NewsReporterInTheFamily: Alana wrote a newspaper article that came out in The Negros Chronicle, Vol. 38, No. 10, Dumguete City, Phillippines, Sunday, August 14, 2011, P12.00. Her article was on page 21!!! Tup-tup . . . go Alana!
Peace Corps In Dumaguete (The Silent Volunteer Workers)
United States Peace Corps Volunteers Serve In Dumaguete City.
Written by: Alana Fournet, US Peace Corps Volunteer, Philippines Batch 269
“Where are you going?” It’s a common phrase we hear walking the streets of Dumaguete. Sometimes I wonder if the question is meant literally, or if it’s a greeting like the American “What’s up?”
It is, however, a question we ask ourselves often. Where are we going? As Peace Corps Volunteers, we set out from all states of the USA to continue John F. Kennedy’s legacy (the three goals of the Peace Corps): to develop capacity in men and women of interested countries through sharing of skills, to promote a better understanding of Americans in countries around the world, and to return understanding of the world’s vast cultures to America.
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the United States Peace Corps. In those 50 years, over 200,000 Americans have served in countries around the world, assisting with projects from English education to home construction; from HIV/AIDS awareness to water sanitation; from life skills for youth to livelihood projects for adults.
The Philippines- the second country to begin a Peace Corps partnership- has participated in hosting volunteers the past 50 years. There have been over 8,500 volunteers to serve the Philippines. That means over 8,500 Americans have been invited into Filipino’s homes, fed, cared for, taught how to get around by peticab or jeepney, instructed in the local language, taught how to cook local foods, and loved by the Filipino people. To date, there are over 200 volunteers serving on Luzon and in the Visayas.
In Dumaguete City, there are currently four volunteers. Three serve in the Education Sector: Akesa Mafi- Negros Oriental High School, David Jo- Dumaguete City High School, and Jacques Fournet- Negros Oriental State University. One serves in the Child, Youth, and Family Sector: Alana Fournet- Little Children of the Philippines. In the surrounding area, there are three Education volunteers: Evelyn Powery- Amlan High School, John Wood- Sibulan High School, Dan Tremblay- Siquijor, and one Coastal Resource Management volunteer, Jay Spear- Zamboanguita.
So after almost a year of living in the Philippines, we, in our very American way, can recite a list of accomplishments. Between us, we’ve started a remedial reading program, created a scholarship program for high school students, assisted youth in creating a World Map, and coached a school’s first girls’ basketball team. But this is just a list of where we’ve been.
Peace Corps history has shown that our service is not just about our checked off list of “To Do’s”, but more about, in a very Filipino way, the relationships we build. Our service is about being in Filipino culture… to appreciate “Filipino Time”, to (try to) speak Bisaya, to understand the importance of multiple generations living in one household, to embrace brown-outs as an opportunity to slow down and listen to our neighbors sing, to eat with our hands, and to approach crossing the stop-light free roads as an adventure. We have learned new skills we will take back home with us; like raising our eyebrows to communicate, using only a fork and a spoon at meals, and honoring our elders with a greeting of respect.
We don’t always know what is around the next corner of our Peace Corps experience. So “Where are we going?”… Diha lang.
The ending is a pun and actually funny for Filipinos and because when they ask Filipinos or Americans, "Where are you going?" (or in Cebuano, "Asa ka moadto?") it is like when Americans say, "What's up?" We really don't mean to be asking what is above, we are saying hello. Filipinos use that expression to say hello and a perfectly acceptable, normal answer to a Filipino "Where are you going?" is "diha lang" or "over there." They get a kick out of fresh learners of Cebuano when we actually stop and try to explain where we are headed.
Baybay Update: John Baybay and I continue to look for each other at the start of the MWF 8-9am classes for our "fist pound." Since I've started taking stats, John has been late for one class and made it on time to four.
"Give Me Your Water" Update: Last week our classes were practicing for the Speech Choir performance (more on that in another Update) in the shade of the trees in Freedom Park, which is across the street from the NORSU gates. While sitting on the sidewalk watching I heard, "Hey Peace Corps!"
It was the guy that was hassling me about my water bottle around two weeks ago. I wrote about the incident in a previous Update. His mother is involved somehow in the Tanjay courts, which are held in a building down the street from NORSU.
He seems a little buang-buang (crazy). I've seen him 2-4 times since our original contact and each time he yells out,"Hey! Peace Corps!" and I shoot him a peace sign back, a head nod of acknowledgement, a smile, and keep walking.
As I was sitting, watching the class practice in Freedom Park, he walked up behind me and just started talking to me. Every time I see him and every time he talks to me he is wearing earphones like he is also listening to a radio or some political propaganda that has him all wound up.
He came right out and said to me, "I don't believe you're in Peace Corps . . . I don't believe you're in Peace Corps!" I didn't really want to respond to him yet eventually pointed to Ralph, who was giving the class direction in the shade, and said,"Ask him." This guy then looked at me with a really aggravated face and said, "You know what I do to people like you? . . . I kill'em!"
I must admit this took me by surprise and I just gave an uncomfortable smile back, then when he stared at me and repeated "I kill'em!" I quickly shot back a, "Ngana-man?" (why?) and he said something about not trusting Iranians, Chinese, or Americans and then quickly shuffled off while still talking to himself.
There seem to be a handful of Filipinos who are convinced that Peace Corps Volunteers are just CIA members sent to their country in disguise. I seem to fit the profile and have been asked quite a few times if I were CIA.
Now I had an eye on this guy everywhere he went, really wondering what he was listening to in those earphones. I watched him for the next 1.5 hours as he walked circles around the outside of the park, chain smoking, talking loudly to himself, sporadically breaking into an air guitar performance, every now and again just spurting out a sentence to people around him or to no one at all as he stood alone (as far as I knew he might have an imaginary friend).
He ended up leaning against the fence behind a tree where he thought I couldn't see him and watching our class practice while smoking and continuing his air guitar performances. A little later he walked out and yelled out to me, "Hey! Peace Corps!" like nothing had happened . . . like he hadn't passively threatened my life! I shot him another peace sign and a smile while wondering if we just made up or if he was letting me know he was watching me.
This guy really reminds me of a few other people I've known in my day; intelligent, a bit crazed, constantly aggravated, easily agitated, harmless, yet potentially dangerous.
A few years back I was attending a national counseling conference in Atlanta. I tend to get to these conference days early and attend every session I can. On the second morning I parked a half-mile away from the conference center and was walking to the early session. There were no other people nor cars around as I pulled up to an intersection next to another big man. We both just stood on the silent corner looking forward waiting for the light to change and then he said plain, clearly, and powerfully, "Are you happy?"
I didn't know what to make of it and stayed quiet a few second until he repeated, "Are you happy? Are you satisfied?" He never looked at me. It was just the two of us standing there and now my sweat glands were opening up and I could feel adrenaline coursing through my body preparing it to run. He went on saying, "I told you this was going to happen, we talked about this and I warned you that we would get into this kind of trouble with . . . " I realized he was talking to himself as if he had two heads and I walked forward into the street leaving him on the corner having, no doubt, a very intellectual conversation with himself. I regress.
Back to Freedom Park. Eventually, the "Headphone Assassin's" roaming found him standing behind me on the sidewalk for a few minutes. I had just stood up and stepped away from the sidewalk into the grass. I wasn't too worried as there were tons of people around and still kept my peripheral vision on him. He eventually walked away.
It'll be interesting to find out if this plays out any further. Personally, I've had my fill of crazed people and hope his mother finishes with the courts and hauls him back to Tanjay with her.
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