Rolling Along!

A little update from Alana.  Re-adjusting to Philippine life is going well.  Jumping right in to a busy schedule has helped!  

9 to 15 May 2011:  Padayon Leadership Camp

Camp was in a rural village a couple hours outside Manila.
Got to meet, and work with, some really amazing Peace Corps Volunteers.  

We trained a group of 14 adolescents who would later
facilitate camp for a group of 40 youth.

Training included many team-building and
problem-solving activities.  

Bonfire and S'mores!  (First time for most of the participants)

The whole group at the end of the week.

19 May 2011:  Return to site

I had forgotten.  Somehow I forgot the reality of the heat, the cool bucket baths, the rice, the stares, the very small, brown people and the incessantly fast, indiscernible language.  I don’t fit in here.  And that’s okay…  I have a big smile and a shrinking ego.

My first day “back to work,” I ran into Beth.  She welcomed me back with a smile and the statement, “you gained weight.”  She smiled the entire time.  There was no judgment in her statement.  “Yes… I gained weight.  How are you?”  Humility shrinks ego.

I hopped a pedicab to get to the mall quickly this morning.  While we traveled across Dumaguete, I marveled at the sight.  There’s a lot of construction going on in town; new big buildings and paving of roads.  Every worker I saw- digging ditches, pounding nails, laying cement- all of them in tsinelas (flip-flops).  I’m thankful for my Chaco’s and hope gratitude trumps ego.

I participated in a life-skills group this afternoon.  After completing a series of brain- teasers, the facilitator began to process the activities.  He made statements like, “all of these activities are applicable to our lives” and “ you have a mind, use it.”  I wondered if the youth could make the jump from his vague statements to real-world application.  And then he called on me.  “Ate (a polite title) Alana, do you have anything to add?”  Here I was trying to keep my ego at bay, and he called me out.  “Sure, I have some thoughts.”  I went on to explain how the best inventors use problem-solving and “thinking-out-of-the box” skills for innovation.  I used local examples such as the use of jeepneys (for mass transport) and bucket baths (to conserve water) to highlight creative solutions … I was on a roll!  The youth smiled and chuckled as I spoke.  I found great examples they could appreciate and they even understood my humor.  After he closed the circle, I thanked him for letting me join the group.  His response, “Yes, thank you, too.  I’m sorry the students could not respond to you.  They are just not used to hearing English from a foreigner.”  I asked, “Was I speaking too fast?”  He replied, “Maybe a little, and it just sounds funny to us.”  Turns out, they were not laughing with me…