Back to the Field

I spent most of these last two days with people from Habitat for Humanity International – the person in charge of Global Engagement/Tithe (yeah, that’s the name) and her fundraiser for the Asian diaspora. We first went to Calauan. It’s the fourth time I’ve made that trip, but it really is a showpiece for what Habitat is doing, and the cleanup of the Pasig River is a good sell. I learn something new every time; we were shown around by a community organizer, who talked about some of the trainings that the new arrivals get. One of the livelihood projects there involves making bags from old newspapers and magazines – I finally bought one. The project has changed somewhat since Ondoy – in addition to the Pasig River squatters, other people who lost their homes will be moved there. There wasn’t as much traffic as there was on the Wednesdays when I’ve been there (Wednesday is a big church day), and with a lot of conversation, the four-hour round trip went quickly.

We then went to Pasig I – this is the build site where I went with the Japanese students, and where our PCV build will be next week. They’ve made a lot of progress since I was there! I’m looking forward to the build. We passed streets where there was a mudline to the second story. Then it was on to the floodway, from which the Pasig I homepartners will be moving. I hadn’t been there yet. First, we went under the bridge; 23 families live there. Everything was wiped away during the floods, and they have rebuild rickety homes with no electricity. Further along the floodway were some more substantial houses, but the ones that weren’t wiped away were still submerged. The people were very friendly; it was rewarding to go there and be reminded who this is all for.

Today, they met with people in the office – media relations, communications, resource development, technical and also with the board – in the morning. I probably could have learned something had I been in the meetings as well! Oh well. I wrote an article for the Peace Corps Response newsletter about the Metro Manila RPCVs’ role in and reaction to Ondoy; I had seen everyone a couple of times this week and interviewed or got a writeup from them.

In the afternoon we went to Marikina – I followed in Hillary Clinton’s footsteps, because we went exactly where she had been the day before! Unfortunately, that’s as close as I got to her (she swore in the new volunteers today, which is pretty cool for them). Unfortunately for her, that is! When I noted elsewhere that Hillary was coming, a friend commented, “is that another hurricane?” Might as well have been! We went to a barangay hall where the shelter repair kits are being handed out – the second phase of the disaster response is repair, in which Habitat is giving lumber and tools to people whose homes were damaged but repairable. We walked along the river and saw several homes with new construction thanks to the kits. The houses had been completely submerged – people spent a day on their roofs, waiting for the water to recede, or ran for higher ground. Then we went to a school that had been an evacuation center and had been the recipient of the toilet build. The toilets are now a permanent part of the school grounds – sustainability! From all those people hanging out on every floor of the school I went to for the toilet build to smiling kids in classrooms and playing in the yard…life goes on.

Swearing-in was here today; in Morocco the new SBDs were sworn in yesterday. The ones who were first-years during my second year are about to COS this coming week, and the people who were sworn-in just before I left are the second-years now…life goes on.

In other news – Mt. Mayon, in the Bicol region, known for its perfect-cone shape, started spewing ash this week. I was thinking of using my remaining vacation to spend a long weekend around there – just as well I haven’t bought a plane ticket yet! Of course, ash doesn’t mean an eruption will follow anytime soon, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

Manny Pacquiao is fighting this weekend. The best boxer in the world, pound for pound, they say. I’ll be on the beach, but I think most of the rest of the country will be watching the fight!

I have an RPCV friend who has a job with the census. I have been worried that I won’t be counted – my stuff is in storage! My voter registration and driver’s license have my old Chicago address (this is fine with the state of Illinois). But when the census takers show up there they won’t find me. I wrote to Senator Durbin to ask about this and haven’t heard back. Well, my friend assured me that I will be counted as long as I am in the U.S. on April 1 (interestingly, Peace Corps volunteers overseas are not counted!). For example, if I’m at my sister’s, I’ll be counted there. So the question is – who wants me to be visiting them then? I can be bought!