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Back in Batangas city
Feb. 7th, 2008 10:39 amam not in the best shape today, since we had a massive travel day and I actually got motion sick. The day started off by a 1.5 hours drive, then a four hour ferry ride, then a three hour drive. That's when I lost it. I tossed my cookies at the next ferry's bathroom, then threw up on the ferry and from the side of the jeepney back to our guesthouse. I then proceeded to take some Gravol, only to learn that it makes me EXTREMELY stoned. So I took the morning off today.
The only highlight about our ferry ride was that I sat down and played chess with a Filipino man about my age, and he kicked my ass twice.
Other than that, we have a pretty intense couple of days. We went to visit the Association of Differently Abled people who run a canteen store, and a micro finance unit. Then we went to their factory, where they make desk chairs for educational instituations all over the Philippines. They have a contract with the government, but the government takes it on sweet time to pay, so the coop is forced to lay people off and cannot make an inventory until they have been paid for other contracts. SOme of the stories of the people working in the coop were so amazing; one man was even living as a beggar on the street and since the coop gm found him, he is now able to afford a wheelchair, buy a house for his family and conduct a job. This is real feature material stuff, and I took copious notes to write some feature length stories when I am done.
The other group went to a Muscavado sugar coop, which they said was good, but obviously not as gut wrenching as our day. The next day, we split up again and one group went to a women's handicraft coop in a village that was very, very poor. People started slipping people money because they just couldn't take it and one member of our team gave a woman $100 USD, which made her start bawling. I'm pretty uncomfortable by that because I'm so into sustainable development and working for the collective good.
Anyway, during this time, we were at the fishing coop, learning about the deep net fishing operations. The style of fishing is borrowed by the Japanese. I had lunch at the village captain's house. She is 35 years old and has 7 children, and is also the bookkeeper of the coop. She and her husband also own a boat and both of them take turns fishing.
After lunch, a few people visited a school to donate some colouring books, and then we went out to the otoshami raft. We took a large boat and climbed onto a bamboo raft. The net was winched to the raft and they rolled everything in, which took a long time. It's very hard work.One of the problems in this coop is that the women don't have enough activities to do, so we were talking about them partnering with other coops to raise chickens, pigs, etc.
We had a small catch, including numerous swordfish, herring, sardines and a puffer fish. We then went back to shore and travelled to a protected marine area, where we went swimming. The filipinos drove us out into deep water, and we jumped in. This was my first time swimming over a coral reef and it was amazing. I could see all the little fish underneath us, including clown fish and blue ones. We also saw purple starfish, and some of the men dived to the bottom of the ocean to bring these fish up to show us. After this, we went back to our beach resort, which is amazing. It was owned by an Austrian man and his Filipino wife.
Before I threw up, I was very irritable yesterday. I guess that's to be expected from a lot of travelling. We all seem to get along and there are no majority hostilities on this trip. Anyway, I'm glad that I got that out of my system. I do plan to get involved with a few more charitable organizations when I get back home, especially Reporters Without Borders. I've learned that the Philippines is an incredibly dangerous place to be a journalist because the federal government and politicians will take hits out on journalists they don't like. Scary stuff.
Must go lie down now,
a
The only highlight about our ferry ride was that I sat down and played chess with a Filipino man about my age, and he kicked my ass twice.
Other than that, we have a pretty intense couple of days. We went to visit the Association of Differently Abled people who run a canteen store, and a micro finance unit. Then we went to their factory, where they make desk chairs for educational instituations all over the Philippines. They have a contract with the government, but the government takes it on sweet time to pay, so the coop is forced to lay people off and cannot make an inventory until they have been paid for other contracts. SOme of the stories of the people working in the coop were so amazing; one man was even living as a beggar on the street and since the coop gm found him, he is now able to afford a wheelchair, buy a house for his family and conduct a job. This is real feature material stuff, and I took copious notes to write some feature length stories when I am done.
The other group went to a Muscavado sugar coop, which they said was good, but obviously not as gut wrenching as our day. The next day, we split up again and one group went to a women's handicraft coop in a village that was very, very poor. People started slipping people money because they just couldn't take it and one member of our team gave a woman $100 USD, which made her start bawling. I'm pretty uncomfortable by that because I'm so into sustainable development and working for the collective good.
Anyway, during this time, we were at the fishing coop, learning about the deep net fishing operations. The style of fishing is borrowed by the Japanese. I had lunch at the village captain's house. She is 35 years old and has 7 children, and is also the bookkeeper of the coop. She and her husband also own a boat and both of them take turns fishing.
After lunch, a few people visited a school to donate some colouring books, and then we went out to the otoshami raft. We took a large boat and climbed onto a bamboo raft. The net was winched to the raft and they rolled everything in, which took a long time. It's very hard work.One of the problems in this coop is that the women don't have enough activities to do, so we were talking about them partnering with other coops to raise chickens, pigs, etc.
We had a small catch, including numerous swordfish, herring, sardines and a puffer fish. We then went back to shore and travelled to a protected marine area, where we went swimming. The filipinos drove us out into deep water, and we jumped in. This was my first time swimming over a coral reef and it was amazing. I could see all the little fish underneath us, including clown fish and blue ones. We also saw purple starfish, and some of the men dived to the bottom of the ocean to bring these fish up to show us. After this, we went back to our beach resort, which is amazing. It was owned by an Austrian man and his Filipino wife.
Before I threw up, I was very irritable yesterday. I guess that's to be expected from a lot of travelling. We all seem to get along and there are no majority hostilities on this trip. Anyway, I'm glad that I got that out of my system. I do plan to get involved with a few more charitable organizations when I get back home, especially Reporters Without Borders. I've learned that the Philippines is an incredibly dangerous place to be a journalist because the federal government and politicians will take hits out on journalists they don't like. Scary stuff.
Must go lie down now,
a
