archive of the ‘poverty’ topic
I pray that John and Kim and their sons accomplish all that they desire in their visit to the U.S. that they return safely to the Philippines.
Today Mack came to the house around 3:15 to do the homework that he didn’t come here yesterday to do. Unfortunately he didn’t have poster board, so he and Dominic went to Baguio City to get groceries and cartolina (paper) while I walked to Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Turning Point. »→
This afternoon, after the rain had abated, I gathered all the recyclables in our flat into a bag, picked up a camera and a package from my mother then hiked up to street level to coast down to Baguio Gold to deliver recyclables and gifts from my mom for my friends down in the valley. »→
Typhoon Fengshen crossed central Philippines on Saturday. Here in Benguet Province we didn’t have horrible weather to suggest that a hurricane was lashing the Philippines with rain and causing tremendous flooding. But I read on the Internet of the storm and the calamities that it’s causing. I was saddened. The world has so much suffering, and this nation has seen so much suffering.
I received a nice birthday card from Shannon and Miranda. Thanks! It was mailed on June 9 and arrived in Baguio City on June 18. No package has arrived yet, but tomorrow I will go to the city for groceries and supplies, and I’ll look in my mail box again. Thanks again to Joyce and Quin in Lynn Haven for your support for the family in Baguio Gold neighborhood that we’re trying to help. »→
Warm thanks to my parents and to JoAnn P. for depositing donations for the A-V-C-A family’s poverty relief. The monies donated will pay for the kids’ inoculations, asthma medicines, a water tank and chicken feed. »→
This morning I got up and watched the IndyCar race in Fort Worth Texas on ESPN. It began at 8:30 Saturday evening there and 9:30 a.m. Sunday here. While I watched the broadcast, Nick walked up to Monterrazas Village to visit Dominic and me.
I asked why he didn’t ride his bicycle while I thought that perhaps pedaling uphill is too difficult, even in low gear. Nick said that Andy had deflated the rear tire on the rough, rocky road of Baguio Gold. Okay; a replacement inner tube will cost only 60 pesos. »→
I awoke earlier than usual to head downhill to Baguio Gold to meet Mack to ‘hunt the wild bamboo.’ Although I can see stands of 2″-6″ bamboo many places, they’re on private property. Mack had said that we could cut 6″-8″ diameter ‘Mindanao bamboo’ then pay (to a landowner) 100 pesos per three-meter length. As we wanted free bamboo, we needed to trek into the boonies to find some hidden clusters. We walked down the horribly rough, rocky, muddy and slippery ‘road’ (I hate to term it a road), and after a mile we diverted into the woods to feed the mosquitos and hike to the river. »→
While I await Mack so that we can return to the city to buy chicken wire, vegetable seeds and a 5-gallon jug water dispenser for his family, I will write. In my medicine-induced sleep this morning, I had vivid dreams, including one about volunteering in a Filipino school. I dreamed that a high school vice principal, whom I met yesterday, hassled me about fellow American volunteers tutoring and coaching sports after school. She was adamant that I was supposed to collect money from them and give it to her. So I’ll tell you what I didn’t write yesterday about Mack’s education. »→
I walked down to Baguio Gold again. Isn’t that how I begin several posts? According to a Digital Globe topographic map, our home, which is lower than Baguio City, is 4609 feet (.873 mile) above sea level. The Baguio Gold Barangay basketball court is 4002 feet ASL. So the vertical drop is 607 feet in about a mile. I don’t know the walking distance. Out here in ‘the country,’ we’re not on maps of Baguio City and its environs. I estimate 5/6 of a mile.
(Dominic) After surveying the land, Brian and I have discovered that the Philippines government is not very accommodating of foreigners who want to set up a for-profit or not-for-profit organization. Apparently, many bad actors have come to the Philippines for less than noble purposes and have hid behind not-for-profit organizations in order to operate drug rings, sell pirated videos, prostitution, or whatever. »→
The A-V-C-A (four surnames) family in Baguio Gold consists of a grandmother, whom I address as Nanay, and four youths whom I’ll refer to as Mack, age 18, Pat (16), Andy (13), Nick (11), Charlotte (7) and Rose, age 6. »→
Today I walked down to Baguio Gold borough again, to play Sepak Takraw with the youths, using the new ball and net. Well, I hardly knew the rules, and I certainly didn’t have the skills and ‘the moves,’ such as the bicycle kick. So I thought that I’d photograph the kids playing while I learned the game.
Shoe boxes for the poor – from Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child
Today we drove south to Ucab Barangay Hall to deliver another letter for the Barangay Captain, then dropped off Shekinah, Deborah, Marriele and Marlene in Garrison Barangay to canvass for more kids for future distribution of gift boxes.
Ricardo and I went to Calvary Baptist Church on Ferguson Road in Baguio City to ask about collecting hundreds of gift shoe boxes from Operation Christmas Child for the poor kids of Gold Creek, Gumatdang, Mangga and elsewhere. Rick got agreement from the distributor for five hundred gifts.
We certainly didn’t have room in the little Samurai for all those, so we went toward Baguio Center Mall to find a jeepney driver to hire to transport 39 cardboard shipping cartons from Calvary Baptist Church to the storeroom at Turning Point. »→
This morning I rode a jeepney down Tuding Road to Turning Point Home at the bend in the road at “Fatima Hill” then drove a Suzuki Samurai down to Gumatdang with Marlene and a friend after Ricardo on his scooter. Dropped off Marlene and friend then drove back to Turning Point with John Rey aboard. I wondered why they didn’t ride a jeepney or why I didn’t take Rick also in the Suzuki. I rarely know what we’re doing or why. I only know that I’m the only licensed driver available when Ely is at work at APTS. »→
As I write this, I hear a repeated shrill shriek or whistle coming from the world outside. It sounds like a cat whose tail has been stepped on, or a little girl shrieking, or a steam whistle or … I don’t know. It’s an irritating, eerie sound, irregular in intensity and meter, but almost every second.
(Dominic)
For those of you anticipating a post about some little-known species of marijuana found here in the Philippines, well, I’m afraid you will be disappointed. This place can be paradise — in a way — for those with some means, but not to smoke a fat one. Ironically, I am listening to a favorite song of mine from 1967, White Rabbit, from the group, Jefferson Airplane as I write this. I love the sound and beat of the song, but the lyrics aren’t for me. »→
As today we don’t have internet access at home and thus Dominic couldn’t work on the internet, he was game to go downhill with me to revisit our new friends in Baguio Gold neighborhood. It’s not in Baguio City, of course, but that’s the name. We took beverages and cups and oranges and a new basketball and hoop nets down the steep street, past the ore ‘refineries’ to the kid’s neighborhood near the elementary school.