Site Visit

As I write this I am listening to “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” playing from the stereo of my mga kapit-bahay (neighbors), and while I doubt that they have figgy pudding here, it sure feels cheerful. A moment later, the music transitions to the same pop punk song they play every morning, which I hated at first but now find myself singing every word and humming it, thinking about Daang Bago when I am not at home. Moral? One adjusts to things here. We were in language class the other day, cramming in final bits of Tagalog because our Language Proficiency test is coming up very soon, when our teacher got a call that we had to leave right then, to consolidate to one of the other cluster sites nearby. It was basically for an emergency drill in case we needed to be evacuated from an unsafe area at any point, but it still left us asking “what? why?! what about class??” But we adjust, to uncertainty, confusion, and to change, because in an environment where weather changes daily, people may lack basic resources and necessities, and time is very flexible, we must be flexible too.

This all leads me to my site visit, just over a week ago. I traveled with my Supervisor to my site in the northern part of the province of Pampanga. My site is only three hours from Daang Bago, but it feels like a different Philippines. It is a landlocked agricultural community at the base of Mount Arayat, and it is incredible. There are rice fields and more rice fields. The houses in my barangay are a bit farther apart from one another, and the people seem a bit quieter. It is peaceful. Hopefully there will still be children running everywhere, anywhere, always, because my favorite part of the day in DB is walking home from class, hearing “Hello Ate Jessica!” and giving high fives to dozens of kids.

My new host family, well now that was also an entirely new situation. Nanay Flor and Tatay Boy in DB speak near fluent English, have one of the nicer homes in DB, and generally give me lots of freedom. This new family was sweet of course, but Nanay and Tatay could not speak much English, and I did not have the freedom and alone time that I have been spoiled by for the past 2 months. It was different. Something I would certainly get used to, but different. The turning point, unfortunately, was the second night. I was alone with my younger host sister, parents off at a fiesta, myself attempting to sleep. Lights off, and suddenly a bat swooped down, a foot from my head, then back up to the rafters. Another minute, another bat. I turned the lights on, no help. There was a family of three or four bats and they wanted to fly! Okay, let me back up so you can understand the house structure. Many houses here have completed walls and roofs, but there is no ceiling. Thus, there is a gap between where a rooms’ wall ends and the angled tin ceiling covering the house. So if an animal, be it a rat or bird or spider gets into the house, it is free range to travel anywhere, even if the doors to the rooms are closed. Later picture may help explain. Any who, there I was trying to sleep, no parents home, gradually getting pooped on, and I won’t lie, quite scared (Tuttle, I think your story might have added to that fact... thanks love). I made some phone calls, but there was really nothing anyone could do then. So eventually I got to sleep, blanket wrapped over head and sweating.

My site, DSWD HAVEN Pampanga, houses over fifty girls ranging from early twenties downward, and all members of some form of abuse, neglect, or exploitation (sexual, trafficking, etc.). A number of the girls have young children, newborns, or are currently pregnant, and there are also a few young girls, though the majority is teens. They greeted me with a welcome ceremony, complete with traditional dances, welcome songs, personalized drawings, and of course, a dance to the unofficial theme song of the Philippines “Nobody but you” (Please, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pesYa5bI5hU&feature=channel). I was intimidated by the sheer number of new faces and by their strong personalities. I did observe some of HAVEN’s group sessions, toured the barangay, made courtesy calls to the barangay captain and the mayor, and finally met my host family, but I was reserved and insecure the entire time. I was nervous and shy and anxious and really quite intimidated by dozens of new situations which I was no longer experiencing with the comfort of my co-Trainees, compounded by the bats and a broad feeling of doubt. It was a sharp contrast to my (general) confidence and composure back in DB, and it was a challenging four days.

Now it has been a number of days and though I have been an emotional rollercoaster, I have taken the time to think and think and I have adjusted to the idea of HAVEN, of Magalang, Pampanga, and of leaving my comforting surroundings. I am still nervous, but I am excited to put my ideas onto paper and start some real work.

More to come soon on the amazing Day Camp we completed yesterday with our practicum site kids, future projects, and the fact that in 3 weeks I will swear in as a volunteer……. Yow!!!!