Not “All Work and No Play” !

Although there is a serious side to working here it is certainly not 'all work and no play'.  Far from it in fact.  Mindanao has some really wondertful scenery, and some spectacular golden sandy beaches with very few people on them. 

One of my favourite places to go for a night or two is Kansilad Beach, just north of Lianga in Surigao del Sur.  Kansilad is about one hour from the small town of San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, where I live. 

The road is quite good until you get to the coastal town of Barobo.  After Barobo the surfaced road ends, and you need to negotiate a very rough and steadily deteriorating dirt track in order to complete the journey. I think there's meant to be a road there somewhere, beneath all the mud and bumps !

Finally you get to a small beach resort, which has great chalets for rent. One of them is on stilts over the water, with wonderful view of the beach and the sea.

Little wooden fishing boats manned by fishermen in 'chinaman' style straw hats ply back and forth off the beach.

The sun shimmers across the water, creating an expanse of sparking ripples on the surface, before setting in a rosy glow behind a forested rocky hill where the macaque monkeys live. In the opposite direction a mangrove swamp provides the setting for a fish sanctuary, which has helped to improve the fishing in the bay.

A beautiful palm-fringed, golden sandy beach completes the scene and makes the place truly idyllic. 

My parents went there with me last weekend, and fell in love with the place. In fact the sea was so warm that my mother went swimming in the sea for the first time in her life at the age of 67!  I couldn't believe she had never been swimming in the sea before (although she was in her 50s before she learnt to swim).

So what was the secret that triggered this momentous event ?  The answer lies in the fact that the beach at Kansilad goes out gradually for a very long way, with the sun beating down on it and heating it up until it is really warm.   

Apparently she has always found the sea too cold – even in hot countries – until she discovered the Philippines ! 

The end result ? Before we left we had we booked in again for next weekend ! 

I guess life really is a beach after all ! The hardships of being a VSO volunteer, eh ?  Its a tough job, but someone has to do it, as they say…

From Scotland with Love

My parents arrival failed to get off to a flying start - they missed their flight to Mindanao and ended up stranded in Manila ! As there wasn't another flight for two days I got on the return leg of the flight they should have been on, and joined them in Manila.

However, the time was not wasted as we ended up seeing some fabulous Good Friday celebrations at Quiapo Church (The Church of the Black Nazarene).  All the statues from the church are paraded through the street on top of trucks, tricycles and just shoulders, with people trying to touch them or throwing up cloths to be rubbed on the statues for a blessing.  Quite a sight, with thousands of people crowding the streets !

My parents brought loads of goodies which were donated by members of their church - Mearns Kirk – for giving to the most under-priviledged children here – clothes, pencils, pens, pencil cases, balloons and stickers. 

As there are a lot of street children in Manila, we gave out a few of these items during our brief stay.

These went to families who live on the street and keep their few posessions in plastic bags hung on the trees and railings where they sleep. 

However, the first large-scale distribution of these gifts took place near the coast in Mindanao, at Barobo.  Our 'test run' was in a village I had visited a few times before, and where I had  been struck by the obvious poverty and dishevelled clothing of the children.  It is also a place where the children had always been very friendly and welcoming, and flock onto the streets whenever something novel or interesting occurs – like foreigners appearing.

 

We took a tricycle there, then sat down at the village well and began blowing up baloons.  Pretty soon curious children (and adults) were appearing from nowhere.  I started distributing pencil cases containing an assortment of pens, pencils, a rubber, sharpener, stickers and a couple of balloons (uniflated ones!).

My mother had previously sorted the clothes into bags according to age it was for and if it was boys' or girls' stuff, so she got out her bags and started matching up clothing to kids, and handing it out, making sure each child got at least one item.  Those children who looked in greatest need got an extra item or two – including a very small boy in a falling apart t-shirt, which completely failed to conceal his modesty ! A poor wee soul indeed ! 

All the kids were incredibly polite, patiently (but eagerly) waiting their turn rather than grasping or pushing to get things. Parents and older kids had also gathered round, and helped ensure the process was really very orderly. 

A group of teenage boys also got stuck into helping to blow up balloons, though they did ask if they could keep one each !  One woman asked "When are you coming back ?" and joked "Can you bring some clothes to fit me next time ?"  and an elderly gentleman asked if he too could have a baloon please (we gave him one!). 

All the stuff was obviously greatly appreciated, and the parents and kids were clearly delighted to receive the goodies.  As we left the street looked like a carnival with lots of balloons around and all the children and parents waving us off and urging us to come back soon !

So thanks to all those at Mearns Kirk for all the stuff they sent – you certainly made those kids' day that day !

Survival Tips for Travelling in Mindanao

Extracts of Article by Penelope C. Sanz, Mindanews, 2005 

A local paper here recently published “dos and don’ts” for travelling around Mindanao.  Since my parents are about to visit here I thought it might be useful to provide a summary of this guidance, just so they are warned!

The ‘must have’s in your survival kit are: a shawl, flashlight, loose change, a plastic bag, a bottle of water, and tissue paper.

Never leave home without a shawl. It protects you from dust and UV rays and is useful cover when you need to pee in the middle of nowhere. Shawls also keep you warm in air-conditioned buses, as drivers always put it on full blast to keep their seat by the engine cool. This is a constant cause of bickering. Passengers holler at the  driver because the bus is like a freezer. The driver snaps back “pasagdihi ko kung gusto ninyo mabuhi” (let me be if you want to live).

The “last trip” of the day can mean a full vehicle. There’s nowhere to go but go “taplod” (sit on top of the jeepney or bus). Try to find a seat in the middle, but chances are these are already taken. So you have nobody or nothing to hang-on to. What do you do? Pray! Also, try not to look down the cliffs if you can help it, okay?

Don’t be surprised to find a chicken, goat or even a large pig traveling in the vehicle with you.

Never sit beside the window. Scallywags along the highway sometimes throw rocks at passing buses. Besides, if the bus rolls over, you don’t want to get squeezed between a heavy weight male and the window.  

The flashlight. Landslides are common during the rainy season. You may need to walk in darkness and heavy rain over a kilometer of mud to get to a bus on the other side. Flashlights are also useful when the bus breaks down in the middle of the night in some God forsaken area.

Transferring buses is mayhem, with everybody scrambling for seats. You may need to clamber up the side of the bus and wiggle your way in through the window (be prepared for bruises).

Grandmas will watch your things for you – just be prepared to endure an inquisition for the rest of the journey. The tricky part is she will probably be matching you up with her son or nephew.

Never try to eat a full meal at stops. The bus will go whether you’re finished or not. Instead survive on the biscuits, boiled eggs and peanuts sold through the windows by vendors.

Coins are needed for using the comfort room (WC) – prices range from P 2.00 to P 4.00 – depending on what you need to do (yes, you are meant to declare which it is). They are also effective in hushing up preachers who step into the bus and conduct biblical sermons.

Keep P 500 handy to give robbers should a hold up occur. Better that than your cell phone, which should be kept hidden as much as possible.

Nighttime checkpoints are a real inconvenience. Soldiers can be overly eager and suspect all boxes of containing arms.

The plastic bag is for puke. You may not be “dagaton” (easily nauseated) but the kid beside you or a pregnant woman might be.

Habal-habals (motorcycles) are very accident-prone. If you can afford to hire the whole habal-habal, great! If not, the two seats behind the driver are best (they seat about 8!). On a long trip you may need to seek shelter from a sudden downpour in a hut along the road. In insurgency areas, check first if it has foxholes or underground tunnels. It’s better to catch pneumonia than be caught in a crossfire. Listen to the habal-habal driver’s instructions. In rebel areas, if he says never point or dare to look at a certain hill or mountain, obey!

Be careful with your questions. Sometimes people easily open up to strangers. A simple ‘kumusta?” (how are you?) could release a torrent of emotional trauma. Let them cry.

What else? Prayers help a lot. You need them when you’re fording a river and there’s a sudden flood, or when the bangka (boat) you are riding in stops in the middle of the sea and there’s a whirlpool gaining momentum.

Whew! All you can do is just have faith and hope for the best.

Home Sweet Home

The accommodation is pretty basic here. Most people here in the rural areas of Mindanao live in Nipa huts or rough timber shacks. 

Nipa is palm fronds woven into rectangular panels which are then used for the walls of the house. Most of these houses are very small. 

In the Agusan Marsh the Nipa huts are built onto log rafts, so that they can float up and down as the water level in the marsh changes.  Quite ingenious. There is also a floating school. 

However, they do sometimes sink ! 

And as to toilets – what a luxury !

In the marsh no-one has a toilet, and in the mountains about 75% have no toilet facilities. 

I do have a toilet in my house, though, but dont ask too may questions about where the effluent goes once the loo is flushed !

Schistosomiasis and other waterbourne diseases are widespread in Mindanao.  I wonder why ! 

I have asked colleagues if anyone here has hot water in their house (I certainly don't) and they could see no reason why anyone would want hot water on tap.  Only the very poshest of the hotels in the big cities have hot water to cater for those 'soft' foreigners who want such ridiculous things.

There is a shower attachment on the wall of my loo (they are called 'Comfort Rooms' or 'CR's here) but I don't use the shower as the water is too cold.  In order that my morning wash is not with perishingly cold water, I wash by almost filling a bucket with tap water, then putting in a kettle-full of boiling water. I then throw the water over me with a plastic pan.  It works quite well really.

The whole of my CR is about 1 metre square, so it's a bit tight for space, and you have to be careful not to soak the loo roll when you wash.  Imagine it as being a bit like having a toilet inside your shower cabinet, and then just to make it a bit more cosy you tuck it in under the stairs so only half of it is standing height. There is no sink in the loo – the only sink is the kitchen sink in the main living area.  

Still, my house is really quite luxurious by local standards, and is made of concrete blocks.  One of the girls that  arrived at the same time as me is getting the "authentic volunteer experience" living in a Nipa hut in Eastern Samar where the rats come in and play with her food !  Rats are quite common here really.  I photographed these one while sitting in a eatery / restaurant place near the coast.