Dieter (and other happenings)

Time to check in with the ridiculous adventures of Keith and Jenna…

So tons of stuff has happened since the last time we posted a blog. I’ll do my best to try and get you guys up to speed without taking to terribly long to do so, but let’s be honest, I can get a little long-winded sometimes, so bare with me.

The biggest news was probably having Dieter with us for ten days starting on October 31. We picked Dieter up at the airport around 11:00 and as you can imagine we were very happy to see him. Something funny happens when you’re really looking forward to something and it seems like it’s so far away, but then one day what you were looking forward to finally happens. It’s just kind of funny. You have all this build up and hype about something, then all of a sudden, there it - or he, in this case - is. It’s like everything that happened between the last time you saw the person and the present suddenly slips away and it seems like you never left them. Of course that’s not what really happens, but it’s just something I’ve noticed feeling when I see people I haven’t seen in a while. It’s really special when you can just jump right back into life with someone and pick up right where you’re at.

We left the airport and headed to the mall to grab a bite to eat and do a little shopping for the coming week. Over lunch we got up to speed with all of Dieter’s travel news and talked about what we’d be getting into while he was in town. I should note at this point that Dieter wasn’t feeling 100%, physically speaking. I only note it here because it will come into play later in the story. So we finished lunch, got some groceries and started our trip back to the farm. On the way back to the farm Dieter mentioned that the landscape and houses on the side of the road were very similar to what he has seen in South America. So if you’ve been to Paraguay, you’ve got an idea as to what it looks like around the Philippines, or at least Mindanao.

Over the next couple of days we really just got settled into life on the farm with Dieter. We walked around the farm a lot, had lots of coffee and talked for hours about all of adventures in the Philippines as well as what’s up next for us. We were hosted by the Perrines for a few meals and even got them to come to our place for a dinner that Jenna and Dieter made together. For those of you who don’t know, one of Jenna’s favourite things to do is cook with her Dad. I like it too cause it means dinner is gonna be really frickin good! Not to say that dinner isn’t good when it’s just Jenna cooking, they’re both amazing cooks. We also tried to play a round of golf during Dieter’s first week, but it didn’t go so well. We played the first 5 holes of the front nine and then got rained out, so we took a break for a bite to eat. After we finished our meals, we headed to the back nine where we thought we’d try our luck again. We didn’t make it very farm before the rains picked up again. We finished the 4^th hole on the back and decided to call it a day. It wasn’t the most successful round we’ve ever played, but it was fun none the less.

Dieter’s health didn’t really improve during his first week and we were beginning to get a little concerned. We had plans to head to Davao for the weekend, but with his health issues and general concerns about flying we weren’t really sure what to do. On Thursday night we decided it was time to head to the hospital to see what in the heck was going on. A short examination, one quick test, a simple prescription, 236 Pesos (around $6.00) and an hour later, we were on our way back to the farm feeling much better about making the trip to Davao and knowing Dieter’s issues were limited to a minor infection.

So early Friday morning we boarded one of the Perrine’s planes and began our voyage back to Davao. Flying back to Davao is very cool for a number of reasons: first of all it means that you are only travelling for about 45 minutes as opposed to 6 to 8 hours of driving time. Secondly, you get to see what the area really looks like from above which really drives home how much reforestation needs to happen in Mindanao. It’s also just really cool to fly in small planes. We touched down in Davao at around 10:00, grabbed a bite to eat and made out way to Peacebuilders. After some introductions and some chatting, we ordered lunch with the entire staff and Dieter got up to speed on who everyone is and what they do. After lunch we got settled into our hotel, had a bit of a rest then met up with Dann and Joji for Dinner.

Saturday morning we headed to a small island that is about an hour and a half away from Davao via boat. We went there with our friends from the Kroc institute at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. We spent the day relaxing in the sun, doing some snorkelling and having a bar-b-q right on the beach. It was a good time, as it always is at the beach. Once we got back to Davao we spent a little time tooling around the city and showing Dieter what our life was like before we came to the farm. By the time we had everyone where they needed to go and everything done we needed to do, it was all we could do to get some take-out Chinese and crash in our motel room. We were spent.

Early the next morning we made our way back to the airport, boarded the plane and were on our way back to the farm. The rest of Dieter’s time here was pretty mellow. We worked on some coffee trees, cooked and ate many more awesome meals and started refinishing a table for John. Before we knew it, it was time to head back down to Cagayan to take Dieter to the airport. Saying goodbye was lame, but it was ok since we knew it wouldn’t be long before we would be making the trip back to Vancouver. We are so blessed that Dieter was able to visit us and we had a wonderful time.

Moving on…

On the 14^th of this month, we were visited by Stacey and Lorie Toews and their 4 children. Stacey and Lorie make up one fourth of the owners of Level Ground, the company we shipped coffee to in Canada earlier this year. They were here to visit Coffee for Peace as well as the Perrine farm in order to give everyone some good ideas as to how we can improve things here regarding every part of the coffee process, as well as the fair trade aspect. It was nice to have them here and to get some very positive feedback on how things are coming along on the farm. Stacey and Lorie have been all over the world and have seen many different ways to care for coffee. Their excitement for things here was inspiring and rejuvenating.

Speaking of the coffee, things have been going very well lately. Many of the issues with the processing have been addressed and as a result have yielded some very noticeable improvements in the quality of the coffee. We still have a ways to go, but things are definitely heading in the right direction. In the past few weeks we have shifted our focus from working on the processing center to working on tree health and soil management. We are now preparing things for next year’s harvest, so we are very hopeful that by the time harvest happens, everyone will know what to do and the harvest will be plentiful. Long story short, things are going very well here.

This past weekend we headed to the small island of Camiguin for a little rest and relaxation. Our good friend Oliver, who lives on the farm from Tuesday to Thursday, invited us over for the weekend and hooked us up with the local scene. We stayed at a little resort called the Golden Sunset Beach Club (sounds like a retirement community, right?) which was right on the water. The resort is owned by a lovely couple, Phil and Sue, who took excellent care of us even shared a few meals with us. Sue is a Filipina but she has this thick English accent which kind of throws you off for a second. The reason for the strange accent is that Phil is British and they lived in England for over 20 years. They were great.

Oliver hooked us up with a motor bike for the weekend, so we were able to have quite a bit of freedom to explore the island as we saw fit. The island is only 62 kilometres around and has only one major road, so it would be pretty hard to get lost. The locals are very friendly and almost everyone you meet says hello. We saw most of the sites which included hot springs, a waterfall, a sunken cemetery that is now in the ocean, a blacksmith shop, and the remains of a church that was destroyed by a volcano in 1876. The only thing we didn’t really get to experience was the ocean life. The weather didn’t really co-operate with us so we were unable to spend any real time in the water. We tried to take a boat to very small island called Mantigue, which is known for being an excellent place to snorkel, but while we were in the boat on the way, we got stuck in a storm and chose to turn around. We were in a pretty small boat, maybe 16 feet long, when the weather took a turn for the worse. The winds picked up, which in turn increased the size of the waves, maybe as much as 8 to 10 feet by then, and then it started pouring down rain, and we saw lightning on the horizon and heard thunder. That was the last straw, so we decided to run for the shore. By the time we made it back to the beach we were about 0.5 kilometres south of where we wanted to be because you just couldn’t see where you were going. Just as we were getting out of the boat, things started clearing up and it looked like we should have pressed on. We decided we had enough adventure for the time being and made our way back to the resort.

We left Camiguin on Tuesday morning, but had several stops to make before we got back to the farm. Our first stop was at a store called Salay where locals make handmade paper products that are sold to Ten Thousand Villages; very good decision to make that stop, especially as we're starting to pick up souvenirs for people back home. Next up was a baker on the side of the road where we picked up some buko (fresh coconut) pie. We had sampled this pie while we were on Camiguin and thought it important to pick up an entire pie for our consumption. Next we hit up Oliver’s new wine and spirits store where we made a short stop then headed out to do a bit of grocery shopping. After a bite to eat and some grocery shopping we were finally ready to start our last leg of the trip, back to the farm.

On Thursday night we had a fabulous Thanksgiving feast that Jenna had been preparing over the previous two days. We had dinner with Oliver, John’s son Paul, Ate Kriz and Reg. It was a wonderful meal that was lots of fun and something I’ll remember as a highlight in the Philippines. As I posted on my Facebook status earlier in the day, I have so many amazing things to be thankful for that’s it hard to know where to stop. My life is overflowing with blessings from God and love from so many amazing people. I am more blessed than I deserve to be. This Thanksgiving is one I will never forget.

As of yesterday, we only have two more weeks on the farm before we head back to Davao where we will be for four days before heading back to Vancouver. It’s insane to think about how close that is and we are bursting at the seams to see all of our friends and family members. But before we go there are a few things we need to wrap up. Since the coffee farm is running smoothly now, we will shift our focus to reflection and documentation for our final assignment. Yesterday we sat down with Ate Kriz and Reg to outline a book that we will start putting together over the next two and a half weeks. This book will (hopefully) put all the pieces of the puzzle together and will serve as a guide to the best practices for coffee planting, tree care, harvesting and post-harvesting activities. This book will be the capstone to the work we have been so blessed to participate in over the past two and a half months.

We would ask that you would continue to pray for us as we begin saying goodbye to the people and places that have shaped these past ten months. This time has been challenging, frustrating, very rewarding, lonely and joyous for us. Please pray that these next few weeks will be very meaningful and effective for us as we wrap things up and that as we make our way back home, our transition back into North American life can be as smooth as possible.

What's up now

It’s our sixth week on the farm now, and we thought we’d update you on what’s been going on for the last little while.

The Coffee:

The processing area here on the farm is running fairly smoothly now. The rain shelter, constructed with bamboo and heavy-duty, transparent plastic, is finished and in place, providing protection from rain for the drying coffee beans. We now have enough drying space to the handle the current production levels. The fermentation process seems to be going well and improving the beans too. And we finally have a decent depulper! It separates at about 80% without cracking too many beans. The quality of the coffee here is slowly improving.

We’ve recently been visiting some of the farming communities that Hineleban buys coffee cherries from. Some of them are deep into the mountains, and just getting there is an adventure. The other day we literally drove down (and then back up) a dried up river bed. I thought the jeep we were riding in was going to tip over a couple times! The purpose of these visits is to meet the farmers and introduce Coffee for Peace as the buyer of their beans. It’s been an interesting experience, as we’ve heard the questions, concerns, and complaints of these farmers who are our target communities to aid. They’re struggling with making ends meet, which is both depressing and motivating for us as we work to improve their situation. Many of them work for less than three dollars a day, which is ironically about the price of a cup of coffee. It’s sobering to hear their stories, but also gives us reminders of why we’re doing what we’re doing.

We’re looking forward to having Stacy Toews of Level Ground, who is our coffee importer in Canada, visit Peacebuilders, Coffee for Peace, and specifically us on the farm to see the operation here in November. It’s a little bit nerve-wracking to think of this coffee expert scrutinizing the operation, but we’re excited to hear the feedback from our buyer.

PAR:

On the 10th of October we traveled to Malaybalay for the fourth and final Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) seminar with the group of pastors from Region 10 that we have been training since August. The difference between this PAR session and the others is that this session focuses more on how to apply what you’ve learned in PAR in the real world. It was very inspiring to see how these pastors have taken the PAR message to heart and are extremely motivated to use their learnings. Bishop Efraim Tendero, the national leader of Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (of which the Region 10 pastors are members) gave the address at their graduation dinner and it proved to be an inspiring speech, encouraging these pastors to be inclusive and active. The pastors are already putting plans into action to promote the peace and reconciliation values they’ve learned, which is very exciting for all of us at Peacebuilders to see.

After 3 days in Malaybalay, we traveled back to the farm with the entire staff to do another PAR training for the Values Formation Officers here. This group did the three PAR sessions consecutively, so it was an intense three days. The sessions were mostly in Tagalog and Visayan, so Keith and I weren’t required to attend, but we did participate in the Armed Conflict Area Survival Training (ACAST), which is part of the third session of PAR. Although Keith and I had done ACAST back in February, and I had done it once before that when I was in the Philippines in 2010, it was fun to participate again and refresh our memories about what to do in crisis situations.

After PAR was finished we had the first chance to sit down with the entire team and John and Renee. We had a really fun night of singing, talking, laughing, making promises to get healthier, and hearing some of John’s crazy stories from his adventures around Bukidnon. It was a really special night with everyone.

New Staff:

As one of our initiatives at the farm and the surrounding area, Peacebuilders is placing Peace and Reconciliation Teams in three of the communities that the Hineleban Foundation works with. There will be three teams of three people (one leader and two support staff) who will be working on community development and peace and reconciliation advocacy. We’ve hired four new staff members for this assignment so far, and we’ve had the chance to get to know them in the last couple of weeks as they’ve been living with us on the farm. They’re all younger than us, but seem like great people with excitement and enthusiasm for their new assignments.

Unfortunately, one of the new staff members had to leave suddenly last Saturday. You may have seen in the news that nineteen members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines were killed in Basilan by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front last Tuesday night. The AFP ventured into MILF territory without informing the MILF of their presence, resulting in the death of nine AFP soldiers, and who knows how many MILF (that info is usually not mentioned). One of these AFP soldiers was our new staff member’s cousin. His family, who live in Luzon (the Northern part of the Philippines), naturally became extremely worried about him staying in Mindanao after this family loss, so they told him he had to leave. It was sad to say goodbye, and he seemed quite upset to have to leave, but we trust that somehow things will work out for him and his family. Consequently, we are now looking for another staff member.

Speaking of losing people, we’ve had quite the week: John’s mom passed away peacefully on Thursday afternoon. She was 93 and was very ready to go, so it was mostly a blessing. Also, our Kuya, Elwyn, lost his father on Saturday after cardiac arrest. Finally, an Italian priest who has been working in Mindanao for 30 years was murdered last week outside his church. He was a friend of Peacebuilders and an amazing activist for the poor of Mindanao. It’s been a bit heavy with all these losses recently.

Another Adventure (Keith’s turn to write):

We had been saying recently how awesome it was that neither one of us had really gotten sick during our stay. So far...

Last Sunday we went down with the team to Cagayan de Oro city to do a little grocery shopping. While we were in the city, we decided to get a pizza to take home with us that we would eat later that night for super. After a long evening run and a staff meeting, Jenna and I got set up in our room to watch a movie (Ghostbusters, naturally) and enjoy our Garden Special pizza from a favorite local pizzeria, Yellow Cab. Dinner was great and, as always, Ghostbuster was a huge hit. (Side note: I’m really sad that we won’t be around at Halloween, so we thought this movie would curb our Halloween appetite a little bit.) Upon waking up the next morning I knew I was in trouble. Little did I know it would be a record breaking day for me. Shortly after our morning coffee break, I excused myself to our house and spent the next several hours in server abdominal discomfort. Jenna joined me at around noon. I’ll save the unpleasant details, but suffice it to say Jenna and I were very sick.

Read this at your own risk: I should tell at least one story to let you know just how pathetic Jenna and I were by the end of the day last Monday. We went to sleep at around 8:00 PM, but I was abruptly woken just before 9:00 PM. It was time to puke again; this would be my fourth trip of the day. I leapt out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. I should note that for that past two weeks we have been sharing our house and the one bathroom it has with as many as four other people, so I shouldn’t have been surprised to find that the bathroom was occupied. Feeling the urgent call from the deepest parts of my stomach, I quickly made my way out the front door, into the yard, and down on all fours. It must have been a real sight to see me in nothing but my boxers trying to purge myself of the rottenness within. By the following day, we were both several pounds lighter and completely exhausted from whatever it was that lurked under the surface of our once favored pizza.

We are now recovered -- after a full three days in bed -- from our little adventure and won’t be eating that pizza, or anything at all from Yellow Cab, during the rest of our time here.

Speaking of the rest of our time here; most of you do, but some of you may not know that we have officially decided to return to Vancouver before Christmas. There are a number of reason for this, the biggest of which is the fact the most of the Philippines shuts down for at least a month surrounding the Holiday and rather than finish on somewhat of a idle/bored note, we decided to come home for Christmas so that we can be with our friends and families for the holidays. We have the full support of Dann and Joji as well as the people we report to with MC Canada.

So we’ve only got 51 days left in the Philippines and it feels like some of the best things will be happening during that time. Most notably, Dieter gets here in one week from today! We are so very excited to have someone visit us here, especially on this beautiful farm. Although we know the ten days will go very quickly, we’re looking forward to introducing Dieter to as much of our lives here as possible.

Cobra Count:

The official cobra count is now up to 6, but before you get too concerned for us, here’s how they all came about.

1. Cobra number one, or Uno as we shall now refer to him, was found on our first day here. He was hiding inside a water line near one of the irrigation pipes when he was spotted by one of the workers. Uno was struck a number of times with rocks before being beheaded by the farm manager, Neko. Uno’s skin is now dangling from Neko’s belt as he dried it, preserved it, and wrapped it around some wood to make a sheath for his machete.

2. Cobra number two, or Grimm because it was already dead, was found inside the first compartment of a water tank. We did not kill Grimm because, as I mentioned, he was already dead.

3. Cobra number three, or Tiny Tim because it was only 10 inches long, was found crawling in the grass just underneath the water tank. Tim was placed on a log, inspected, decapitated, then skinned while its body was still moving.

4. Cobra number four, or Kitty, in reference to being a scaredy cat, was found inside a water tank, but refused to come out to be killed.

5. Cobra number five, or Arnold as we shall refer to him as out of respect for Arnold Schwarzenneger, was found in the gym. Arnold was beaten with a stick and baseball bat by Cesar, one of the drivers here. Arnold didn’t last long against the Louisville Slugger.

6. Cobra number six, or Night Stalker, was found in our bedroom yesterday. Night Stalker was only 4 to 5 inches long and I quickly cut its head off.

Well, that’s about all for now. We’re off to Davao tomorrow for a meeting with Tim Froese of MC Canada, and are looking forward to seeing the staff and baristas again. Until next time!

Farm livin'

It is officially eleven days after I first started writing this blog. At this point, I should probably just start a new one, but with my infinite lack of better judgement, I’ll press on as if it were still the 13^th of September.

Since our last update, things have been moving very quickly. Our preparations for the Perrine Farm, driving to various places to meet with all kinds of groups, and getting things sorted for leaving Davao have kept us busy. It seems like only a few days ago that we were having a hard time filling our days, but now it seems like we’re having a hard time just catching our breath. We’ve also made some new friends from the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute who are in Davao until Christmas as part of their academic programs. We have truly enjoyed our new friends and had a hard time saying goodbye to them. We are already making plans to have them visit us during our stay at the farm.

On Monday the 29th we went to Mt. Matutum with Matt, Bennette and Kriz for an overnight stay with the coffee farmers. The objective was for Jenna and I to get some hands-on experience with the coffee trees there. This would serve as a good bridge to all the reading and studying we had been doing in the office and in our free time. Getting to the base camp on Mt. Matutum required us to go through Dole’s 14,000 hectare pineapple plantation. I have never seen anything like this before. I mean, it was ridiculous seeing that much pineapple. Over each small hill more of it was revealed. After about 20 minutes I was wondering if we would ever get out of the field, or if we were stuck in some alternate universe covered with pineapples. Finally, about 35 minutes after entering the plantation, we made it to base camp. We would stay the night in a very simple bamboo hut. We set our sleeping bags on the floor and got ready to snuggle close together later in the night when the temperatures would get shockingly low.

Dinner was prepared for us by one of the farmers. We were accompanied by some children and were even treated to a song that was performed by one of the girls; others, with better singing voices, joined in, I just listened. The food was cooked over an open fire that was more or less just a camp fire. The result was the best fish I’ve had so far in the Philippines. After dinner, the temperature began dropping more rapidly. Most of us already had on as many layers as we had brought with us and some were wishing for more. We got ready for bed and tucked ourselves tightly into our sleeping bags. It was a nice place to sleep. Only three things woke me up in the middle of the night: First, Matt put his arm around me, which was weird. Secondly, Kriz snores louder than anyone I’ve ever heard. She’s louder than a Harley Davidson with new exhaust pipes and manages to make as much noise exhaling as she does inhaling. Finally, I was woken back the fact that I was simply very cold and had to wrap my sleeping bag around my face to warm up my nose and head.

The next morning we woke up with the sun, had a cup of coffee and a few pandesal (buns) with peanut butter. Around 6:00 we began our ascent up the mountain to one of the locations where there were coffee trees. It was a short hike only taking about 30 minutes. I did my best to take as many pictures as I could, but I just don’t have the right eye for photography yet. We spent about an hour or so walking through the trees picking berries, inspecting trees and the soil. We took lots of pictures of good and bad berries and leaves, and even shot a few short videos. After collecting about two pounds of freshly picked berries, we made our way back down to camp. We processed the beans using the wet mill process, which we had been learning about. After our second breakfast we started our journey back to Davao. The trip was a great time and connected a lot of dots for Jenna and me.

Another highlight for us in the past was our trip to Cagayan de Oro city for the second seminar in the PAR trilogy with the pastors we had met a few weeks earlier in Ozamis City. Things were pretty much going to be the same as they were during the first seminar, but the major difference was in how we were getting there. Since Matt was in the last week of his year long internship, he decided not to tag along; this meant I was in the driver’s seat. I was feeling pretty good about driving since I had been doing a lot of tooling around the streets of Davao in our jeep, but I knew it would still be a challenge. The roads in the Philippines are smaller, bumpier and more curvaceous than any other roads I’ve driven on; add to that the fact that the Trooper is nearly 20 years old and is significantly under-powered. Nonetheless, I felt I was up for the challenge. Things started out slowly. I wasn’t going to rush and we had plenty of time. I knew I wasn’t up to the same standard as Matt and Toto are, but I thought I was pulling my weight.

After lunch I made a terrible decision. We were climbing a hill and I noticed that at the top of the hill a semi had its flashers on and the truck that was coming up behind it was also turning its flashers on. I quickly decided that the first semi was stranded at the top of the hill and the other truck was coming to help with whatever the issue was. Since I could see over the hill I decided to use the shoulder to safely pass the two trucks. Right as I got onto the shoulder, the first truck started moving again. I panicked knowing that I only had so long before the shoulder ran out so I smashed the gas. Doing this broke the rear tires lose and I began sliding into the ditch. I was never able to correct my mistake and got the Trooper completely stuck. The four-wheel-drive system does not work properly so we needed to wait for assistance. I felt like a first class fool! With the help of some very generous and hospitable locals, we finally got out and were on our way again. My co-workers in the Trooper were very consoling, but I still felt smaller than an ant and dumber than a mule.

The second installment of the trifecta of PAR went off pretty much without a hitch. We slept in CDO two nights and were headed back to Davao for Matt’s last weekend in town. The ride home was uneventful (thank goodness).

Matt left Davao on September 4^th. It was a very surreal experience saying goodbye to him. He was the one who came and picked us up when we arrived, so taking him there on his way out was just kind of weird. During Matt’s last week in town we had lots of good meals, hung out a ton, played a round of golf and had a goodbye party for him with the PBCI staff. We were sad to see him go, but look forward to catching up with him sometime in the near future, maybe even in South Bend.

On the 8^th and 9^th, PBCI was one of the hosts of a solidarity conference in support of the peace talks between the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) and the GPH (Government of the Philippines). In my opinion, things went pretty well, but it seemed hard to see where the middle ground could be between the two groups. It seems that the starting point of the negotiations for the MILF is in the granting of their Sub-state and until they get that, there isn’t a lot to discuss. I’m not sure if this is completely accurate, so check the PBCI website for better information. It was an interesting thing to be a part of and something we’ve continued to pray for.

Leaving Davao…

We were originally scheduled to leave Davao on the 10^th, but like all things in our time here, this changed; thank God because we weren’t ready. We were now leaving on Monday the 12^th and would be accompanied by the entire PBCI staff. We woke up at 4:00 am that day and were scrabbling the entire morning until Toto arrived at 5:30. Like I said, we weren’t prepared to leave. In hindsight, we probably spent too much time having fun with our friends from Notre Dame in our last weekend, but we couldn’t help it, moving and packing sucks even when you’re excited about where you’re going.

We got to the farm around lunch time and had a good discussion/sending off celebration. It is the tradition of the PBCI team to accompany anyone who is assigned to a specific field assignment for a “long term” basis. Throughout the drive and lunch, we talked about all kinds of things and spent a lot of time praying that God would bless our time and bless the work that we were hoping to do on the farm. It was a great experience which really made us feel like we were part of the team. Kriz and Reg stayed behind with us and the rest of the staff headed back to Davao at around 2:00. As a side note, Kuya Toto really doesn’t like dogs; there are 4 BIG dogs on the farm. :)

Now that we’ve gotten you up to speed on what we’ve been up to in the last month, I’ll move to the present.

Today is September 24^th. We’ve been here for 12 days and are really enjoying life on the farm. In some ways, things are worse than we expected, but it’s been amazing how quickly other things have changed in this short time. The benefit to working with coffee is that the process is fairly easy to understand. Because coffee is traditionally grown in remote parts of the world and is managed by some of the poorest people in the world, the technology must be simple, easy to use, easy to fix, and cheap. Because there is little technology involved, the learning curve is pretty sharp. In reality, our biggest challenge here is getting the workers to trust us and follow the program we think is most effective for producing high quality coffee. Not to over-simplify the process, but in all reality, all we really need to do is get the farmers to only pick ripe berries, get them to the processing facility in a timely manner, and work side-by-side with the people at the processing center to make sure they are following all the steps correctly. After we get this system set up, we will hopefully see some dramatic improvements in the quality of the coffee and begin addressing other issues.

Working with the farmers and other workers on the farm has been a great experience so far. It’s amazing to see how these people work together and it’s a real privilege to work with them. It’s hard sometimes because these people don’t have a lot and we are so very privileged. We’re here for one year trying to help, but when our time is done, we’ll go back to North America and back to a very comfortable life. These people don’t have that option; maybe they wouldn’t even take it. My hope and prayer is that we will take this year with us wherever we go and always try our best to be responsible with what God has entrusted to us. As for the remainder of our time, we will work hard each day that we are on the farm, trying to set positive examples of Christ’s love for those we work with and hopefully help improve their standard of living by giving them the tools and the knowledge to make fantastic coffee. Please continue to pray for us so that God’s love will shine through us.

My favourite thing so far on the farm, outside of the work that we are doing, is hanging out with Renee. She is the same age as my sister Holly and being around her makes it easier to be away from home.

One final note…

This is the longest that Jenna and I have ever been away from our respective homes; Vancouver and Indiana. We’re really missing people lately and are feeling rather home sick at the moment. It’s hard for us to be apart from those that are dearest to us so please pray that we are comforted in the things and people we miss. Ending on a positive note: Dieter bought his ticket to come visit us today! The Big D will be here on October 31^st and we’re stupid excited about having him here.

Thank you all so much for your continued love and support. We couldn’t be doing this without you.

An exciting new adventure!

It’s all happening! We’re leaving Davao and moving to the Perrine farm in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, where we will be spending the remainder of our time working side by side with coffee farmers and community leaders. This couldn’t have come at a better time and we’re so excited that God has opened this door for us. We can’t wait to get started!

So here’s how it all went down…

As you may have read, we spent three days on the farm a couple of weeks ago and had a wonderful time (the farm is owned and operated by John and Renee Perrine). We were there to inspect their coffee farm and see how they process the beans. As it turns out things were far worse than we anticipated and it became very clear that the farm was in some serious need of a major overhaul. During one of the meetings with Renee, the leadership from the farms and the PBCI staff, the idea was proposed that Jenna and I, and possibly Ate Kriz, would move to the farm and help get things turned around. We leave on September 10^th! The plan is that we will begin rehabbing the main farm, which is located on the same land that we will be living on. By focusing on this farm, it can act as a model for the other locations (there are 5 different locations that need to be addressed). We can use this farm as our pilot project as we try to learn more about the best ways to manage soil, trees and the harvesting/processing process. We have broken our tasks down to three major groups; things we can do immediately, things to be done once the harvest in completed; and things that we can do to interact with the community.

Here is a section I’ve copied from the “Plan of Action” Jenna, Kriz and I submitted to the Perrine’s. It might be easier to just show you this list, rather than try to describe what it is we’ll be doing.

Current Harvest:

• Improve Harvesting Techniques

• coaching the VFO’s and farmers on berry selection

• determining the right berry color for harvesting

• knowing when to pick berries

• Work on tree health

• cleaning the trees - removing anything that affects the health of the tree, removing the moss

• identify the current number of trees at JPP Farm and each varieties

• tag trees for sampling

• identify coffee tree diseases and pests

• pruning techniques

• organic pest control

• Wet mill restructuring (with the proper procedure)

• implementation of proper procedure

• monitoring each step of the process

• determining ways to improve efficiency

• Develop a grading system for green beans – grading tables, etc

• training workers for coffee classification and sorting

• developing a big visual grading sheet (tarpaulin)

• developing a classification area with tables and lamps

• develop proper storage area

• Make visuals for berry coloration (bean defects and discoloration)

• produce a laminated color spectrum to serve as a guide for the farmers in picking ripe berries

JPP Farm Rejuvenation

• Soil testing to determination fertilization needs (get the right PH level) this can be started immediately

• soil sampling (3 coffee farm locations) – determine the amount of macro and micro nutrients present in the soil

• making compost pit for each location

• monitoring ground maintenance (grass clipping, mulching, etc.)

• identifying pests living in the soil that affects coffee trees

• Phase 2 of tree health (2^nd quarter/post harvest)

• heavy-duty pruning,

• gradual removal of excess trees

• Testing: monitor how long fermentation takes place after the beans are harvested

• berry sampling

• Monitor how long the yellow berries take to turn red

• daily monitoring in the farm

• Set up test areas and properly document what has been done to each tree

• tagging coffee trees

• daily visitation and recording of observation

• development of monitoring sheets for Keith, Jenna and Kriz

• create master map of the farm with tree locations and test detatils

• Continuation of ground management

• second soil sampling (after 6 months of soil maintenance)

Community Involvement

• Continued PAR & Value Formation, specifically focusing on peace theology/shalom theology

• holistic vision

• Relationship-building

• attending the morning devotional meeting (5 am daily)

• household visitations

• Fair-trade Principles Development

• observe practicality on the ground

• fuller explanation and development of principles (include COSP – Cost Of Sustainable Project and FT MP – Fair Trade Minimum Price)

• Partnership with Coffee for Peace

• CFP purchasing process and first right of refusal

• exporting logistics

As you can tell, there are a lot of things that need to be addressed, so we’re excited to get started.

You may be wondering how it is that we know what in the heck we are talking about. If so, you’re in the same boat that Jenna and I were a couple of weeks ago. We are, by no means whatsoever, experts in this field, but we feel like we have a good idea as to how we can address these specific issues and that in doing so, we can greatly increase the quality and quantity of coffee these farmers are able to produce. In the past few weeks, Jenna and I have been doing a lot of reading, watching videos and other kinds of activities to learn as much as we can about the processes involved in coffee farming. The good thing is that because the locations that we will be dealing with are pretty far off the beaten path, their methods are not terribly sophisticated. In fact one of the main objectives of Fair Trade farming is that the technology used needs to be simple, affordable and environmentally sound. We’re trying to learn as much as we can before we go in order to maximize our effectiveness once we get there.

Another thing we are doing to prepare is taking a trip to Mount Matutum on Monday to get some more hands on experience with all the different tasks we’ll be asking other to do. At this time the community on Mount Matutum supplies most of the coffee for Coffee for Peace and is what we sent to Canada a few months ago. It will be a great chance for Jenna and me to get our hands dirty and test what knowledge we think we have.

PBCI and the Perrines, known as the JPG (John Perrine Group) in all our official documents, will be partnering on all kinds of cool things over the next year. There are seemingly endless opportunities in this partnership and working with a group that has a vast amount of resources means that we can possibly achieve all the things that we’ve been dreaming about. The Perrines' energy and excitement to partner with PBCI is a welcome breath of fresh air. I could probably write another 5 pages on all the cool things that are being talked about within this partnership, but I honestly just don’t want to spend that much time writing.

Things are really shaking up in the Philippines right now. Tensions are high between the government and the armed forces of the Muslim and Communist communities. It seems like things must change at this point and people of authority seem to be taking their responsibilities very seriously. It’s cool to be a very small part of an organization that is trying to make things better and the new partnerships that PBCI is forming are very cool and will hopefully make a major impact in this wonderful land. It’s easy to feel like the cause for peace is a hopeless one, but God refuses to give up on his people and his presence keeps popping up in all the right places and at all the right times. Being a part of this adventure is humbling, scary and awesome. We are so blessed.

So that’s what’s up for now. Stay tuned…

Floods, Forms, and Field Trips

Hey there! Here’s a little update on all that’s been happening since Julie’s departure...

As soon as we settled back into work, we started thinking about more practical ways to help those that had been affected by the flood. PBCI had organized a team of pastors from the Davao City Ministerial Fellowship to respond to the need for flood relief. One of the ways we responded was through a distribution of relief goods such as clothes and blankets. The distribution happened on a Saturday morning, and it was a wonderful way to connect with the community, handing out goods and giving people a small meal of lugao (basically a rice congee made with chicken, ginger, and garlic - so yummy). People seemed grateful for the goods and for a warm meal, no matter how small.

The next weekend, after hearing Kuya Dann’s sermon at Davao Bible Community, we participated in a relief operation in our colleague Joy’s community. A local church group of dentists, doctors, and nurses came to the community to provide basic medical and dental services. It was so, SO nice to be directly involved with the community we were serving, talking to patients and just generally trying to help out in whatever way we could. This reminded us of how much we desired to work directly with people. Honestly, our office work seemed extremely tedious in comparison, although we need to keep in mind that all the behind-the-scenes stuff has to happen in order for the fieldwork to happen. Anyway, it was a great afternoon of fellowship and service.

In the hopes that we could get more involved with the people in Joy’s community, Keith and Matt met with an engineer from Indonesia who works for an NGO based in Davao, Chuck Chuck, who had helped design a bamboo bridge for Joy’s community in the past. We made it clear to him that we were willing to help out in any way we could, including a trip into the jungle to harvest bamboo which would be used for rebuilding efforts. We’re hoping to help the community construct a community hall that could be used for various purposes, including shelter in the event of another flood, municipal meetings, and relief events. We’re also hoping to finish construction on Joy’s mom’s house, constructing a simple balcony on the second floor. As you might expect, the wheels in the Philippines turn quite slowly, so we’re not sure how much time we’ll actually be spending getting our hands dirty; nevertheless, we’re glad to help in any way we can.

In the hopes of better equipping the community in the event of another flood, the staff at PBCI has gone through orientation with a local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management organization. It was helpful for us to gather more information on the disaster situation in the Philippines, and we look forward to practical training for the community members.

Because we left Vancouver thinking that Jenna’s yearlong project would be a theater production, we feel it’s best to let you know why and how that project has been put on hold. Jenna has finished the script, with the help and revisions of our contributors who came to the storytelling session. PBCI had been in talks with a local theater company called Kaliwat, who emphasizes social justice and awareness in their work. We had hoped that Kaliwat would provide performers and musicians to carry out the production, since auditioning and training amateurs didn’t seem extremely feasible in our short time span. However, as has been the case over and over, PBCI works on a fluid schedule, meaning that when things don’t seem to ‘click’ we look for avenues that appear wide open. Because of multiple roadblocks, we decided that the production should be put on hold until a time when it seemed more in line with God’s plan for PBCI’s vision. That being said, Jenna still feels like she accomplished the goals of her job description, that is, writing a piece that reflects the whole story of Mindanao from the point of view of the tri-people, not just the migrants. We hope that in the future, perhaps when our term here is already finished, the production will debut in some way, shape, or form. Jenna also hopes that the script may be used as a resource for churches in the future.

As you can tell, the major goals of our job description have been somewhat completed. So, what to do now? Well...

Along with flood relief, Keith has been filling in as needed with the financials of Peacebuilders and Coffee for Peace, as well as collaborating with Jenna on project proposals, letters of response to people interested in Coffee for Peace and PBCI, and creating franchise documents for Coffee for Peace. He has also continued his research on various kinds of water projects and has made himself available to other missionaries who need help with their bookkeeping in order to stay active and make new friendships.

Jenna has had the opportunity to help with a few writing and marketing projects, including; interviewing and writing an article about an ambush survivor (available for reading on the PBCI website, here:http://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2011/07/ambushed-by-a-vision/); creating an advertising poster about the coloring books published by PBCI and the local artist Kublai Millan; collaborating with Keith on the above mentioned projects; and looking forward to creating a guidebook for practitioners of the peace and reconciliation theology outlined in our PAR seminars.

Although it’s been challenging to not have specific, long-term projects to focus on, we’ve tried to stay positive and creative as various assignments are thrown our way.

At the beginning of August we had the opportunity to go on a field trip to a coffee farm in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, and to a pastor’s peace and reconciliation seminar in Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental. We left on a Tuesday morning and were very excited about spending the week with Dann, Joji, Kriz and Matt. As this was only our second field trip in the six months that we have been here, we were chomping at the bit to get out of the city and meet some new people.

It only took us about six hours to get to the Perrine family farm in Manolo Fortich; that was after a scenic mountain side view, a short lunch at Jollibee and an afternoon coffee break. The Perrine farm is like nothing we had experienced before. The estate lies on some 50 plus hectares and includes a number of houses and out buildings, a church, a weight room, horse pastures (they have 19 horses), numerous ponds and open fields, a large organic garden and of course, a coffee farm and processing center. John Perrine bought the land some 30 years ago and began planting trees in the mountain ranges surrounding the farm. In the past 30 years, the forests have grown, the average temperature has dropped 10 degrees and they experience rain on a daily basis. When John bought the land there were no trees at all.

We went to the Perrine estate to explore the possibility of forming a strategic partnership with them, but were unsure if they truly wanted to be Fair Trade, or if the simply wanted to appear to be Fair Trade. As it turns out, they are completely on board with all the Fair Trade principles and are excited to get started. They are currently producing coffee, but the quantity is well below what it should be and the quality is just plain pathetic. Our hope is to help the Perrines, and the farmers around them, get back on track. They have the means and the facilities to really make an impact in their community and can hopefully be a model that we can use all over the Philippines.

Our time on the farm was completely awesome. We were treated to food, wine, homemade rum and given every comfort you would expect from a first rate resort. We felt conflicted about all the wealth and resources that were being spent on us, but were also very energized by the Perrine’s desire to help make the Philippines a better place and provide people that are less fortunate with opportunities to better their situation. It was a wonderful surprise, a great get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and a wonderful chance to connect with the staff members that were with us.

The second stop on our trip was Ozamis City, where we met with a group of about 20 pastors from all around Northern Mindanao. Kuya Dann and Ate Kriz were giving a seminar on the first portion of the PAR training. It was such a pleasure to finally hear what PBCI has been teaching people around the Philippines for the last few years. Jenna really enjoyed connecting what she heard with her Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies courses in college. The pastors were extremely engaged (for the whole, long, 12 hour day!) and seemed very excited about the possibilities of practically applying their learnings in their own communities.

From Ozamis City we headed back to Davao, back to our own homes and beds. It had been such an enriching and exciting week, and we were so glad to get the opportunity to get out of Davao and into the field.

There are some exciting developments happening here at PBCI, of which we can’t quite share the details yet. However, we hope to be back with another blog outlining our new adventure in the next week or so. Until then, we wish you great love, joy and peace, wherever you are.

Vacating

As Keith said, we had a really hard time deciding whether or not to leave Davao for our pre-planned vacation with Julie. It was somewhat heart-wrenching, but we took off on June 30th for Siargao Island at the Northernmost tip of Mindanao.

Siargao Island is a small spot known for its world-renowned surfing. We were heading for a spot called The Boardwalk at Cloud 9, owned by an Australian man and his Filipina wife. We had hired our friend, Toto, to drive us up to Surigao City to take a ferry to the island. We thought the drive would take 6 hours, so we left at 5am to catch the last ferry of the day at 12 noon. It turns out, however, that the drive is 7 hours at a pretty good pace, so we arrived in Surigao City at 12:15, just too late for the last ferry. We had two options: charter a boat to the island for 10,000 pesos (about $250) or stay overnight in Surigao City for about 1,800 pesos. We chose the latter option and checked into a nice hotel for the night.

To fill up our time in Surigao City we went to a historical museum, walked around the city a little bit, and watched (cable!) TV in the hotel room. Julie had started feeling a little sick on the ride up to Surigao, and by the time we finished dinner and had gone to bed, she had full-on chills and a fever. Awesome. It was a restless night (a live music performance downstairs lasted until midnight and construction started at 7am), but we got through and headed to a ferry the next morning. It was not the funnest of 2 1/2 hour rides, as it was very loud, we were sitting on wooden benches, and lots of men smoked the entire time, but we finally made it to Siargao.

We hopped into a tricycle for the bumpy, 45 minute ride to the resort. It was such a feeling of relief to finally be there and settle in, especially since Julie was getting progressively worse. We relaxed for the rest of the day, enjoying the beautiful views and peaceful atmosphere of the location.

The next morning, after much deliberation, Keith and I left Julie at the resort so she could sleep for the day and hopefully recover more quickly, and we headed on a tour that had been organized by the resort to the Sohoton Caves. It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed swimming in the amazingly blue-green, clear water, jumping out of trees into the water, swimming into caves, and snorkeling amid hundreds of non-stinging jellyfish, all while making many new friends. It was quite an amazing day trip, although it was tempered somewhat by the thought of our sick friend. We headed back to the resort in a little boat at sunset and even had the amazing blessing of seeing a few dolphins swimming beside our boat!

Keith had his first surfing experience the next morning. He did great and had so much fun, and we snapped some good pictures too. I think he turned into a lifetime surfing enthusiast. Julie was feeling a little bit better after breakfast, so the three of us hopped on a motor bike with our driver, Jersen (who was also Keith’s surfing instructor) and drove (through a tropical downpour!) to a lagoon and some rockpools in another area of the island. The place was beautiful, and we had fun swimming, rock-jumping, and taking lots of pictures. We then headed back to the resort and relaxed for the rest of the day, chatting with our new friends and just enjoying some rest.

For our last day, we decided to go kayaking through the mangrove area near our resort. Once again, Jersen was our guide and we paddled peacefully through this amazing ecosystem. We even saw some flying fish! It was a relaxing way to spend a morning.

We were a little tired of the food at our resort and wanted to do some exploring, so we walked down the (rather remote) road from our hotel, seeing what we would find. We came upon a beautiful resort and, after looking at the menu, decided to eat lunch there. This was probably the best decision I’ve made since arriving in the Philippines. The food was so good, and we were the only ones in the restaurant so it was quiet and peaceful. We found out later that the resort was opened by two Parisians who had come to Siargao and fallen in love with the place. It seemed so strange to find this beautiful food - probably the best we’ve eaten in our time in this country - in a remote corner of a somewhat deserted and isolated island. What a blessing.

We headed home the next day and had a much less stressful drive home than the one on the way to Surigao. We arrived back to our apartment, cleaned it thoroughly (many dirty people had trekked through after the flood) and had a wonderful sleep back in our own beds.

The rest of Julie’s visit consisted of more exploration of Davao: a trip to Eden Nature Park where we went on a beautiful hike; being guided through a Davao historical museum; and doing some touristy shopping. It was so very lovely to have a friend visit us here, even though the 2 weeks definitely had their stressful times. Saying goodbye to Julie was hard, but we felt ready to go back to work and get back to being productive.

Long overdue...

It’s been so long since our last blog that it’s hard to know where into begin. I guess I should start by apologizing for not being more consistent with our posts; we’ll try and do better in the future.

Our last post was on May 5^th, over two months ago by now, which sounds kind of pathetic when you see it in writing. I can’t say that there have been a ton of new developments for us and our work at PeaceBuilders in that time, but there are a few things worth mentioning. Jenna has continued to work on the script and has been busy writing other kinds of papers including financial proposals and even an interview article that will be very exciting to read once she is finished with it. She has also been a big help around the office, reading other documents for the staff and doing lots of editing and making many valuable suggestions. As far as my work goes, it took Joji and me the better part of two weeks to get a handle on the in-house accounting system for PeaceBuilders. Now that the major part of that project is done, the important thing will be to stay on top of the record keeping and making sure that we are staying consistent in all that we do.

Last week Jenna and I had a meeting with Dann and Joji to discuss our future at PeaceBuilders that went pretty well. We shared with them that we weren’t sure how to fill our time seeing as the major assignments we were given are either completed or very near completion. We weren’t able to find answers to all of our questions just yet, but there are some new and exciting things that we are looking forward to. In the next few weeks Jenna will be putting the final touches on the script which means that even if we are not able to have the production while we are still in the Philippines, it can be carried out at a later date. Both Jenna and I will be spending a few days at the end of this month with Dann, listening/watching him go through the three stages of the PAR seminars. The purpose for this is twofold: First, it will be beneficial for both of us to hear, and secondly, Jenna has been given the task of putting Dann’s spoken words into text. The point of this is that the text will supplement the PAR seminars that Dann does. This will give the people that go through the seminars a tangible resource that they can take back to their communities and continue to work through even after Dann has left. The guidebook will be mostly for practitioners who want to continue teaching others about peace and reconciliation. As far as my work goes, I can say that I will continue to try and be supportive of Dann, Joji and the rest of the staff in any way I can. This means that for the time being, while I may not have a large project to work on, I will be able to contribute to various smaller activities on a day-to-day basis.

So now that we’ve pretty much summed up what’s been going on with us at work, here’s a bit about what we’ve been up to outside the office…

Matt and I finished the major work on the Jeep about 6 weeks ago. It was a wonderful experience that had numerous benefits. First of all, I got to know a different side of Matt and learn more about what he really likes and what he is really good at. It was also nice to spend a few days outside the office, working with my hands. I miss manual labor and having small projects to do around the house; truth be told, I even miss washing our cars, but having the opportunity to mix in a little bit of fun/work with Matt has been a breath of fresh air. Another positive is that it is just plain fun to drive around town. If you have seen any of our pictures on the internet, you know that we have gone totally overboard with the paint job and have created a Detroit Tigers tribute Jeep. We didn’t plan on doing this at first, but one thing lead to another and that’s what we’ve got now. It’s also really cool to see people’s reactions to seeing three white people driving around in a very “cheap” vehicle. Most white people here seem to drive very expensive vehicles, so the fact that our jeep is a very common and affordable vehicle surprises a lot of Filipinos. I’d like to say that they are more interested in our paint job than us, but most Filipinos don’t know anything about baseball, so they don’t even know who the Detroit Tigers are. So, long story short, the Jeep is totally awesome in every way and my only worry now is trying to figure out how I can get it back to the States some day.

Our good friend Julie Stauffer came into town on June 24^th. We were both very excited to see her and were looking forward to spending time with someone from home since we had started feeling a little home sick. For the first couple of days that she was in town we didn’t do a whole lot more than tool around Davao and show her the local sites. We had lots of good meals together and it was great getting caught up on all that was happening in her life. Julie arrived in Davao on Friday morning; it was on Tuesday night that things got really interesting.

We decided to go out for a late dinner with Matt, so around 8:30 we headed out for the evening. Just as we were leaving it started raining, which is no surprise since it’s the rainy season right now. The rain let up while we were in the taxi on the way to the restaurant, but shortly after we were seated it really started coming down. Again, we didn’t really think anything of it because it can rain like crazy here sometimes. To put it into perspective, think about the last time you were driving somewhere in the rain and you had your wipers on full blast, but they still weren’t able to keep up with the amount of rain that was coming down. That usually lasts for a few minutes here and there, and then slows down to a steady downpour. In Davao, it can rain that hard for 30 minutes to an hour sometimes, so we’re talking about an insane amount of water. Aside from the massive amounts of water than can fall, Davao’s sewer system is very inadequate. This means that in a matter of 15 to 20 minutes, water can start flooding the streets making it difficult to get around the city. Again, this is nothing new here.

Around 11:00 Matt got a 911 text from our co-worker Joy. She was in dire need of help, but we were more than 40 minutes away from her. We decided to get the check and head for home. As we made our way back to our place things weren’t looking any different than usual, but once we were about 3 kilometres from our place the water began rising rapidly. It wasn’t long before water started coming into our cab; soon the water was up to our feet, then we started floating. I should add that the entire time that this was happening we were telling our cab driver that he needn’t go any further; he replied by saying “It’s ok MamSir” and “I can manage.” Finally, the taxi driver admitted that we weren’t going to make it and tried steering the car to the side of the road. Once we had safely floated out of danger, we got out of the taxi and got ready to try and walk to rest of the way home. It took about 13 seconds to realize that there was no way that we were going to make it home, but what was worse was knowing that there was no way we were going to be able to make it Joy to try to assist her and her family.

We spent quite a while just hanging out on the side of the road trying to absorb what it was that we were experiencing. None of us had ever been in a natural disaster before so I think we were all in a bit of shock. The experience is very humbling, scary, kind of exciting, amazing to see, hopeless and somehow relaxing. It really is amazing to see how powerful water is and understand that there is absolutely nothing that you can do until the water stops coming. You can’t fight a flood; you just kind of experience it.

At about 2:00 we were rescued by Joji who was able to drive to a location we were able to walk to and pick us up. Making it to our pick up location meant that we had to walk back up the street to higher ground, through water that was 2 feet deep and very, very disgusting. Joji took us back to her place where we were able to have showers and get ready for bed. By the time we all got settled into bed it was about 3:00. I woke up around 6:30 to try and see if I could be of any help to anyone. As it turns out, we weren’t really able to get anywhere until about 2:00 in the afternoon because the bridge by our house had been structurally compromised by the ridiculous amount of water that had been there the night before.

Getting back to our place was completely shocking. On the way there we saw total devastation everywhere we looked. The flood waters had come up some 5 feet or more into many homes, businesses and stores. There was water, mud, trash and debris everywhere, but there were signs of hope. People were already busy putting things back together, rebuilding walls that had fallen and cleaning whatever belongings they still had. To be honest, I think the three of us were feeling more hopeless than most of the people we saw. I don’t think you ever get “used” to living in a flood area, but they seemed to just get right back at living rather than sitting around, dwelling on how bad things were and were going to be for the next few weeks and months as they rebuilt.

Matt and I finally made it Joy’s by about 3:00 in the afternoon. To put it simply, her family and most of the families in her community, who live right on the banks of the river that flooded, lost everything. Their houses were swept away by the rushing waters that crested more than 30 feet above normal levels. Again, the place was completely devastated, but people were upbeat and were busy putting things back together. Matt and I took Joy and her brother to the mall where we were able to get them some clean clothes, food, supplies to see them through the night, a new cell phone and some other things. It wasn’t much, but it seemed to help a little.

As far as our place goes, it was a total mess. When we arrived to our house we saw most of our landlord’s possessions outside the house. They had a number of people that were helping them clean things and get the house ready to be moved back into; they were miles ahead of most people that we saw. As it happens, we live on the second floor so we didn’t really lose anything. I think I lost a sock and Matt lost one of his shoes. The jeep had certainly seen better days. The floor was covered with about an inch worth of mud and it was clear that the water had been high enough to get into the engine and other important moving parts. We actually just got the jeep running this past Sunday for the first time since the flood. All things considered, we were very fortunate which kind of made us feel even worse about seeing all the crap that other people would have to deal with.

So, as you can tell, things were really crazy there for a while. We left town the following morning on a trip that we had been planning with Julie for some two months. It was really hard to leave and we all felt guilty, but decided to move forward with our plans.

I’ve written quite a lot now, so I’m gonna stop for now. There is much more to tell, so I’ll get back to it soon. For now, know that we are safe happy and that there are signs of progress everywhere we look.