things aren't always what they seem

You've heard me cry about how sad the animal situation is here; it is so hard to be a cat or dog on Boracay.  Well a few days ago I was in the office at school when I heard a yowling cry.  Oh no, that is never good. 

My friend O had been walking home when she heard what she thought was a human baby crying from the trash heap.  Digging through the trash pile she was sure she was going to find a baby tossed out with the trash.  What she found was a plastic bag, moving.  Once open O could see that in the bag was a kitten, not a baby thank God.  But now what?  She could not tie it back up and replace it in the trash pile.  So she brought it to me, the sucker.  I swear she totally begged me to take this kitten.  Man says I should have walked away.  You can see that did not happen.  I named him Olive after the friend who found him.  I considered Baggie or Ziplock, but not everyone thinks I'm funny.   We will not keep him.  Either we'll find him a home once he's stronger, or he will be a school kitty and I'll have him in my classroom.

Gizmo wants to eat Olive.  Is he not the cutest puppy ever?  This photo is by my son, Yosef.  Well done!

What do you see on your way to work?  This is what I see as I WALK.

It is so nice to know that the Coast Guard is here if you need them.

The Honelyn I think is one of those slimline cigarette boats, very fast.

And in case the Coast Guard boat is busy, there is the Tornado to lend a helping hand.  It is always available, really, it never moves.

You can just see a kitesurfer and a windboarder in the sunrise.

This is kiteboarding time.  People are here in our hood from all over the world for the supreme boarding.

Two boys on their way to school, walking.  I am getting fit and trim and so is Man with all of this walking.  I don't think our boys are gaining any weight, just height.  

Thanks much to my Aunt S and Uncle T we do art projects once a week in my class.  This week we reviewed what we know about fish, and did a unit on Dr. Seuss.  The kids then drew and painted Dr. Seuss type fish.  This is a total hit.  We love art and combine it with science and literature whenever we can.

Happy Thanksgiving!  We get to have turkey on Saturday.  Our friends the R family have a contact with a turkey breeder (?)  sounds funny but I think that's it.  Anyway we will have turkey roasted on a spit. 

Love to all.

you live where and with whom?

I am frequently amazed and saddened by how many families are fractured on this island.  It seems to be the norm for family members to live where the work is.  This might mean that mom is in Dubai as a house helper, dad lives in Manila where he makes a better wage, and the kids live with a relative, or some of the kids live one place and some another place.  How does that work?

We did hire a house helper, Rhea; she cleans, does a bit of laundry, and cooks - my favorite part is the cooking!  We pay her almost twice the going wage, that would anger many folks we know here on the island, we are supposed to keep the status quo.  Rhea's kids live on Mindanao with her parents, her kids are 8 and 10 years old.  I can't imagine our two youngest living on a different island from us, an island that is very far from here.  Rhea is hoping to bring her family here at the end of the school year so if we can help her save away some money to help with that, then that's awesome.  We pay her 500 pesos a day for about a 9 hour workday.  That equals about $11, she comes twice each week. 

Many of my students have parents who live off island or out of the country, they have not seen their mom or dad for years.  Remittances are huge in the Philippines.  Remittances are those dollars made by overseas Filipino workers and sent via wire transfer to remittance offices here in the Philippines - they exceed $15 BILLION every year!  This country totally depends on remittances, it's as if it is part of the plan to keep the county afloat without actually having to generate jobs.  But what is the cost?

What happens to the family structure when it is so fractured? and what are the long term and short term effects on community?  From living here I can tell you it is not healthy.  I don't know if what I am doing at Agape school will make any difference.  Even if some of my kids go to high school (it's likely only half of the 16 will get to go to high school, grades 7-10, or will even want to) there are no jobs for them.  I frequently have to remind myself that even if we are here to help just one, it is worth it.  If we change one life, it's worth it.  But when we examine our relationships here I can see that we do more than that, not that we cause amazing shocking changes, but we do have important influence.  The missionary dads like Man who spend hours playing with their kids in a culture where most dad's don't hang out with kids - that is a good thing.  A teacher at school who is due to have a baby has shared much of her private life with me and I am honored, and prayerful.  Anyway, there is more than just one and it is worth counting the cost.

Our dear friends the R family moved to Panay Island to be closer to their calling, the Ati village at Carla.  

A church getting a makeover.  See how the front part is just a facade?  The church is just the bottom level.  I find that much here is just for appearances sake, it does not matter what is inside so long as the outside looks good.  

Argh!  Did that poodle say left at the fried chicken stand or right....

The house that remittances built.

The house where remittances ran out.

A church that did not stick.  For a "Christian" nation, there are very few Christ followers here.   In a country where a large bottle of rum only costs about $2 US, Rum is worshiped. 

Our puppy, Gizmo.  He is a super puppy by my standards.  Or maybe it is his nanny that makes him such a good puppy.  Shadow, the black dog, comes over every day and plays with Gizmo, disciplines him and makes him sleep all night!  The best puppy is a sleeping puppy.  

More of a statement than a warning.  

Man and boys just returned from having all you can eat at Mongolian Grill with our mission group guys.  We've had a great day.  Spent the morning at Diniwid beach, amazing snorkeling.  I hope some of you can come visit us, it is really God's beauty in a tiny nutshell, and man's weakness in full display.  Quite the conundrum. 

Jump!

This week being a holiday week we decided to get off this little island for a day and do something crazy.  So we went cliff diving.  I use the general 'we' as I don't actually feel the need to jump into water from way up high, about like jumping from a perfectly good plane.

From on the water the jumps look so easy.

Having 2nd and 3rd thoughts about this deal.

EQ on his way down.

Our friend Russ doing a falling statue sorta jump.

One of the R boys sucking up courage.  

 

A jump from the 15 meter.

The boat we road in on.  Totally like pirates!

Biz thinking deep thoughts.  

Houses on the hillside.

One more jump!

Heading home after a good, long day of water and thrills.  

Man played pirate barman, Ahoy!

Is that a stick in your toe?

This week has been a holiday week between the 2nd and 3rd quarters of school here on Boracay.  As a family we decided one of our favorite things about being here is going to our feeding site, Laguna; so for holiday we committed to spending more time with the people there. 

This is Joseph, along with his pet rat.  On Tuesday we were hanging out with the kids, playing some ball, when I looked up and saw Biz dragging Joseph across the sand.  I yelled to Man and we ran to help.  Joseph had stepped on a branch with thorny, three inch spikes, like an acacia tree.  A spike stuck out through his toe, and the branch still hung from his foot.  Folks hollered for the village 'nurse' and he came running.  He broke the spike off on the bottom and tried to pull the remaining part through Joseph's foot, it broke off.  After about 10 minutes of him trying to dig out the thorn with tweezers and nail trimmers it was clear that Joseph would need a doctor.  But they had no money.  There is no way most of the villagers can go to a doctor.  Many married folks don't wear wedding rings; they have already had to sell them at the pawn shop to pay for life. 

Thank God we were there, and yes, we have money.  Man took off with Joseph and a translator, Jerry.  Jerry said a trike would cost too much money - a total of maybe 30 pesos or 70 cents.  Rather than argue Man went along on a run through villages, yards, down alleys, coming out near the hospital.  There are clinics on the island, and I think any of them would be a better choice than the hospital, but to the hospital they went.

Once they had arrived the doctors said they could not treat Joseph without a release from a parent, so Jerry set off to find the mom who does pedicures on the beach.  After mom arrived they were all set.  Well, this is the 2/3 rds world, right?  The doctor ordered x-rays, they x-rayed the boy's leg!  On the second x-ray they did get his foot.  The doctor used a flashlight to look at the x-ray.  They decided to cut and dig...but no clean blades.  So Man had to leave the hospital, find a pharmacy, and buy a clean blade.  They numbed Joseph's foot and dug around for awhile, bandaged the foot, wrote a prescription and sent them off, after Man paid the bill of about 1,000 pesos, or $22.  The pharmacy that had the blade did not have antibiotics, so they found another pharmacy, filled the script, then man bought Joseph dinner as the little guy had missed our feeding. 

Tonight we went to check up on Joseph and make sure he is actually swallowing his antibiotics.  Many locals believe you can just break up the pill and rub it on the outside, that way they have lots of pills to share.  At the village we met Joseph's aunt who explained that they had a problem.  Joseph had a reaction to the antibiotics (the prescription just has a number so I do not know what they gave him), the mom had borrowed money from a neighbor, gone back to the doctor and had a different antibiotic, but now they needed to pay the neighbor back.  Again, we have money - very odd feeling to be the super wealthy - so Man went and paid the neighbor back.  Joseph's foot looks pretty good, not bandage, but he did have some shoes on.  His foot was hot so I pray that his mom is really good about getting him to take the pills, and that the doctor got all of the stick out.  They did not give him a tetanus shot.

Joseph again, before the stick. (kiddo on the left)

The Teacher, always with a book.  Many of the kids love books, some of them can read.  One girl loved a book so much that I watched her bury it in the sand, think better of that, dig it up, then stand there and look at me.  I know she wanted the book.  Giving things opens up envy, and anger, and abuse.  It is hard to know when to help and give, and when to just bring things to share.

What is the future for these girls?  Do they even dream beyond this island?  They will likely become masseuses, girls for rent, manicurists, or a combination of the three.  I hope we can make a difference,
I dream of finally getting the shelter built, tutoring, giving beyond what little they are getting.  We are working with our Pastor to get a rent deal on land at the feeding site so that when we build the shelter we will have a long term rental agreement on the land that will hopefully keep the land owner from taking down the shelter. 

And this is what it looks like in front of the Laguna site.  People come from all over the world to kite board here, it is some of the best in the world.