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.