Thank You

Now that our team has completed its work in the Philippines it is time to thank everyone who made the trip posssible. First, a thank you to the members of the team. Their hard work and dedication to the job was incredible. Because of that sense of mission they made the trip work. Thanks to all of you. A special thanks to two team members who didn't make the trip. John Hough was the "man behind the scenes." His work prior to the trip and support while we were away was crucial in making things work. Claudia Alves was the alternate team member and team leader. She supported the team all spring, attending team meetings and working whenever she could to make the trip a success. Her work was important to the team's success and she was very much appreciated,

Thanks to all of the members of the Rotary Clubs of district 3770 and their families. Your helpfulness, courtesy and hospitality were incredible. You made our trip to your fabulous country special. We learned to enjoy your country very much and appreciate the friendship you extended to us without reservtion. some of you spent much time away from your work and families to be with us. This personal sacrifice is recognized and we thank your families and workplaces for sharing you with us.

Thanks to all of the school officials, administrators and staff members who worked to set up the workshops and venues so that we would have a place to work. We are happy to have had the privledge of working in your schools and seeing them in action.

And finally thank you to Rotary International, the Rotary Foundation and all of the clubs of Rotary District 5020. Your financial and moral support made it possible for us to make the trip to Philippines to carry out our project.

A special thanks goes to the many clubs and individuals who contributed to our "Legacy Project". This project allowed us to leave behind materials that would help to make our impact in the Philippines last beyond our stay there.When we finished we were able to leave 6 sets of books describing different models of teaching, 5 LCD projectors, and 21 computers along with assorted accessories. These will help to bring new ways of doing things to Filipino schools.

Below is a list of the donors to our Legacy Project:

  The Rotary Foundation

  Rotary Districts 5020 and 3770

  University of Saskatchewan SIDRU

  Delta Kappa Gamma – Society of Women  Educators, Alpha Chapter

  Marv Rogers - Printer

  Mike and Gaye Harrigan

  Several unnamed Rotarians

  The Rotary Clubs of:

–Nanaimo, BC

–Nanaimo North, BC

–Nanaimo Daybreak, BC

–Lantzville, BC

–South Cowichan, BC

–Lacey, Wa

–Olympia, Wa

–Parkland Spanaway, Wa

–Yorkton, SK

Teaching in the Philippines

Teachers in the Philippines are wonderful. They are dedicated professionals who endure difficult conditions to provide the best possible education for their students. Their pay is low (and acknowledged to be so by everyone I talked to) and they are often criticized for not being good enough.

However, our team was fortunate to be able to visit several classtooms and observe lessons being presented. Those lessons were well carried out and the students were responsive and on task. In addition we talked to many teachers during breaks in our workshops. The people we talked to were professsional and aware of the latest in pedagogy. They often talked about their "mission" to teach. Our team was favourably impressed. These teachers were well trained and in our shared profession for all the right reasons.

They face great challenges. Class sizes are large enough to daunt a North American teacher, 70 students in one class we observed. There are few resources. Lab equipment is limited or non existent. Libraries house old books that would be of little use in a 21sr Century school. Computers are limited. Restrictive planning requirements make it difficult to change teaching styles.

Our team salutes the teachers of the Philippines. You are doing a great job. You deserve a large pat on the back for the work you are doing with your students. It is through your efforts that the next generation will be ready to lead your country in this new century. You can not solve all of the problems that you face, but by changing the things within your power, one at a time, you will soon find that your students will benefit from your hard work and dedication.

Filipinos Love to Sing

Filipinos love to sing and we were fortunate to be serenaded and entertained because of this national passion.

Early in our stay our first host family introduced us to Karaoke. On our first night with them they invited several friends over and hauled out the karaoke machine. We straight laced Canadians were somewhat embarassed and declined to test our voices. That didn't stop them though, and long after we went to bed (we had to get up early to go to work in the morning) they sang into the night. We didn't yet understand the depth of the passion.

Over the ensuing weeks we often found ourselves presented with a mike and asked to join in, but it was not until the end of the trip that any of us was cajoled into joining (way to go Nancy - great voice!). It is amazing how everyone here feels so comfortable with the mike and sounds so good. I am amazed that Hollywood talent scouts aren't here in droves handing out books of contracts (Willie, you really do sound like Maurice Chevalier - amazing sound!).

Nor is the singing reserved for the Karaoke club. On several occasions we were entertained by excellent choirs and dance reviews, some of professional quality. Our club in Lantzville is proud of its ability to sing O' Canada, but the bar has been raised - significantly. Picture this - A Rotary club standing up together to perform a routine for its guests. The Rotary Club of Meycauayan did. They performed a series of songs including a good piece of choreography for us. It could have come straight out of a 1940's Hollywood musical and it was performed specifically for us. It earned a standing ovation from an audience that was outnumbered by the cast.

Even at our workshops music has been important. Not only do participants sing the national anthem, but some have used song to present an assignment and all have joined in to sing Thank you at the end.

There has been much that has been joyful during our time in this wonderful country, but nothing has been more fun than than the joy of music that permeates the soul of the people that we've met.

Filipino Food

Food is central to Filipino life. Filipinos eat often and eat a large variety of food. The table is laden down with many dishes of various combinations of fresh vegetable and meat. Fish, chicken and pork are the most common meats on a table, but beef and shellfish are often present as well. They are combined with fresh vegetables such as okra, beans, egg plant, lettuce and tomatoes. And no meal, including breakfast, is complete without a pile of rice heaped on the plate. No one should leave a Filipino table hungry. We North Americans are concerned that we will need to pay an overweight surcharge on our airline tickets when we fly home.

Our first host told me that Filipinos eat seven meals a day, and I believe him as I am sure that we have been fed at least that many times each day. He said, "Count them. Breakfast, mirienda (or snack time), lunch, mirienda, dinner, midnight snack and one more that you can stick in any time you like." Breakfast is no light repast such as we eat in Canada. It is full course meal with several dishes set on the table for diners to choose from. I can not tell how it is different from dinner! Even mirienda is a giant sized snack that includes sandwiches and other foods that would make up my average lunch meal at home.

Fruit is fresh, delicious and offered at most meals. Papaya, mango, banana, watermelon, both red and yellow, pineapple and coconut are wonderful addditions to a meal. All of them taste better than the ones we eat in Canada. I will especially remember the bananas. I eat many bananas at home, probably one a day. Now they will never be the same because the smaller Filipino banana is so much sweeter and tastier that I will always think of them when eating a Canadian banana. A special treat is halo-halo, a word that means mixture and is really a mix of whatever fruit is available at the time. On one occasion we were served halo-halo mixed in a coconut shell with coconut milk. What a delightful treat! That now rivals apple pie as my favourite dessert. (No Carol, that does not mean that I don't still want apple pie when I get home.)

When a Canadian greets someone, he is likely to say, "How are you?" So important is food to a Filipino that he is likely to greet a guest by saying, "Are you hungry?" If you were to say "yes" you could be assured that you would be set down to a table groaning under the weight of all the food and watched while you dug in.

As visitors we have been treated to fine displays of Filipino cooking. It is excellent and greatly appreciated. However, we have also learned that it is OK to say, "No." and to eat smaller portions that will leave us  in shape to be ready for the next round, sure to come in the next two hours.

Traffic

Traffic is the Filipino answer for being late. And it's true! At least most of the time. You have not truly earned your driver's licence until you have driven an automobile in the chaos that Filipinos call traffic.

4 lanes of traffic headed in one direction, 6 vehicles, side by side heading down the street and another 6 moving in the opposite direction. Lane markings are suggestions only and 3 of the 6 vehicles are straddling the lines intended to separate them. Wait! there is an opening. Quick jump into it quickly before someone else does. Signal lights? What are they? You don't have time to use any signal when you decide to make that lane change in case smeone else gets there before you do. Just honk. He who honks first has the right of way, unless soneone else is bolder and takes the opening first. How about that motorcycle? Into the far lane, across the front end of the semi and back into the right hand lane, moving quickly down the street in the short opening that appears and then a quick weave to avoid the pedestrian trying to cross the street. Why is that bus stopping in the intersection? To pick up passengers and not give up his lane of course. Tricycles move along in front of automobiles slowing them down to a speed that a 100cc Honda can maintain while carrying a side car with two passengers inside and another on the saddle behind the driver.

Traffic in the Philippines biggest city,Manila, is chaos defined. There appear to be no rules for how drivers use the space designated for automobiles. Cars, trucks, tricycles, jeepneys and buses battle for space and have little time for any pedestrian brave enough to try to cross the road while the autos speed by. Only the bold survive. You must move quickly to assert yourself if you wish to maintain your place in this traffic nightmare.

Any urban designer who could pass his Ph.D, would never design a system that resembles the Manila model.

And yet it works! There do not appear to be any more accidents than there are in other places. people manage to get to their destinations, slowly for sure, but they do get there. How can that be?

I maintain it is because Filipinos are courteous. They will ease off on the gas to let someone in. They will move aside to allow the overtaking vehicle room to avoid a head on collision with oncoming traffic. They will wave to the vehicle behind to let the driver know that it is safe to pass. It is this basic sense of courtesy that lies deep within the Filipino soul that allows them to manoevre through this traffic chaos.

Manila traffic is the perfect metaphor for the Filipino character. Wildly independent with an anarchistic streak, Filipinos are quick to disregard the law if they do not see any sense for the law in question. But their deep sense of politeness and courtesy rein in their wilder free living spirit in order to help their neighbours.  This dual nature both creates the traffic chaos witnessed by westerners and makes it work in a way that westeners are unable to understand.

So being late due to traffic is a perfect excuse for a Pinoy. All his friends understand, and if it is more excuse than reason, all his friends have used the same excuse anyway.

Buffalo

On Monday night we arrived at the Philippine Caribao Center where we were greeted by Assistant Governor Tess Cruz. The PCC is a center for the study of the water buffalo in Philippines, has a hotel with conference centre and was the site for our Tuesday workshop. It was a great place to have a workshop as the conference centre ws close to the hotel where we are staying (the same bulding) and was air conditioned. Apparently the centre is world renowned for its research. It is in the middle of an agriculturally concerned research area in the Science City of Munoz.

When our workshop was completed we were taken on a tour of the Caribao center. We saw the milking barn, the feeding station, the corrals and the pens for the new calves. It looked very familiar, reinforcing the iddea that Nueva Ecija was similar to my home province of Saskatchewan. Domesticated caribao and prairie cattle are different species, but their care and handling are similar. A milk machine is still a milk machine and a barn still smells like a barn.

Tonight it Rained

Travelling to Philippines in July is risky for this is the rainy season. Typhoons are possible and heavy downpours are inevitable. For us the rains have held off. Our first day in Manila caught us in a rain storm, but it was brief. Sure the rain came down hard for a while, but it was nothing a true wet coaster couldn't handle. Besides the rain was warm. It was actually fun.

Today began as usual for our trip, hot and dry. The temperature was in the mid 30C's and the sky was clear. We were driving in the northern part of Nuevo Ecija and crossed the boarder into Neuvo Vizcaya. It reminded me of a hot day on the prairies, a golden sun hanging over endless green fields, with a scattering of trees throughout the plain. As we climbed through the Dalton Pass the scenery changed, but the weather held consistent.

Now it is raining. I am inside the home where we are staying. The rain is falling in sheets, hammering on the roof and streaming across the window. I have never seen so much water fall in one length of time, even in the wildest Vancouver Island storm. It is truly an experience.

We are staying three days in the home of the Past President of the Bayombong Rotary Club's home. Nonette Tiam has been more than gracious in her welcome, beginning with a fine meal and permitting us free access to her incredibly lovely home. We are so fortunate to have been accepted by another Filipino Rotarian with such great hospitality.