Life after Yolanda

What now?

I watch the one channel that my host family gets every night during our dinner time together.  This one time during the day when we are all together and at this time this one channel always has a news broadcasting on for all the Philippines to watch.  So guess what we watch…. That’s right, aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda footage.  

It’s been almost two months since the biggest and most destructive storm every recorded in history slammed into the country of the Philippines, almost two months since I have been trying to find a normalcy in what had been my already scattered reality.  Most days when I think of the people that were affected, no devastated, by this storm, all I can think of is pretty much everything and nothing at the same time because I can’t imagine what people are going through.  Yet I am so close to the worst hit areas and yet my area was barely affected.  Even after talking with friends of mine, fellow volunteers, who experienced this horrific storm first hand, there are no clear thoughts to grasp the loss that this country has had.  

There are no reasons for WHY this happened and worse yet there are no easy solutions to HOW to help people still suffering and that will continue to suffer. 

But things are getting better. Volunteers that were sent home because of the typhoon are now starting to return and although some of them have to receive new sites many are going back to their original ones.  Staff from Peace Corps have also visited the areas of Tacloban and a resource volunteer has also gone to help with the recovery process...



What's New?

As for me I spent a lovely New Years vacation with some other volunteers in the beautiful Caramoan Islands near my site.  It was amazing to recharge and unwind; I really needed it.  Christmas was a tough one, being it was my first ever away from home let alone half way across the world.  




December was a very slow month at work, so that didn't help me from getting home sick as well.  Although I did get to participate in Sports Fest which all the workers here at the Local Government Unit (LGU) participated in.  

It was fun and I got to show off my rusty volleyball skills.  Basically it was like a mini community Olympics for the LGU staff, where everyone was broken up in to four teams. Red, blue, green, and yellow.  There was sports and board games and a parade. I was on the red team.

I missed everyone at home very much, but my host family and coworkers were amazing in the celebrations here.

For the new year I really hope to buckle down and start focusing.  Peace Corps volunteers in my batch have a two week training coming up at the end of February, so that will really help me start thinking about my own projects as well. 

I am also super excited because before that my amazing boyfriend is coming to visit and we are also going to the lovely Caramoan Islands. I can't wait! Here is some pics from my first trip there!!! Hopefully they leave this post on a positive note versus the negative one that is started on!  

 

 PEACE

Wait... What?

Good question....

So when I decided to join the Peace Corps maybe I had this unrealistic romantic idea of, ya know, CHANGING THE WORLD!  And I do know that is unrealistic, but the bottom line is I wanted to try and help make a difference, even if it's just a smidgen. This whole experience so far has been just that, so far from what I had imagined.... I didn't know what to expect when leaving home four months ago exactly from yesterday, but I did think I would be doing a bit more right now. 


Let me explain.  This is the organization I am assigned in:

Get ready for the explosion of acronyms

I currently am assisting in the implementation of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program(4P's) under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).  It's a Conditional Cash Transfer Program here in the Philippines that is in its third year, lasting for a period of 5 years (2011 - 2015).

Similar to the welfare program in the states, but with conditions.... Take note America!

Description of the program:

• poverty reduction strategy providing cash grants to poor households with pregnant women and children 0-14 years old, with compliance of specific health, nutrition, and education conditions

• promotes and supports the Philippine Commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) through provision of health, education and other services as basic rights of children 

Another program that I could possibly assist with the implementation of is the KALAHI-CIDSS (I don't know what this stands for), which aims to improve the responsiveness of local governments to community needs; encourage communities to engage in development activities, and deliver benefits to barangay (town) residents through individual sub-projects. 
So far what I've seen is that the program helps develop ideas for community projects.

They're great programs and part of the Millennium Challenge between the US and the Philippines.  The basic goal is to reduce poverty through economic growth in the Philippines.


<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<SO here's the bottom line>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

When I say assisting in the implementation, I really mean I have no clue what I am suppose to be doing yet! It all sounds great and everyone I work with is so hard working.  But where do I fit it? I'm trucking along trying to figure that out.  These most recent weeks the shine of newness has worn off a little and the reality of uncertainty is hitting me pretty hard.  And of course, with me being a natural 'worry too much' kind of a person, this situation has only escalated my waves of emotion sometimes.

Wish me luck, send me some positive energy. Cause my positiveness is starting to be tested for the first time in the Peace Corps and I think it shalt not be the last.

Peace!

Taking in the Waves

Here I am again trying to figure out what to write on this blog, but not knowing exactly what to say.  I'm coming into my fifth month here in the Philippines and there's a lot I could talk about but mostly I don't know how to put things into a good perspective.   Roller coaster is a really good analogy, but that's the easy one that volunteers like to use

an emotional roller coaster that probably won't stop for awhile. 

Well I've definitely felt that, but I like to think of my emotion more like waves on a shore.... Things are kind of repetitive right now, my emotions going back and forth, not changing too drastically.   I think I'm doing fine and then all of sudden BAM!
it hits,
me a storm...

Frustration levels rise within me from everyone staring at me or that I can only understand every 20th word that people say or the question 'Why are you here, are you a missionary?'

Sadness fills my heart when I see incapacitated dogs and cats with half their fur missing or children out of school in the fields, parents attending family development sessions trying to provide for their family in the poorest of poor circumstances.


But then a complete stranger gives me merienda (snack) even though they might not have something to eat themselves or a young child stares at me then smiles and calls me maganda (beautiful) or I do an energizer in a session and everyone immediately brightens and I do too!

I'm here, this is what I wanted right? Right? Can't complain too much I mean if it seems like waves then I guess that's not so bad. 

Now an Offical Volunteer!

Swearing in aka graduation was last week! I am now officially a United States Peace Corps Volunteer!!!!Training time had gone by so fast in Limay and now I have moved to Ocampo, Camarines Sur in the beautiful region of Bicol! A lot has happened since my last post obviously!

 
I have so much to share but I'll try to cover the basics......

So to catch up anyone who wants to know about what's been going on with me, here's some quick lines with pictures:

• I traveled to Batangas for a supervisors conference where I found out where I will be going for the next two years, what organization I will be working with, and met my counterpart (us below).
  

• Spent some time in Manila where my sector (CYF) participated in a street immersion where we me street children and visited the barangay of Payatas, which can be better explained by google: https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=payatas&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:oficial&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr&ei=TJNBUvv3EO2UiQeC34CYAg 

• Co-facilitated with other volunteers in one last youth camp! 

• Finished training in Limay, celebrated and gave thanks to my host family. I will miss them dearly!

• Passed my Language Proficiency Interview (LPI) some how...

• Went to the United States Embassy in Manila where me and the other trainees were sworn in by the US Ambassador as official volunteers.  Kind of like graduation but with more security!

• Lastly i then traveled 9 hours by van from Manila to Ocampo where I met my new host family and am settling in nicely!

Woah,,,,
that was a lot and I didn't give much details, but I will explain the organization where I'm working at for the next two years soon.  Also what I will be doing is still being figured out because that is in my control mostly, so for now I'm just learning and observing!

I know it's been awhile!

Weeks have been going by so fast here!  In one week I find out where my permanent site will be!!!! I’m really excited to know what my job will be and the location of it for the next two years.  What I have been doing now is training, so I’m not an actual Peace Corps Volunteer yet.  Our graduation or swearing in will be at the US Embassy in Manila on September 18^th.  Which I believe will be video recorded so you all will be able to see it!!!

As I said previously there were about 72 of us who arrived in the Philippines, 2 have went home.  Now there are 70, which are separated into three different sectors: Children, Youth and Family(CYF), Coastal Resource Management (CRM), and Education. There are I think 26 people in the same sector as I am, which is CYF.   We are divided into three groups living within three different locations about an hour or less apart from each other.  Each group has been doing the same things in our communities and every week all 26 of us come together and discuss what difficulties and successes we had facilitating meetings in the previous weeks.  Basically we are able to learn techniques on how to facilitate programs, because we will be doing similar things as a volunteer.

So far we’ve helped to develop a community project with community members, letting the community decide what they want to add to their community by using PACA.  PACA is a Community Development tool that focuses on conducting activities with different groups that make up a community (ex. boys and girls, age groups, teachers and supervisors) and then bringing the groups together to analyze resources they have to create an action plan. 

Activities are designed to help community members explore ways and analyze their own situation.  The community identifies its own resources and strengths that it possesses so that it can draw upon them in order to reach a goal. PACA also helps build a sense of community contentedness and pride within its members as they process information, analyze the implications for the community, and plan for action.

This process was started when we arrived and has been ongoing.  We have had our ups and downs in our group, but our community members decided that they would like to build a public community library.  So our group is all very excited to see how the process will go while we are here, but because we are only here for a short time for training we won’t be able to see the actually building.  I hope that the community will continue with the project and see it through until the end

The other project we have been doing, which was just started yesterday, is life skills youth camp!  I taught two 2 hours sessions to 10 youth in my community about a life skill.  I picked nutrition.  It made me a little nervous, but the kids love us here so I had a lot of fun!


So many great things to see here and I've only been in one province!  This is a view from Mt. Samat in the province of Bataan:

2 monthes in..... Limay, Bataan

So I am now with my host family!!!! 
Here is me, my cousin, & my Nanay (mother)! 

They are great!

I am here for a 10 weeks.

My days during the week consist of language training for 4 hours and technical or cultural & job training for 4 hours as well. Then on Saturday mornings me and 7 other volunteers located in this area facilitate sessions with in the community with the help of our Pilipino teachers.  

So I'm super busy and haven't had much time to post anything, but I will give a more detailed post soon.... Maybe with more pictures :) 

There's not much to say otherwise!

Oh and Sundays are my free days so if anyone would like to skype or chat just message me!

In the Philippines!

I’m in the Philippines!!!!!!!!!!  So much has happened in a short time.  I feel like I’ve been here for weeks already and it’s only been a couple of days!

Here a scratch of the surface, some info:

I came over with 72 other volunteers, which being about the size of my high school class; it was a bit overwhelming for me at first.  But there are so many people with interesting backgrounds and everyone’s so friendly, I feel like I can go up and talk to anyone (which I do all the time).  It’s pretty noncliquish which I love because I’m so bad with cliques.

Here we are after we got off the plane in Manila on the US Embassy Website:
http://kelly2thephilippines.blogspot.com/2013/07/2-monthes-in-townsite-limay-bataan.html

Jetlag is subsiding for the most part and I’ve surprisingly turned into a morning person (crazy I know!).  Don’t know how long that will last for, but I now understand morning person behavior and it’s amazing! I’ve been missing out

It’s rrrrrreeeeeaaaallllyyyy hot here and I guess it’s the rainy season, but no rain so far just thunder and lightning is seen every day.  But the surroundings are beautiful, bright colors and pineapple fields.

I’ve had little free time so far.  My day is filled with sessions of training where I learn policies and things about the Filipino culture and soon the language.  Yesterday I saw the biggest toad I have ever seen in my life.  Ants and flies regularly crawl on me, which makes me understand why animals have tails.

The city I’m in now is near Manila.  We’re at like a campground like facility called the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction or 11RR.  We’ll stay here for a total of two weeks and then I move to my training site where I will be for about two months, which I recently found out will be in Limay, Bataan!!!!!!!!!!!  I go there with four other people, but we all live with separate host families.  Meeting my host family will be so exciting and I think everyone was all very excited to find out where there training site was.  Right now we haven’t seen much of the community; we’re kind of secluded which I think is because they want to gradually introduce us into the culture and our surroundings.

My time difference from back home is 11 hours behind me here so I’m still trying to figure out when good times are to contact home.  I miss home already!!!!!!!  But I just get a great feeling about my future work here that hopefully will continue!!

Side note:

Sad story – I broke my phone I received here on the first day.... Yes I am that person out of the 72!  Supposedly our phones issued were indestructibly, but I would be that person that left my water bottle open in my bag, drowned it, and now it no longer turns on.  It’ll be okay though, I can purchase a new one soon!  Then as soon as I get a phone card I can start calling home!!!!!!!!!!! Woot woot!!!