goes to work in Biri
Statue of Mary pulling Jesus out of the ocean
Sunset on the way back from Biri

Saturday and Sunday, February 20-21, 2009-“I Am Getting Old”

There were the days when a week of travel and different foods would not get me down and I was raring to go for the next adventure, but I am growing accustomed to this “getting older” thing that I hear so much about.  Granted, I still have a lot of energy, but I definitely need the weekends to rest.  It was a very relaxing weekend and I learned a lot about Northern Samar and the history it has in the Philippines.  Paul, the owner of the Coffee Hub, is a bit of a history buff and seems to know a lot about Filipino history and the role America plays in the forming of independence for the Philippines.

As I have stated before, the Philippines were “discovered” by Magellan (even though it was already occupied by the natives) in the early 1500’s.  After this, the Spanish decided to colonize the country and the many islands and introduce the European culture to this part of the world.  Magellan was then killed by Lapu Lapu (the national fish) one of the Filipino national heroes.

After many years of trying to gain independence (I need to probably research this a bit, because there are a lot of eras I am missing), the Philippines gained some sovereignty from the Spanish around World War I.  At this time, it was the United States that had a major hold on the Philippines and Filipinos waged war on the United States to gain their clear independence.  Unfortunately for the Filipinos, the American technology was too much at the time and the Philippines would have to wait to become their own nation.  During World War II the Philippines played a key role in the war between the Americans and the Japanese.  The Philippines were allies with the United States and fought side by side with Americans (just 30 years after the war between the United States and Philippines).  After World War II the Philippines were granted sovereignty and became their own nation.

 As a sign of respect to the role that the United States played in their independence, not to say the respect was needed (as the U.S. did have a war with the Philippines in their own territory), but the 100 peso bill has an American flag on it.  I did not particularly take note of this when I looked at the bill, but Julian pointed it out on his first day here and thought it was strange.  I was happy to find out the answer to why it was there and was proud of our recent history with the Philippines.

NOTE:  Not all of the statements above may not be true facts or the proper timeline, I am just going off of memory here people!  Give me a break!  Just kidding, enjoy!

Sunday, I introduced Julian to “two-beer” for the first time.  It was not the same “two-beer” that I was introduced to, but he is only 18, so we will have to work our way up to the actual two-beer.  It was a good time and Julian is definitely noticing how nice the local population is.  Until next time…

Friday, February 19, 2009-“Is it 200 degrees in Here or is it Just Me?”

Friday morning was a great morning filled with food and Center Meetings and Client visits.  I only attended one Center Meeting, but it was a great one.  Again, I am starting to open up with the clients and am really getting an understanding of what they want out of the program.  I also am appreciative of them being so open and understanding.  Of course, everyone wants more out of services they receive, but there is a related cost to these services.  I tell them that their suggestions are great, but we will have to look at what the costs will be for that added service.  They agree and continue with suggestions and are very polite and equate all services to their personal lives.

At the Center Meeting, it was one of the client’s birthdays, so they had a mini-fiesta for their friend.  They had cokes and pancit (for long life) and they even broke out the tuba for me (it was quite early).  The food was delicious, but I was starting to feel the effects of the crabs the night before.  I fought through it and had a great time at the meeting.  We then went on to visit a client who was in the business of hog fattening.  She was on her first cycle (Php 4,000) and was stating that this was not enough to raise an entire litter of hogs to their maximum potential.  She has to sell off half-fattened pigs at a lesser price in order to cover her costs for raising additional pigs.  This is the dichotomy of the Grameen way.  While they want to give as much as they can to the poor (one side), they do not require collateral, so they don’t want to give too much too soon if a client is unable to pay the larger amount (other side).  This is a struggle that any microcredit organization has, especially one as new as FGP.

After the meeting, I started to feel the sickness coming on, but needed to fight through it until we got back to Catarman, which, I luckily was able to do.  I got Julian and I some more antibiotics and continued back to the Branch where it was approximately 250 degrees… I am not sure I have sweat so much in my life.  One of my friends from the provencial government saw me on the street and said hi, he commented on how much I was sweating, that is pretty bad.  So, I recovered the rest of the day.  It only took me a day to recover this time, maybe I am starting to get used to the food here!  Since I am writing this on Sunday, I can tell you that I am fully recovered now… aside from the 10 pounds I probably lost in the last two days… in due time!

I got back to the Hina Branch to find the Hina Branch Staff doing some Spring-cleaning.  They were trimming their trees and vines and by the time they were done I am not sure they had any vines or trees left, but they did do it!  I got some pictures of them hard at work… I also (since it is my home) grabbed a broom and helped sweep for a bit, I didn’t get any pictures of that, but one of the Loan Officers did… so if you really want proof, I could probably get it for you.

Thursday, February 19th, 2009-“Filipino Energy=7x American Energy”

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!

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009-“Cooking In the Philippines… Check”

Wednesday was a fairly uneventful day, I did not go to any center meetings and I did a lot of work, but I did aid in the completion of dinner!  I was in charge of cooking the fish (fish is called “isda”, but the name of the fish was Lapu Lapu, the famous guy that killed Magellan)!  It was very good and the girl that was in charge of making dinner made it into sweet and sour fish.  It was very good and I have pictures to prove that I did something.  Other than that, there was not a whole lot going on during my Wednesday… we ate and talked.

It was a very good dinner, but, unfortunately, Julian was still feeling the effects of not sleeping for two days and he retired early.  At dinner, the Lavezares Branch Staff continued to probe me with questions and ask me about various parts regarding my culture, including if we had anything that was similar to a “fiesta” in the United States.  Here, a Fiesta is a gathering of the entire municipality to celebrate for a week.  The timing of the Fiesta is the same week as their respective municipality’s patron saint (which I am not sure how this is determined).  There are 24 provinces in Northern Samar, so there are quite a few parties that happen in a year!  Just to give you an idea of the structure of the country and the similarities to the U.S.

Philippines            United States

Country            Country

Province            State

Municipality            County

Barangay            City/Town/Village

 

So, Fiesta Time equals Party Time, no doubt about it.  The most equivalent event I could think of was that of a County Fair (at least in the Midwest).  The more notable differences between a Fiesta and a Country Fair is that EVERYONE attends a Fiesta and only a select amount of the population attends County Fairs.  Since the distance is much greater for the areas between towns in the U.S. it is much less likely for someone to make a trip to a County Fair.

The staff told me of the various aspects of a Fiesta, which is a weeklong event to celebrate their patron saint.  There are many mini-fiestas within the Fiesta that are parties at familial houses.  This can include lechon (roasted pig), fish, fruits, baked goods and much song and dance, but more importantly, catching up with family and friends (which seems to happen frequently here).  There are parades and the streets are full of people and excitement.  Since fiesta-time is such a big deal, there is much preparation and expense involved with the festivities.

Every family in the municipality feels obligated to throw a mini-fiesta for their family.  This can come as a great burden for the family and can be a cause of concern for FGP/NSCAP and clients.  In order to properly mitigate the use of funds for fiestas (much against the 10 decisions), NSCAP does not loan to persons in that district for a few weeks prior to and after the respective Fiesta date.  In addition, there are many other concerns for staff including: trying to collect payments during fiesta (they try to collect the week before or after), invitations to fiestas (up to the staff member to accept or not, but typically don’t), safety during fiesta time (bank workers mush be back to the Branch by no later than 12), etc.  The staff workers spoke very highly of the Fiestas and they told me to be careful about attending one (if I did), as I am obviously not part of the barangay and people are very protective of their traditions, but if you are good friends with a person that invited you, then it would be okay and you should have a great time.

It was a great cultural lesson and I look forward to learning much more!  In addition, one of the Loan Officers (Kristel) proceeded to beat me handily again at that card game she taught me the previous night, not very nice of her, but it was fun.  Julian and I are off to Victoria Branch tomorrow morning and I am looking forward to another Branch visit, but have had a great time in Lavazares.  I wish I could spend a week at each Branch, but time does not allow.