June 2010 Archives

On a positive note these challenges have been forcing me to grow and adapt. I must say I'm looking forward to outreach, I'm also looking forward to getting off the base!

Prep for outreach has been kinda stressful (and expensive). I've had immunisations for Typhoid, Tetanus, Polio and Hepatitis A and US$450 extracted from my wallet for the pleasure. This was also the same day that I went cold turkey on coffee and spent the evening lying down with a huge headache. I can't recommend this to anyone but I'm on day 6 without coffee and my sleep patterns are improving.

I've bought a nice backpack for the trip. It has good padding, lots of straps for adjusting and the bottom compartment can hold my camera bag so it means I won't have to strap that bag to my front! I've also gone and bought an Apple Macbook Pro 13" and Adobe Lightroom 3. I realise I have spent months arguing against macs for the cost and features, however, since prices are lower here and I got a student discount on the top of it I caved. When I get back to NZ I'll decide if I keep it. I also bought more memory cards and a reflector for tricky light situations.

As for the other stuff on outreach Kayla and I have been given the responsibility of organising who will speak where and what we will speak about. Bethany and I are organising a mini DTS for when we go to the Bible College in Bambang. We land on Thursday night and we have to preach and lead worship on Saturday to a youth group!

As for what we will do we're going to be a bit flexible. We know where we will be and that we will be working with Project Hannah for a month, churches, a bible college and we will be going to see a tribe, but the details haven't been nailed down (and are subject to change anyway). You can look at the map to see where I will be when.

Our leaders are doing a great job organising things and this weekend we are going camping, just our team. I'm hoping I can get to know everyone better and start to grow some good friendships that will last for outreach and afterwards. Our visas will hopefully come back in the next day or two also, right now we're waiting on them.

This probably means I won't have time to blog again until I get to the Philippines, if you could pray for safe, stress free travel I'd really appreciate it :)

As you may know I am going to the Philippines for outreach. Part of this my prep is to do a research report on the country I'm going to, which has been time well spent. I don't want to turn up without an appreciation for how these people live and how their country developed.

 

Carbon dating puts the first known inhabitants of the Philippines at 23,800BC. They were displaced by the Negritos at some stage and the Negritos were eventually displaced between 4000BC and 1000BC. The inhabitants were split into four main groups: hunting tribes, warrior societies, petty plutocracies and principalities with ports.

In 1521 the Spanish find the Islands that make up the Philippines. There are 7,107 of these islands. This begins the story of abuse against the natives. In 1565 Islam reaches the main centres through traders. Despite the abuse, the Spanish rule does help unite the islands politically and brings more trade to the Philippines. This trade brings with it Chinese cultural influences.

In 1762, as part of the war between Britain and Spain, Britain captures the Philippines and holds it for 2 years until the Spanish retreive it. Spain however keeps committing atrocities.

During this time Christianity is brought to the Philippines.

1898 was a very busy year. The American battleship Maine is suspiciously sunk. This leads to the Spanish-American war. In the same year Spain surrender Manila, the capital city, to America. The Philippines declares itself to be a Republic but America do not recognise this. The Philippine-America War ensues from 1899 to 1902, ending with an American victory and up to 1 million casualties.

In 1916 some hope emerges when America grants autonomy to the Philippines, however this took until 1946 to come into effect, partly due to the Japanaese occupation of the islands during WWII.

Needless to say, the Philippines have had a pretty hectic time. I am quite glad I'm going in with my New Zealand passport, I'm hoping the Americans in our team won't get a negative reception.

I have had the chance to chat with some people who have lived in the Philippines. The majority of people speak English, however they can be quick to give answers, even if they haven't fully understood the question. This means that when we are discussing important things we should spend the time to repeat it once or twice in different ways so we know we are on the same page.

The hospitality of the country is so great that a family will empty it's cupboards to feed us if they invite us round to eat. We need to make sure that we pay for the food we eat and if we pay in advance then there will be less tension at the dining table.

The people do not have as much regard for time as in Western cultures. If they say "we will arrive after lunch" then they will arrive between lunch and dinner. This may prove to be a test of patience for me, who is very time-orientated. The benefit of this is that they will be willing to spend time with us for photos, we have been told the children will love our cameras.

The two men in our group (yes, I'm not the only one anymore) will need to travel with women from our group for two reasons. We do not want guys on their own to avoid giving the wrong impression over there. There is sex tourism in the Philippines and we just don't want to make anyone nervous when we talk to them. The other reason is we don't want the girls to be a target by being on their own.

The same applies if we want to move someone for a photo (to remove a busy background, etc.) - we need to do it with a group of people, even if we only want a shot of a single person. This will make the group feel included and put the subject at ease.

We will also need to protect ourselves against misquitoes. They carry all kinds of nasty bugs, some of which I'll be immunised against. The biggest risk is malaria, there are lots of strains and even though I'll be taking anti-malaria drugs I may still get it if I'm exposed to a resistant strain.

We won't be drinking any of the water there unless it has been boiled. We need to be on the lookout for undercooked green vegetables too.

And we're less than 4 weeks from leaving - isn't it exciting?