Gulayan Sa Paaralan @ Impact Learning Center

In the Philippines, one in three children does not have adequate food.  They come to school hungry and this effects their ability to learn.  Compared to other Southeast Asian countries, the Filipino people rank the lowest in vegetable consumption.  They average 40 kilograms per head each year as opposed to the Chinese who consume 250 kilograms per year. The lack of food and the type of food consumed has resulted in stunted growth, 33% of all children, and anemia, 20% of all children.

In response to these problems, the Department of Education started a program called Gulayan Sa Paaralan in 2011.  It is a five year project with the goal of planting gardens in all 42,076 elementary and secondary schools across the Philippines. The project's cost is approximately 50,000 pesos or $110 dollars per school.  These funds are used to purchase seed.  The GPTA must become stake holders because soil supplements, fruit trees and labor are needed to make this project work. Education Director Armin Luistro has faith.  He has instigated awards and training to promote organic gardens.  He has mandated that the food feed the children and if there is excess then it can be sold to enhance the learning at the school where it was grown. The hope is that this project will be up and running in all schools by 2016.

At Impact Learning Center, each class is responsible for a plot of land or an area of ground. They weed, plant and mulch their area.  As the okra and beans begin to grown, their excitement rises. If the present garden thrives, then there is a possibility of planting the hectares behind the school that are currently home to the neighborhood cattle. In the front of the school, the teachers used bags to plant vegetables in because the soil is too hard to promote growth. Also, with the threat of a typhoon, these bags are portable and will not be lost if they can be moved in time.

All in all, the project works at the school where I am assigned because the teachers and parents make it work. 

Kawa Kawa Hill

Kawa Kawa Hill is located in Tuburan, Ligao City, Albay, Philippines.  It currently has the Stations of the Cross and a life size replica of the Last Supper. A church is being constructed next to the Carmelite Nunnery due to the donations of Fernando Gonzalez and his wife. The fourteen stations are accessed by means of terraced steps that lead up the hillside.  Each station has life size figures that represent Jesus and his last journey.  You can sit and contemplate or continue trudging to the top of the hill where you will have breathtaking views of the Kawa Kawa of bowl of the crater.  On this grassy plain, children and adults engage in sporting events and picnic.  There are terraces of plantings that are native to the Philippines and some like the pineapple or guava, are harvested when the fruit is ripe.  On the crest of the hill is a rest house and a CR or comfort room. Fernando greeted us as we began our climb and he is often on the site to talk to the visitors.  There is no entrance charge.

Rambutan or Hairy Cherry

The fruit of the rambutan tree is hidden inside the "chom chom" or messy hair as the Vietnamese say. Rambut means hair in Malaysia. The small oval shaped fruit is hidden inside the red casing that protects its soft leechee-like fruit.  At the center of the rambutan is a seed.  These seeds are mildly poisonous if eaten raw.  The fruit is a round or oval drupe and it is juicy and delicious by itself or added to a salad. The trees themselves are either male or female and can grow to 50 or 60 feet.  Just grasp the fruit on either end and twist, the shell splits apart and the center is revealed.

Pamulaklakin Forest Trail

The Pamulaklakin Forest Trail is in the Subic Bay Freeport area. It cannot be accessed by jeepney or public tricycles. This is an ecological area that has been preserved by the indigeneous Aetis Tribe.  The Aetis have a village on the land and they live there with their families in much the same manner as their ancestors.  Hunting wild boar and plant gathering are a part of their daily lives.  We did not trek up to the Pastolan Aeta Village but you can book a tour and take the two hour hike (each way). The tribe suppliments their life style by allowing tourists on their land in guided tours.  These tours are educational and interesting.  The tour that I took focused on medicinal plants and the materials needed to build huts and living quarters.  After hiking for a couple of hours, we settled into an outdoor cabana and watched while Mang Casey, an Aetis elder, showed us how to make eating and cooking utensils from bamboo.  Mang has let jungle survival courses on the land.  The participants are not allowed to take food or water into the jungle but instead are trained to live off the land.  US military forces have trained at this site in the past.  If you come to the Zambales area, I highly recommend this trek.

Host Families

Len Len (host sister), Roger, Faye, Evelyn and myself

Roger (host father) and Evelyn (host mother)

Pepi (host sister) and her niece, Faye

My home was on Diwa Street.

Evelyn and Roger going to the palenke

Ryan (back), my host brother, and Barda (right), my host brother/sister

When the Peace Corps sends a volunteer to the Philippines, they place them with a "host family".  This is a household that has been carefully selected so that the volunteer will benefit from exposure to a Philippine family experience. The families that the volunteers live with vary greatly.  I was placed with Evelyn and Roger.  They have lived their whole lives in Dinalupihan and are the hub of their family.  Roger has a good job driving a provincial bus.  Evelyn stays at home. Ryan lives in the home, Pepi, boards at her college during the week and Len Len has been living with her fiancé's family until her marriage on the 31st of August.  Barda has a home of his/her own. On any one day, I will visit with ten to twenty relatives and neighbors.  This gives me an opportunity to practice my Tagalog and to view the day to day life here.  Bingo is a weekly "sugal" experience.  There is also cooking, laundry (mostly done by hand) and gossiping.  Having the PC in town has been a positive experience for the town and has given everyone a glimpse of the American culture.  I feel that I have gotten so much more then I have received from the experience.

Peace Corps Group 271 and U.S. Ambassador Harry K. Thomas

Ambassador Harry K. Thomas visited with Peace Corps volunteers at their temporary home in Olongapo.  The group was displaced due to flooding in Dinalupihan and the ambassador took time from his busy schedule to offer sage advice and words of wisdom.