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May 11, 2004 - Back on the homefront. I have been the lucky recipient of some neat gifts. Kay (Catherine's nickname), picture left, models her lei and bag from Mrs. Joyce Yoshimoto. We received a box full of crafts from her for the children. They enjoyed receiving the gifts and it was a lot of fun to pass out. I felt like Santa Claus. Below, Kay shows off a pile of snacks and goodies from my friend Manako in Japan. It is a lot of fun to share different foods and snacks with my friends. Everyone likes Macadamia nut chocolates but fortunatly for me I am the only one who likes furikake. We are planning to cook udon and soba later to share with others. | ||||||||||||||
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| My wish for the summer was to do "constructive" things with the children. I got some clay and other art supplies. I am not aware of many formal summer activities, so I try to do things informally. I have not been so successful. It is hot, so kids don't want to play soccer. I invited some girls from the UP-Tacloban soccer team to visit us next week. Hopefully, I will get some students to come. I am planning on showing the film Bend it Like Beckham. A side story: I now have 2 copies of the film sent to me by Peace Corps friends who heard I was teaching soccer. I watched the film with my host family. I thought it very inspirational for sports minded girls. My host sisters did not seem to enjoy some of the humor. I hope the kids will like the soccer scenes. Instead of playing sports or reading (I bought a whole bunch of Newberry winners while in Manila), I have been playing Playstation with some kids. I figure it is exposure to something new for the girls. Many have never played it before. We play simple games like Crash Bandicot and Tekken. |
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| I don't think I ever believed that "rural-life-is-better" than urban life. I appreciate some qualities of rural living such as the slower pace of life (no traffic jams or stoplights here), safety and family closeness. Children grow up in a safe and loving environment. My Peace Corps experience has made me more pragmatic in my views of development and technology. One of the disadvantages of rural living is lack of exposure to technology. Exposure is important for children because they can adapt and learn to use new tools so easily. From being no fan of video games, I am now hoping that the internet cafe gets a few Playstation 2 consoles soon. The Local Government of Carigara is again offering 15 grade 6 graduates a full scholarship for high school studies.. The DSWD interviews each family and I tagged along. |
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| The family above lives in a shelter similar to what you see on your right. For people in America, it might be hard to visualize dirt floors and nipa palm roofs. The woman above has 4 children, one of whom is applying for a scholarship. She does not have a husband. She is 2 years older than me. The interviewer asked how much monthly income there was. Her answers was "waray", meaning none. It was a priceless education for me. Many of the families are farmers or laborers. Life is tough. There is food and water and shelter. People do the best they can to live their lives. The academic and policy books I read would dismissl it as "rural poverty." | |||||||||||||||
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| A tale of 2 children: In the picture on the left are 2 friends of my students. In our culture whenever a person takes a trip, they bring back pasalubong (gifts) for everyone. I brought back imported chocolate. Usually, students are quite shy about accepting anything from me. Not so for these girls. They wanted another bar. Well, I had to share with others so that was not possible. | |||||||||||||||
| These children saw the things I had, lots of chocolate and new peso coins I saved to send to our epals. They wanted more choloate, money, a cellphone. No, that's silly. They took them anyway. It has become normal for me to let kids use my phone, walkman and most anything I have. They will play with it and return it. It has become normal for me to trust the children. So I was surprised by their actions. It was not a big deal, the things are not so valuable. But it gave me an insight into different people with different values and perspectives. To them, I am a foreigner, with money, so I should give them. Another lesson learned in my life. | |||||||||||||||
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