12 – MassKara

Following the GK expo I remained in Manila for another week to welcome the next batch of AYADs and participate in their orientation. This actually helped to consolidate just how much we have learned culturally, professionally and personally in 3 months as we assisted in presenting some of the sessions. It was weird not being the new kids anymore! It was also great to catch up again with the other AYADs and compare experiences.

At the end of the week, most of the AYADs (except for the newbies) boarded the plane with us and came to Bacolod for its annual MassKara Festival which culminated in a 3 day street party over the weekend of the 17th/18th/19th October. This year’s theme was “Bacolod, City of the World”. We had 13 people sleeping at our place, mostly on makeshift matresses on the floor but we had an absolute ball! Bacolod certainly knows how to party!

The festival is the same age as me. It began as a reaction to the economic downturn of sugar cane in the early 80’s. As this province relies heavily on sugar cane for its livelihood, everyone was suffering hard times. To turn the mood around they decided to hold a festival. The concept of the festival is the wearing of smiling masks, to symbolise happiness in the face of adversity.

A long stretch of the main street near our place was closed off to traffic, strung with banners, lined with food stalls and dotted with stages for live music. The street was packed with people, especially when it was time for the evening street parade known as Electric MassKara (a concept only in its second year). The costumes were incredible – mostly made from found materials and designed to represent local produce or icons. Each troupe came from a particular suburb (Barangay) and were competing for the honour of being crowned winner of the street dancing competition of MassKara 2008. It brought back happy memories of High School Rock Eisteddford days!

Not content with merely watching the parade, us AYADs all bought matching masks and fabric sashes, choreographed some very daggy dancing and joined in! Everyone on the street was stopping to take photos of this crazy bunch of Aussies! The other AYADs had the luxury of going back to their respective towns and cities throughout the Philippines but Aruna and I still have to live here! In the days since the festival we have received a number of comments from colleagues and friends who apparently saw us dancing at MassKara, thankfully mostly positive that we were getting into the vibe of the festival!

11- GK Expo

On the 6th of October I went to Manila to assist with the preparations for the 5th annual GK expo on Saturday 11th. I was hosted for the week by a lovely couple in their early 30’s. Dylan is English and his story is a very inspirational one. He grew up in a poor area of Leeds but became the 9th richest man in the U.K. by age 25 thanks to the dotcom boom. But, while he was doing very well for himself, he found little fulfilment in his material wealth. On a visit to the Philippines he was so inspired by Tony Meloto (the founder of GK) he left his former life behind to work fulltime for GK. There’s one GK village called the BMW village because it was funded by the sale of his BMW in the UK! He ended up marrying Anna, the daughter of Tony Meloto and they now have two very cute little daughters.

Before the expo preparations got into full swing, Leonard, another AYAD working for GK in Manila, took me on a tour of some of the GK villages for a day. It was interesting and useful to compare the urban scale housing in Manila with the more rural scale villages we build in the province.

The site for the expo was situated on some yet-to-be-developed land in the midst of the richest area of Manila. There couldn’t have been a more poignant location to highlight the divide between rich and poor. As the preparations for the expo got underway, I began to realise just what a massive organisation GK is. 1,500 villages are now up and running throughout the country, a further 200 proposed or being built. Each village has an average of 50 houses. So that’s 75,000 families (375,000 men, women and children) that are no longer slum dwellers but own their own home and are functioning members of a community. And to make it all happen are the thousands of committed volunteers who donate their time and talents and the partners who provide the funding. 25 of the 1,500 villages have been funded by organisations, corporations or individuals in Australia. The goal is to build 7,000 GK communities by 2010.

During the expo preparations, I was tasked with supervising the construction of the 35x15 feet billboards to mark each of the 4 corners of the expo site. I was given a team of 16 volunteers (beneficiaries of GK houses), some scaffolding, steel poles, steel bar, wire, clamps and the 4 posters. Meanwhile, within these 4 corners, the site was a hive of activity with other teams of volunteers from all over the Philippines erecting tents, building model GK houses, laying paving, erecting displays, constructing a stage etc etc.

Participating in the preparation for the expo was a good opportunity to meet people who work for GK all over the Philippines and had also come early to help out. It was interesting that with each new person I met, more or less the conversation followed the same pattern. Firstly it was assumed that I’m part of Singles/Couples for Christ or at least a member of a partnering Catholic organisation. I explain that I’m actually not catholic, I was sent by the Australian government, on the Australian Youth Ambassador for Development Program. From the ‘youth’ in the title it was assumed I’m still studying. They find it hard to believe I’m already an Architect. So after we’ve established that I’m 28, but no I’m not married yet, and much to their astonishment, no I don’t have any brothers or sisters, the next question is, “so your parents were ok with you leaving them for 10 months to come to the Philippines?”. First I have to explain that I haven’t lived with my parents for about 6 years now. That causes more confusion because in the Philippines it’s rare to move out until you’re married and even then, your spouse will probably move in. Which usually leads to the question where do my parents live in Australia? Then I have to explain that my parents are divorced. This then leads to a discussion about how divorce is rare and frowned upon in the Philippines and the expression of pride in the Philippino family values. (Yes, the close family ties is a very admirable trait of the Philippinos, but neither does it mean that every marriage is rosy!) So then they want to know if I was not living with my parents, where was I living? I just say renting because by this point I’ll only make things worse by saying I live with my boyfriend! If they haven’t already asked by now, the next question will for certain be whether I have a boyfriend. When I say yes, we’ve been together for 4.5 years there’s outrage at why we’re not married yet, when are we getting married and how many children are we going to have?!

Anyway, getting back to the expo. On the big day itself, over 100,000 people attended travelling from all over the country and the world! They included residents of GK villages, builders, workers, volunteers, partners from the government, corporate sector, academia, NGOs, religious organizations and civil society. The intense heat neither drove them away nor lessened their enthusiasm. The day began with a fun run at 5.30am which I was registered to participate in only I overslept and missed it! I spent the morning walking around the exhibits. There were mock up GK houses. There was an environmental section with information on low cost sustainable waste water systems, solar lighting and ventilation. A model farm was also set up growing vegetables. There were market stalls selling products made in GK villages as part of their livelihood program, such as bags made from recycled juice packets and candles with the GK logo on them. There was also information for prospective new volunteers about how they could get involved in any of the 7 GK Programs (Community Infrastructure, Community Health, Child & Youth Development, Productivity, Environment, Hospitality, Community Empowerment). The 2 major mobile phone companies were also on hand to register people to receive text messages whenever there is an event happening in your area where volunteers are needed.

Meanwhile,for the kids, a continuous birthday party was being held in celebration of GK's 5th anniversary. Many of the kids who attended have never had a birthday party or a birthday cake before in their lives.

In the afternoon there was a play and a choral performance by groups of young performers from GK villages. The choir is a bit like the Philippino version of the Choir of hard knocks. These were kids that before GK came along had no prospects and condemned to a life of poverty. Now they are part of a world class choir. They recently returned from performing in Indonesia!

Later in the afternoon was the “March of Heros” where 40,000 rich and poor marched together. There were everything from companies who had donated funding, to volunteers who had spent their weekends building. Some even had decorated floats for the parade.

My new Manila friend, Imelda, came to the expo and brought a couple of friends with her. We had met on the plane from Bacolod and exchanged numbers. She travels around the Philippines regularly, selling a line of Philippino sandles to the department stores (and with a name like Imelda, being in the shoe industry seems very appropriate!) They were impressed by the expo and the work of GK and wanted to know how they could help. They said it was a little bit embarrassing for them that a foreigner like me comes here to help out the poor in their country and yet there are plenty of Philippino’s who have the time, talents or treasures but don’t share them. Imelda committed to donating sandals to all the children in a GK village near her home town.

As it got dark, everyone came together for a concert in celebration of the work and achievements of GK. Well known Philippino artists performed for free. The concert was streamed live via the internet worldwide. There was such a happy party atmosphere and the night culminated in a fireworks display.

We were all wearing the GK Expo T-shirts that had been printed for the occasion with the catch cry “Walang Iwanan” or “No-one is left behind”. So it was rather ironic that at the end of the night, my lift left without me and I had to catch a taxi!

All in all, the Expo was a great event to be a part of and a fitting celebration of a very successful organisation and its achievements … with plenty more work to be done!

10 – Jordi’s visit

The day that I had been counting down to for weeks finally arrived! It was fantastic, and also slightly surreal to be meeting my boyfriend at Bacolod Airport and introducing him to my new home town. It actually enabled me to view my surroundings afresh through tourists eyes and realise after only 2 months how many things I have already become accustomed to, such as the humidity, the crazy traffic, the population density and the stark contrast between the haves and the have nots. Jordi commented particularly on the glitzy modern malls abutting shanties constructed on sections of leftover pavement with whatever materials can be found.

I took him on a ‘day in the life of Jen’ (much like blog post 9!). At a café where I sometimes go to skype, one of the waitresses recognised him saying “you’re the one on the computer screen. You were eating ice-cream last time, I was the one waiving in the background!” True enough, he had been eating a bowl of ice-cream last time we skyped! How funny!

He met and had lunch with some of my work colleagues, which, like all the Philippinos he encountered, he found to be such friendly, smiling and welcoming people. He was roped into giving an on-the-spot appraisal, from his Water Engineering perspective, of a new ram pump system GK are contemplating trialing at one of the GK villages! Ironically, when we recently assessed GK’s priorities for future AYAD’s during the workshop in Manila, the No.1 priority is a Water Engineer! Perhaps we could have been posted to the same place after all. On the other hand, with me in the Philippines and Jordi soon to commence his assignment in Vietnam, it’s like getting “2 AYAD experiences for the price of 1” - with the opportunity to visit each others places and compare experiences.

Jordi’s 6 day visit also gave me a good excuse to be a tourist in my own province, and visit some of the local attractions I had not yet had the opportunity to see. At the Negros Museum we learned a bit more about the importance of sugar cane to the island. Then we had a night in the mountains and 2 nights on an island resort. As it is off-season at the moment, we had the places practically to ourselves. But, in both cases, it was the journeys, more so than the destination, that were the most memorable. We travelled everywhere by local transport allowing us to appreciate more intimately the impressive scenery - bamboo huts beside cane fields, rice terraces with a steep mountain backdrop, the odd caribow wallowing in a muddy creek beside the road, and palm fringed coastlines with more palm fringed islands on the horizon. It also allowed us to experience cultural quirks, such as the man who got on the jeepney, nonchalantly cradling a rooster under his arm, the rice out to dry on the roads creating an obstacle course for traffic, and the many cute school children calling out “Hey Joe” as we pass. (This is a throw back to the US Occupation and refers to GI Joe as it is assumed we are Americans). Initially this was slightly disconcerting for Jordi who sometimes gets called Jo by family and friends, and he was wondering how they all knew his name!

The main attraction at Mambukal Mountain Resort is the 7 falls walk. We hired a friendly guide to take us on the steep muddy climb. We were very impressed with his ability to nimbly scamper ahead in a pair of thongs, not drink any water and all the while weaving bracelets from rattan. He gave us one each when we reached the top. The falls were nice but the best part was coming back. Our guide said, “Well, we could back-track the way we came, or, I could take you across the river here, up this hill and onto a road that has a great view and, if we follow it, takes us through a village and back to the resort”. Great idea. And it just so happened to be school home time and all the children were highly amused by a pair of “Joes” walking through their village!

Costa Aguada Island Resort was not great for snorkelling and didn’t have much of a beach but it wasn’t really beach weather anyway. We got to experience a real tropical island storm! The curtains in our little bamboo cabin were being blown horizontal by the fierce wind. We were well looked after while we were there and the fresh fish was delicious. But most importantly we got to spend some quality time together after 2 months apart, with another 3 months of separation ahead before we see each other again at Christmas time.

Back in Bacolod, we rounded off Jordi’s visit with a Jazz concert at the Casino – again a first for me. Much to his disappointment, we didn’t fit in any Karaoke – next time for sure!