Lanao del Norte/Misamis Oriental/Bukidnon Trip

So I just want to start by saying that this is the second time that I have tried to write this blog. Before lunch I saved my work and went downstairs to CFP to have pasta and salad with Jenna. When I came back I pushed something that closed my work, never to return again. Lame. I would also like to share the frustration I have with the fact that this blog likes to switch languages on me from time to time. All of my settings are put on English, but for some reason it switches to Tagalog randomly.

Now that I have aired my frustrations I feel like I’m in a better place to describe the wonderful things that took place last week…

Monday morning Jenna, Matt, Ate Kriz, Kuya Toto (the driver) and I loaded into the van shortly after 6:30 on our way to Iligan City. We were heading there to meet up with Mei who is stationed there and is in charge of the Peace and Reconciliation Medical initiative, or PAR Med. We would be spending the week meeting with a variety of groups and sharing with them the services that Coffee for Peace can offer them as well as sharing the PAR 80 initiative that has been undertaken at PBCI.

- Just to make sure you are all on the same page I want to clarify something here. PBCI is a Non-profit organization that is sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite Church Canada and Friends of PBCI. PBCI is who Jenna and I are working for. Coffee for Peace is a separate business entity that is very much its own organization and operates just like any other business in North America. PBCI provides the training and information to the farmers, which helps them get started on the fair trade road. Coffee for Peace is simply a buyer in the relationship. Right now Coffee for Peace has an order with Level Ground, the company that supplies Ten Thousand Villages, for 50 tons each month. The current supply at CFP’s disposal is maybe one ton for the entire year of 2011. The vision is that 20% of CFP’s profits can go to PBCI in the future, thereby decreasing the required support from abroad. It is PBCI that maintains the relationships and helps educate the farmers through its various PAR initiatives. Coffee farming is just one of many projects that PBCI has going that helps it interact in the various communities in the Philippines. These PAR initiatives are what keep PBCI moving forward. Ok, back to the story…

Monday was spent travelling from Davao to Iligan. The trip there was definitely an adventure. The closest comparison I can offer is to say that it is like being on a roller coaster for 8 hours. Toto, although he appears to be on the verge of losing control, is always aware of everything that is happening around him. His driving style is aggressive and very appropriate. Although he would probably be locked up for life if he drove like that in the Sates, all I can say is that he is the MAN! Upon arriving in Iligan, we picked up Mei and headed out for some pizza. It was nice to be out of the car and catching up with Mei. Over dinner we had a short meeting about the week’s schedule then headed back to the hotel to relax for the remainder of the evening.

Our first meeting took place at 10:30 Tuesday morning. People that were in attendance were a civic worker, a Doctor of agriculture, a Chieftain, a number of Datus (community leaders), two school Principals and a Sultan (highly respected person of authority in the tribe/community). This meeting was to introduce CFP and tell these leaders a bit more about the theology of Fair Trade and the Peace and Reconciliation initiative that PBCI has undertaken. Everyone in attendance was excited to hear about the prices the CFP was paying for coffee, but it was the principals and the Chieftain that really seemed to grasp the entire package. PBCI is looking to make long-term commitments with these communities which includes, but is not limited to, a profitable business venture. I believe that only those that see the two as a whole package will be able to move forward with PBCI.

After the meeting we went to Maria Christina Nature Park where there are beautiful waterfalls and scenery to enjoy. It was nice to have some time to walk around and enjoy nature after a long day of travelling the day before and sitting through a two hour meeting earlier in the day. Maria Christina is home to a small wildlife sanctuary which consists of alligators, ducks (food for the alligators), ostrich and a few snakes. There is also a series of zip lines, but they were unfortunately under repair while we were there. The most significant thing at Maria Christina is the power plants. There are seven different power plants that harness the power created by the river and waterfalls. These seven power plants provide 70% of Mindanao’s electric power. After our tour we headed to a coffee shop for a time of debriefing and our afternoon caffeine fix. I should note that since we’ve been at PBCI I’ve grown quite accustomed to having a ready supply of coffee all day long, since Coffee for Peace is right downstairs; I might have a problem.

Wednesday morning meant another meeting so after breakfast we loaded into Toto’s van and headed to Mindanao State University to meet with Dr. Celeste, who teaches in the College of Agriculture. I should note that CNN has said that this campus is the single most dangerous campus in the entire world due to the significant number of kidnappings. Although we knew this information before we went there, we thought it was best to share it with Dieter after we were back. The meeting was great and I was once again impressed by a person with authority that was making such a great decision to expose her students to the theology of CFP and PBCI. The principals from the previous day’s meetings and this teacher had the utmost concern for their students and were so excited to broaden their horizons in the hopes of a brighter future. After the meeting, we piled back into the van and headed to another meeting.

Meeting Sultan Dimasangkay was quite the trip. We spent about 20 minutes driving after the paved roads had stopped and arrived in a place that was anything but modern with two exceptions; cable TV and massive stereos that were on standby for karaoke. This particular Sultan is the only Christian Sultan in Mindanao and was preceded by his father and grandfather who were the first Christians. Hi grandfather originally made a peace pact with the surrounding Muslim communities that they wouldn’t fight one another. The message of peace was instantly accepted by the Sultan and he was eager to talk about the benefits of peace theology as well as fair trade coffee. He was so encouraging to listen to, with the help of Mei’s translation. After a good hour and a half of discussion he asked two men from his community to cut down several coconuts which he promptly cut open with his machete and served to us. This was an amazing place to be and I felt privileged to be there.

Thursday was the day that none of us were looking forward to. We had a meeting scheduled with ECOweb to discuss the partnership between the two organizations; ECOweb is another NGO that originally introduced PBCI to communities in Lanao Del Norte, where the PAR Med is based. ECOweb approached PBCI regarding some issues that they had with the way PBCI did things. Going into the meeting nobody was really sure what the issues were, so we didn’t really know what to expect. As it turns out ECOweb doesn’t really have an issue with anything PBCI has done, or stands for, just the way they went about doing things. The Philippines is a very title-oriented culture and one in which people show a lot of respect to authority. It seems there was some miscommunication between the two organizations, but the issues were quickly put to bed in the meeting and the two are in the process of creating a MOA (memorandum of agreement) to avoid mishaps in the future. All things considered this was a good meeting and good way to see what ECOweb and PBCI really stand for.

After the meeting with ECOweb we were in the van when Mei got a phone call. She answered the phone to someone who assumed she knew who she was talking to. She said, “Sorry, who is this?” … “Oh, hi Mayor!” It was pretty funny to hear her casually on the phone with a Mayor. He was very adamant that we join him for lunch even though we were running nearly two hours late. We arrived in his office to a real seafood feast. There were two huge plates of crab, a plate of prawns, another of fresh fish and a huge pot of rice. This guy seriously hooked us up and I couldn’t help but wish my brothers were there to enjoy the bounty from the sea with me.

The Mayor was by far and away the coolest civil servant I have ever met and he was stoked to hear about Jenna’s theatre work. He wanted a copy of the curriculum, which hasn’t yet been developed, by the end of the month. His exact words were that maybe bringing peace theology through theatrical arts could “be his legacy.” I was so excited for Jenna when he said this because I know how powerful she thinks the arts can be. We were so blessed to be with a person with such authority and have him be excited about what we were doing. The whole time we were there I couldn’t help but think how impossible this scenario would be in Indiana.

Friday’s mission was not very pleasant, but was very important. We were heading to Cagayan De Oro to go on a fact finding mission regarding a church that had been demolished. The scenario is that the government gave this group of people a large chunk of land that they were supposed to use as farm/living land for themselves. Two of the tree groups decided to sell their land to a developer, but the third group is unwilling to sell. I’m not quite sure if any of this is even legal at this point. Group number 3 has developed some of their land and had even erected a church where as many as 50 people would attend on a Sunday afternoon. To try and pressure group 3 off the land, groups 1 and 2 demolished the church as well as some of the houses that had been put up to house members of group 3. Groups 1 and 2 went so far as to take some of the demolished building supplies, mostly bamboo, and use them to build their own structures on their land that the developer was letting them stay on so they could watch the land. The situation is as stupid and sketchy as it sounds. For all the good things that happened during the week, this was the one thing that reminded me that some people suck. We took a lot of pictures and spent roughly 2 and a half hours with the two ministers that were our guides, along with the two police officers they hired to accompany us. I’m not really sure where we are going to go with this experience yet, but it was a valuable thing to see.

Saturday was the best day of the week for me. After another ride in the van, we arrived in Songko where the Talaandig tribe resides. We were there to do an “Ocular Inspection” of the land in the hopes that we could develop some kind of alternate energy driven water system. Doing this inspection would require us to hike 7 kilometres—or 4.34959 miles—up into the mountains to see where the coffee crops were. But, before I talk about that I want to describe the village a bit. This place was pimp. The houses were made out of bamboo, some of which were up in the trees some 40 feet off the ground. There was a building in the centre of the community called The Hall of Peace which was where groups could come to learn how to paint, play music, do their native dances and all kinds of other culturally relevant things. The artwork that was on display was simply amazing. The two artists we met, Waway and Raoul, paint in a way that I have never heard of before. They don’t use paint. What they do is they hike up the mountain and find different colours of dirt, mix it with glue and that’s their paint: Frickin sweet. While we were there, there was dancing, music being played and I even got to play a little Djembe that was, of course, made by hand by the people of the community. Getting a clue as to why this place was the highlight of the week for me? I could go on from here, but suffice it to say, this place was the bomb.

Back to the hike now…

So we’ve got to go up 7kms (4.34959m) and I mean it was straight up hill. We started out a little rough and after the first 15 minutes we weren’t sure that Mei was going to be able to continue, fortunately she did because I’m not sure how we would have communicated with the locals without her. The path—and I use the word path very loosely here—up the mountain was anything but smooth. There was mud, cow crap, dog crap, rocks and places where water had completely washed away two feet of dirt leaving massive holes all around us. I took some video on the way up, but I’m not sure it does justice to what the path was really like. It took us almost 2 hours to reach our first destination where we met up with another guide who was going to take us to the water. There was no path leading us there so we were bushwhacking our way through the jungle on some thick and muddy terrain. When we finally made it to the creek we had to jump from bank to bank, sometimes falling in the mud, or water. I should note that the 7 or 8 guys that were walking with us were either barefoot or just wearing flip flops.

We made it to the junction of three small creeks and had some time to talk with Mei and the members of the tribe. As it turns out, Jenna, Matt and I are the only white people to have ever been allowed to go there. Again, amazing right? The tribe was approached by a water bottling company, but the tribe refused to let them have access to the water. We talked for a while about how and what to do with this source of water, then headed back to one of the farmer’s house where we were served fresh coffee and some kind of corn-tortilla wrapped banana that was amazing (Jenna’s note: It was called “shuman” and kind of tasted like a sweet tamale with banana inside, wrapped in a banana leaf). After a brief rest we headed down to one of the farms that would benefit from the harnessing of the water and spent some time seeing all the different kinds of crops they grow on the mountain. We also got fresh passion fruit and guava, pulled down from the trees by one of our guides who was like a monkey in his climbing. Did I mention this place was awesome? The views were breathtaking.

As we continued down the mountain we encountered a number of farms that are in desperate need of some kind of water supply and I was wishing I could stay on the land until we had finished the installation of all the necessary equipment. It was also on the way down that Raoul decided to mention to us that there are a number of very large King Cobras that call that particular mountain home. He assured us that we were never in any danger and that the locals refer to the snake as “The Friendly Snake.” I could go on about this place, but I realize this blog has gotten completely out of control already, so I’ll cut if off now.

I hope you all get the point that Jenna and I had an amazing week and are very excited and motivated by the work God is doing here in the Philippines. Please check out our pictures on facebook!

Peace for now,

Keith

Field Trip!

Hi all,

Sorry it's been a while since we've posted; we've been busy moving into our apartment and getting more acquainted with our work situation, as well as preparing for our first trip to the field.

We're heading to Lanao for about 6 days, visiting with a variety of Peacebuilders partners and making more new connections. We're excited and somewhat nervous for our first field exposure, but we trust that it will an enriching experience.

We are extremely excited to get out of the city for a while! It can be somewhat overstimulating with all the people and noise and movement in this city. On Friday, the PBCI staff participated in Armed Conflict Area Survival Training (ACAST) in preparation for our trip(s) to the field, and we drove up to a place called Hope Mountain to do this. It was so amazing to look out over Davao and realize how lush and green the surrounding area is. Sometimes it's easy to forget this in the midst of the concrete of the city. Part of our trip to the field will involve hiking and we are so excited to be out in nature!

Please pray for us as we venture out this week. Although we are super excited, it is also always a bit nerve-wracking to be venturing into the unknown. We look forward to sharing with you our experiences in the field when we get back next Saturday or Sunday.

Until then, peace be with you all! Thanks for your continued support and lovely comments on our blog :)

- Jenna

Random observations about the Philippines...

So please allow me to share with you a few of the things that I have noticed in our short time here...

1. Whenever you are walking past a store in the mall, or by someone's stand on the side of the road, they always say, "Yes Ma'am," (pronounced 'Mum') or "Yes Sir," or my personal favorite "Yes MumSir."

2. Filipino men will pee just about anywhere whenever they need to.

3. Is that a radio I hear? Oh no, it's the Filipino person walking behind me and singing Taylor Swift, rather loudly I might add. I am sad to say that Filipinos tend to over estimate their abilities to sing well.

4. Speaking of loudness, everything is loud here. Appliance stores, CD/DVD shops, arcades can be heard as soon as you walk into the mall; again, everything is LOUD. Except of course, the way people talk.

5. Filipinos are always ready and willing to dance.

6. Two things about driving: Use your horn all the time, and it's always appropriate to pass even when: there is oncoming traffic, you are in an intersection, you are making a turn. My brother Matt would excel at driving in the Philippines.

7. Malls are everywhere around Davao. The city isn't even that big and there are at least a half dozen malls. I should also note that you have to go to the mall for just about everything. We haven't gone one day so far without going into at least one mall.

8. Filipinos have no problem making loud noises to try and gain the attention of a white person. This includes, but is not limited to, honking the horn repeatedly, yelling "Hey Joe," or "Papa Americano." This also includes simply yelling "HEY!"

10. Even though we have seen other white people every day, Filipinos stare at us as if we had an extra arm growing out of our foreheads.

11. When paying for things in cash you should use bills smaller than 500 pesos otherwise someone will have to go make change for you at the gas station. 500 pesos is roughly $11.00 so I find that quite surprising.

12. A twenty minute taxi ride only costs about $3.50 which includes a generous tip, but a crappy toaster that looks like it will break in two weeks costs $80.

13. When using the bathroom, or 'Comfort Room' as it is known in the Philippines, make sure to take your own tissue paper.

14. Filipinos keep their cars very clean. Even if their car/motorcycle is not very nice you can be sure it is clean. Getting a large van/suv cleaned at a car wash only costs about $2.

15. Electricity costs money, so to save money there are not as many lights in places that you might expect them to be. For example, there is probably only one light in the bathroom which can make it rathe difficult when shaving. If I thought I could pull it off I might grow a beard while we're here.

16. You can pay to have someone do just about everything for you.

17. When going for your early morning run in the Philippines, be on the look out for dog poop in the middle of the road; stray dogs are everywhere and they're not afraid to poop whenever they need to.

18. FLA - Filipinos Love Acronyms. Since being here I have heard approximately 4,000,000 acronyms.

19. Lots of Filipino men grow facial hair, but their beards may only consist of 20 hairs.

20. The Philippine culture is very title-oriented. It is how they understand their frame of reference to each other.

21. You could use a system of Filipino's cell phones instead of tornado alarms to warn people of an incoming storm. Even on the lowest setting it can be heard for miles.

22. When you are invited somewhere by a Filipino group, they are so excited to give you whatever they can. Whether it is coffee, coconuts, crab, or bananas they are so happy to offer you the best of what they have.

23. Glee is the official soundtrack of the Philippines. Okay, maybe not, but it should be cause it's on everywhere we go.

Note: These things aren't meant to be criticisms, they're just random observations and differences we've noticed. We really love it here, I swear!

Newness Galore

Hi friends!

We're coming up on finishing our first full week in Davao and it's been a very exciting six days. For the last little while we've been discovering the city, meeting lots of new friends, and slowly adjusting to the different patterns of life here. It's been wonderful, frustrating, challenging, exciting, and a million other things...

On Thursday morning we had a long meeting with Kuya Dann to go over our job descriptions in more detail and to more fully understand how he envisions us being a part of the Peacebuilders team. It was so great to hear Dann's vision and it got us very stoked for the role we can play here in Davao.

Keith's assignment is pretty much what he expected; however, we were able to hear more about how PBCI and Coffee for Peace run and what kind of finances they will need to achieve their goals in the next few years. Keith sees himself in a support role for Joji and Bennette (who is the financial controller, so to speak) and is excited about how he can contribute to the operation.

My assignment became a little more clear as we talked to Dann which was peace-giving for me. It sounds like I will be putting together a presentation incorporating visual arts, music, dance, and drama to communicate the story of Mindanao and its diverse people groups. Although the venue will be in a church, we hope to present it to Muslim and indigenous persons as well. Dann hopes that this presentation will help Christians understand the plight of the marginalized groups in Mindanao and their history here, helping them to realize that Muslims are not just violent terrorists, while also expressing to the Muslim and Indigenous persons that their story is understood as important and valuable in the story of the Philippines as a whole. It's a huge task, and I'm supremely intimidated by the prospect; however, I'm super excited about touring Mindanao, collecting stories, developing relationships, making connections, and hopefully presenting something that builds bridges and promotes understanding, peace, and justice in Mindanao. PBCI is hoping to distribute the script and compositions we develop throughout Mindanao so that people can use the presentation around the island and, eventually, the country. Exciting!

Keith and I have been spending a lot of our time trying to get to know the city. We finally bought a Davao map and that's been a helpful reference point. We're also navigating the transportation system of taxis, jeepneys, tricycles, and pedicabs. Jeepneys and tricycles are our preferred system of transpo (and also the cheapest, at 8 pesos per person - about 20 cents) but they're a little harder to navigate. We ventured out on our own on Saturday and managed to conquer a jeepney ride on our own, which was satisfying. Baby steps :)

For the last few days, Bruce and Helen Glick from Ohio have been visiting Peacebuilders to assess the Disaster Risk Management project sponsored by MCC that's going on in the Northern island of Luzon. Of course, the Mennonite game is being played ridiculously well and we're all very aware of our connections. On Friday night, Kuya Dann took us out on the town and it was probably my favourite excursion so far. We started by going to a Swiss restaurant for dinner that I discovered also has wonderful European imports. (Sidenote: I've been missing having the facilities to cook so much. As Keith mentioned, it's getting old having to eat out all the time. We went to a HUGE outdoor market the other day and I just wanted to buy all the fresh food in sight even though I couldn't do anything with it. Only a few more days til I have a kitchen again...). We then went to the home of one of Kuya Dann's friends, a local artist called Kublai. He runs a hotel/venue called the Unconventional Center and, let me tell you, it lives up to its name. The man is only 38 and I swear he is the most prolific artist in history. The entire four story building is covered in his artwork in all different mediums and the visual stimulation is slightly overwhelming. His family lives on the top floor and it was like walking into the jungle of the lost boys on the 'Hook' movie set. It was probably the most amazing home I've ever seen. Art everywhere, suspended seating arrangements that look out over Davao, sculptures of lizards that double as staircases, bottles roped together that act as dividers between rooms, and little naked kids running around. It's incredible and also very hard to explain. We'll post pictures :) After this amazing experience we went to hear Kublai's wife's band play in an outdoor restaurant near the PBCI office. She plays in a band called Mabuya which consists of 5 women and 2 men. They are amazing musicians and singers and they focus their music on telling stories about Mindanao and talking about the importance of family, ancestry, and being connected to others. It was simply amazing and I can't wait to hear them play again. I'm also excited about tapping the resource of knowing Kublai and his wife, Ma'an, as visual artist and musician, for use in the presentation I'll be helping with.

Although we can't share every single thing we've been doing, I do want to share something that I've noticed at PBCI that really excites me. Kuya Dann is a self-proclaimed dreamer and visionary: when he envisions something, he makes it happen. This means that even if the funds aren't in order at the beginning, PBCI starts a project and has faith that God will provide for their needs. Although that seems somewhat backward to a Western way of thinking, I have so enjoyed and admired the faith with which this organization functions. They aren't constrained by finances and allow their big dreams to be entertained. Very often they come to fruition. These big steps in faith are exciting for me to see and be part of, reminding me that we can ask big things of God and God will be faithful.

We've been staying at a Guest House for the last five days and yesterday we moved to Kuya Dann and Ate Joji's house to live there until our apartment is ready on March 1st. It's nice to be able to visit with Joji since she's been cooped up in her room with her broken leg and to keep her company while Dann is away for ten days in Luzon. It's also helpful for us to get to know another part of the city.

It's kind of annoying to post pictures on here, so we'll soon post pictures at another location that you can all look at. Hopefully. If you have access to facebook, there are pictures on there, too.

Love to you all. Thanks for all your prayers.

- Jenna

Our first full day in Davao

So waking up in Davao is a lot different than waking up in Indiana or Vancouver this time of year. I was awoken by the sound of birds outside our window at around 6:30 am. I thought for a minute about how cool this feeling was to be woken up by the sound of birds, but then decided to go right back to sleep. After a little more sleep, we got up and got around so that we would be ready for Matt to pick us up at 9:00 to take us to the office and start our orientation.

Before we started our orientation we needed to get some breakfast. Breakfast in the Philippines is nothing like it is in Canada, or the US, so we decided to go to McDonalds. As some of you may know this is a big deal for me. I haven't eaten McDonalds in over 5 years and my brother Mark and I have a bet going on to see who can go the longest without eating there. Fortunately, he has decided to give me a break for the next year, so McDonalds it was; goodbye 5 years clean.

After breakfast and coffee we headed to the bank to try and set up bank accounts, but weren't able to because we don't have the proper immigration papers yet. (On a side note, I noticed that the interest rates in Philippines are just below 6% for the first year, but the interest on your savings account is only 0.5%; just thought that was interesting to see. We get better rates in both regards in North America, but still complain.) Since we were turned away at the bank for now, we decided to go to the airport with Matt to pick up Kuya Dann and Ate Joji, the couple who run Peacebuilders and Coffee for Peace, whom we know from Jenna's home church of Peace Mennonite. (By the way, 'Kuya' and 'Ate' are titles of respect for persons older than yourself. The Philippines is a title-oriented culture and if we were to address elders in public without a title, it would be highly disrespectful. This is something we're trying to make a habit of.)

At the airport, we saw Kuya Dann pushing Ate Joji in her wheel chair and couldn't help but feel sorry for her. It turns out that they were getting some serious hook-ups from a hotel owner that they know is the Visayas when Jojo broke her right leg, just above her ankle. Dann put her leg in a temporary cast using two sandals and some rope, carried her to their car and drove her nearly two hours to the hospital. She is doing well now, but is stuck at home, limited by her lack of mobility since they tend to do a lot of moving around throughout a typical day.

After we got back from the airport, Jenna, Matt, Kriz and I headed out to do some apartment hunting. We found a couple of places, but they were either too big, or too expensive. Almost by accident, we found a brand new building that had the perfect size apartments for rent. It's basically a studio apartment with a small bathroom, very small kitchen area and a little balcony on the second story and the rent is only 6,000 pesos a month. We were very excited to find this place and can't wait to move in on the first of March. Until then we will be staying here at HOB, then moving to Dann and Joji's on Sunday afternoon. We're looking forward to having a place to call our own and Jenna is anxiously awaiting the time when she can cook again; eating out for every meal is already getting old.

We came back to the office feeling excited and energized by our findings and were happy to share our excitement with Dann. We spent the next few hours catching up with him. We heard about where he was and what he had been up to in the last couple of weeks. We learned that most of the team had been, or still is, out on assignment and that they typically have times when they may go a week or more without seeing members of the team. What usually happens is that everyone goes out into the field for their individual assignments, does whatever work they were supposed to, and then the group gets back together in the offices to touch base, share their happenings and get ready to take the next step forward.

After two hours with Dann I was feeling very excited to be here and ready to get started with my work. Dann also spent a lot of time sharing with us in greater detail what it is that we will be doing and how we will be interacting with the team as a whole. Dann places an immense amount of trust in each of his team members to do their specific jobs in the way that they see fit. Dann is a dreamer and a facilitator. He comes up with dreams and ideas to move PBCI forward and then mobilizes his team to accomplish the goals. He is willing to work side-by-side with everyone and is always willing and ready to give and receive council. Dann wold say that on his good days he is determined and persistent, but on his bad days he's straight up stubborn. He doesn't beat around the bush: he is going to push us and we should push him when it's appropriate.

By the time the conversation was over, it was definitely time for a coffee and some chillaxing time. After coffee--which, by the way, is free for PBCI staff--we headed out to eat with Matt. We went to a place called De Boerderij which was a Western European/American style place. Matt and I had burgers and Jenna had a pesto pasta dish. After dinner we head back to HOB and were completely ready for bed. So that was our first complete day in Davao. All-in-all it was a very good day.

Getting here/First night

This is our blog; welcome. We hope that this will be the major source of our communication over the next 12 months as we try to share our life and experiences for our friends, families and supporters. We'll do our best to continually post new and (what we see as) exciting events, so please bear with us as we try and learn how to discern what we right about. Thank you for your support. Enjoy!

So we have made it to Davao City with no major hiccups, and with a good night's rest, we're beginning to feel more human. The more than 24 hours of travel went by faster than expected. We got a few good hours of sleep on the ride from Vancouver to Hong Kong and watched a couple of movies. Arriving in Hong Kong was slightly anti-climactic since the weather made it hard to see anything around the airport as we began our descent. Once we found our terminal we grabbed a coffee and a muffin from Starbucks. I'm not sure when the last time was that coffee tasted that good. After a short layover we boarded our next flight bound for Manila. The two hour flight seemed to pass quite quickly and as we began our descent I couldn't help but be excited by the scenery. Everywhere I looked was lush and green, the roof tops were all kinds of bright colors and the ocean was light blue and looked very inviting.

We spent roughly 4 hours in Manila. We had to go through customs, transfer to a different terminal, go through security again, check our bags then wait for our plane to board. Boarding our last plane, a 747, was particularly exciting for me as I had not yet flown on a plane of that size; it was huge! After a short trip across several islands, it was finally time to arrive in Davao. As we were taxing to our gate I was looking out the window and was amazed at what I was seeing. Here I was sitting in this massive plane and just off the runway there was a young man riding his bike through the grass. There were several abandoned buildings around the airport, overgrown foliage, a garden and antennas seemingly randomly placed about.

We were met at the airport by Matt the driver, and Kriz, Dann's right hand woman. As we drove from the airport to our room for the night, I was blown away by what I was seeing. There were people everywhere, working on the sides of the road, walking, driving, cars everywhere and everything seemed to be so fluid. We were driving very quickly and lanes for traffic didn't entirely exist. I was barley paying attention to the conversation because I was so excited by what I was seeing outside the windows.

After a brief stop at the HOB (House of Barnabas) where we would be staying for the night, we headed to Coffee For Peace to pick up Joy, another staff member of Peacebuilders, then off for a bite to eat. We had dinner at a place called MTS which was basically an outdoor food court where you could choose to eat from several different kinds of restaurants. Dinner was good and it was nice to talk with Joy, Matt and Kriz and get to know them a little bit. While we were eating a group of percussionists and dancers came out onto a stage and began performing different songs and dances that were somewhat based on traditional dances of the local tribal people. What a great way to get thrown into the culture!

After dinner we headed back to HOB for a good night's rest. So that was our first night in Davao...

We'll post again soon! And hopefully with pictures...

- Keith