Merry Christmas!

Yes, it seems like the last 3 months of celebrating are coming to their peak this week. School ended yesterday with an impromptu Christmas Program. We danced and sang and played games. It was a lot of fun. The students exchanged gifts. I have a pile of about 100 homemade and very creative Christmas cards.

Over the weekend I traveled to the Provincial Athletic Meet to support our athletes. We joined with all of the schools in Mt. Province to play about every sport you can imagine (no football) including chess, table tennis, and martial arts. There was also a cheer dance competition in which our entire 4^th year class competed and took 3^rd place.

This week there is rooster’s mass, starting at dawn every day. On Christmas Eve I will attend the midnight mass and the program here before heading to my host mother’s home town for  Christmas Day. I’ll let you know how it is.

Hope all of you are enjoying the holidays. It hasn’t been at all stressful here like it sometimes is back home. Maybe because we have stretched it out since September.

Cheers!

Pictures!

Sorry bad news. I've been taking lots of pictures but most of them are of me and the students and co-teachers. In order to protect them and follow the peace corps policies, i don't feel too comfortable posting them so you will just have to wait until I get back! However, if I were able to post them, this is what you would see:

• Me teaching my first year students the Cupid Shuffle.
• Leading a small workshop with the community members and teachers.
• The making of a music video with English Club members to "Where is the Love?" by the Black Eyed Peas.
• Our Piso War fundraiser (similar to the coin wars you did in middle school)
• Our Christmas Party at Mt. Data Lodge.

I miss everyone back home and hope you are all doing well. Time is flying by here which I suppose is a good thing. I hope you are all getting in to the holiday season because I am buried in it here!

The Hunt for Kalimansi

The hunt for a lime. But it was much more epic than that.

This struggle starts a few days back at an English Club meeting. We were planning the Christmas party. The members suggested I make something and I offered to make cole slaw. The next day an enormous bag of cabbage was waiting for me when I entered the school. The way home that afternoon was dark and drizzly. I passed a group of students and asked where I could get a carrot. By the time I arrived home there was a carrot waiting for me on the counter. Then I remembered I need a lime, and so I asked my host mom where I could find one.

“You’ll have to go to the top of the mountain,” she said with her back to me, busy preparing dinner.

I must have thought she said “on the mountain,” and since we lived on a mountain, I turned to my host brother and asked if we could go right then and there. He looked doubtful at first but then agreed to take me to find the lime tree.

As it turned out she didn’t simply mean “on the mountain.” She meant it when she said “the TOP of the mountain."

So, in rain-boots, my winter coat and my flimsy umbrella we started our hike. The wind chose to pick up within a few moments of our departure and my umbrella became useless. Up we went. Up and up. There were a narrow set of concrete steps built into the mountain. Near the top we left them behind and began trekking through the rows of potatoes in the terraced gardens. It was muddy and I nearly caused a landslide. After 25 minutes we reached what must be the peak of Mt. Data. The wind was whipping the rain around us and we looked down on a large garden with rows and rows of cabbages. Trees were scattered about. I followed Rajiv as he carefully wound his way toward a specific tree that was set alone from the others. The Kalimansi Tree. I was exhausted but my host brother immediately set to picking the small limes. I stopped him after some time.

“Uh, Rajiv? You know I only need one right?”

It was dark when we arrived back home. I was soaked and muddy. But I felt like I just returned home with gold from the top of a sacred mountain. The coleslaw turned out horrible. I got a little zealous with the lime juice that I was so proud of fetching.

The Mt. Data Dilemma

After speaking with the community officials, students, and teachers, I now have a more detailed and complete picture of Mt. Data. I completed a small workshop in order to assess and prioritize the needs of the community. I was surprised to see that nearly everyone agreed on the most pressing issues here: Conserving the forest and sustaining the watershed. But these problems are not easy to fix, and the more questions I ask the more complicated it gets. First a quick history of this place.

Back in the day, the Americans ran a sawmill here. That explains why so many of the hills are bald here. Even above the school is a huge mound of sawdust which they have graded flat to use as a track and field. People from all over the region came to work at the sawmill. When, the Americans left, they turned it over to the Filipinos. However, shortly after, the National People’s Army burned it down because they refused to pay them tax. With no more sawmill to employ the people, many simply moved back home.

What is left is a small community of maybe 100 families. The only source of employment here is the Mt. Data Lodge, and the two public schools. However, even most of the teachers return home every weekend, and simply board here during the week. Many other families also leave to go back to their families on weekends and holidays.

This seems to be the biggest barrier to solving problems. Although the community is populated, very few call it their home. Mt. Data is not their place of origin, so they feel no responsibility to sustain it. The community officials have found it difficult and nearly impossible to encourage people to care for the land or volunteer labor to help clean or provide deterrence.

Mt. Data is a farming community, so the land needed for gardens is just as important as the forest. The people seem to understand this dilemma, but aren’t sure how to go about setting it straight. I hope I can help. They are interested in building a fence around the water shed, and then someone asked if I can help with “social fencing.” I said of course I’ll give  it a shot.

As for the school, the teachers would like some trainings and workshops on library management, counseling, and teaching techniques. The students would like sports equipment and more computers. I’m excited to get started helping them.

Of course I forgot my camera again so pictures will have to wait!