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.