Learning More About GK

Last week, the newest interns (us included) participated in a 4-day intern camp. Throughout the week, we learned about the Philippines as a country and in a geopolitical context, the history of Gawad Kalinga, heard from a few of the different social entrepreneurs, and heard more about social entrepreneurship.  While this internship camp came a little late for the four of us as we were already over halfway through our time here, it was still helpful to hear and learn more about the history of GK and how it began. I also really enjoyed and appreciated learning about the Philippines in a global context. I find that in school, we often hear more about the economics and social situations in American and also in Africa, but we don’t hear too much about Asian countries. Chris, who has been here for about 10 months I believe, has his Master’s Degree in International Relations, and is also from the Chicagoland area, gave the talk. He helped explain what Tito Tony means with some of his marketing methods, such as when he says that the “Philippines has the 2nd fasted growing economy is Asia.” He also introduced us to what poverty looks like in Philippines, the contrast between slums and then the built up metropolitan area, and in a way, what defines poverty in the Philippines. I found out more about the current relationship between the Philippines and China and about the presence of multinational corporations in the Philippines, such as Nestle. This was my favorite talk and also reminded me of what classes and topics that I largely learn about in school.

We also were able to go and visit 2 different GK communities around Manila. At the first one we went to, Sitio Bajo, we briefly helped in the kitchen preparing lunches to bring to the elementary school. Afterwards, we were able to go help and deliver the lunches to the kid. There were so many kids! They’re all cute, but I have a lot of respect for those teachers! The classes all had about 40 kids in each room. I would never be able to control that many young children! Afterwards, we went to another community, Bagong Silang. which is the first GK Community created. We got to hear from the community leader and his story. As he shared, he became very passionate. He told us how he had lived in New York for about 15 years before returning to the Philippines. He told us also of how when GK first approached the community about building a GK village, he didn’t trust them, largely because of mistrust of the government, but GK proved themselves, and the community was built! It was really great to be able to see and hear from different GK communities. It helps provide a nice contrast and comparison to the Enchanted Farm. It also further allows us to see the warm and welcoming culture of the Philippines. 🙂

As of now, there is only about two and a half weeks left for us! The time has gone so quickly and there is still much to do! As far as our project goes, we have relabeled the existing bins, which hopefully will encourage patrons to exercise better separation. Before we leave, we will certainly build an immobile trash can for the community as well! Hopefully all goes well 🙂

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One Amazing Trip

Hello Again!

Here is the post I promised about our MAD Travel trip! I don’t want to make anyone jealous, but it was pretty amazing! Here’s what all happened:

So we left on Saturday, late morning, from the Enchanted Farm heading to GK Silver Heights, which is one of the older GK communities. It is located just outside Manila. We arrived there at around 1 o’clock. When we arrived, we were ate a delicious lunch with Tito Bart, the Community Leader. He told us the story of Silver Heights. The area where the community is used to be a squatter area. For around 14(?) years, the government kept promising that they would provide them with homes. After years of promises, a fire ravaged the town, burning it down. This is when GK got involved, helping build a community. All the members of the community had to commit and volunteer their time and sweat to help build the community. It wasn’t until all of the homes were finished that any of the families moved in.

While at Silver Heights, we were able to play with the children and interact with the community. We also did a homestay there, and I actually stayed with Tito Bart and his family. After a few hours of playing with the children, we went back to our homestays to have dinner with our families. Tito Bart told me more about himself and the history of Silver Heights. I told him what I study and why it’s so important. He is truly and inspiring person! At 8 o’clock, we all met back up in the community room for community prayer, which happens every night. This is one of the special aspects of Silver Heights, as many families don’t even pray together on a regular basis. It was great to be a part of it and to learn more about the community and how it came to be.

The next morning after a wonderful breakfast, the 4 of us set out to Baler, a town on the east coast of Luzon. There was some beautiful scenery on the drive and we drove though the mountains. The drive was a bit long and a nauseating, but I slept for some of it, so it was all good.

When we got to our hostel, Circle Hostel, we met Alexa, who was doing a 20-day internship with the hostel. She took us to get some lunch and showed us the market (which had great souvenirs). Then she took us to the beach where we met some of the local surfers and the 5 of us took a long walk on the beach.

The next morning, we had a surf lesson!! It was so fun! The surfers were so nice. Kirsten and Savannah were really good at surfing! I stood up a few times, having one “long ride”, so I was proud of myself 🙂 After our hour lesson, we hung on the beach a little before heading back to the hostel. We just hung out for a little bit and napped some. Then we went to the market where we got some produce to cook ourselves dinner and some souvenirs for friends.

The next morning, we got up at like 5am to see the sunrise on the beach. It was really beautiful, even though it was rather cloudy out. It was really peaceful just being on the beach that early. Afterwards, we had a touristy day! The 4 of us plus Raf, one of the owners of the hostel, first went to the Mother Falls! Once arriving via trike, we set out on a short approx. 1 km hike to the waterfall. I really loved the hike and the waterfall was beautiful! We all swam in it, even though it was quite cold! When we hiked back, we all got to drink straight out of a coconut! After that, we went to a 600 year old tree. It isn’t actually a tree, more a huge collection of parasitic vines. It was really cool though! And we got to climb it, to a certain height only though. It was really pretty. Then, our tour guides took us along the coast to see different parts of the beach, the pier, the area where a typhoon killed all but 7 families who climbed up the hill a long, long time ago, and more beach. It was all really beautiful. We then went to the market to get some more produce for dinner. After dinner, we walked down to the coffee shop to get some wifi to say hello to friends and family. Later, we went to the beach and hung out with the surfers a for a little while.  It was a really nice day 🙂

The next morning was our last morning at Baler. We decided to go to the bakery down the road to get some treats for the staff at The Circle and the surfers as a way to thank them all for being so kind and welcoming to us! Kirsten and Savannah then went surfing again. The waves were too big for me though so I was there photographer for a while. Then I walked along the beach. After my walk, while Savannah and Kirsten were still surfing, I played in the sand. My surf instructor from the other day then came to keep me company as I tried to build a snowman and a castle in the sand 🙂 For lunch that day, the surfers prepared a budol fight, a Filipino tradition where all the food is laid out on giant banana leaves and everyone eats with their hands. I had a hard time getting the hang of it, but it was still a lot of fun. After that, we had to say goodbye 😦 It was sad to go since we had such a wonderful time and it was really refreshing to be  on the beach and to be somewhere where it wasn’t raining.

So thanks MAD Travel, The Circle Hostel, and Dr. Amoloza for setting this all up for us. It was truly wonderful!

Progress on our Project

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been a while since my last post. We have been quite busy this past week or two. In the past week we have:

• Attended a wake for a man named Archie King. He was very much a supporter of GK and made significant contributions to the organization. At the Enchanted Farm, he built the Arch Angel Center for Arts, which is just one of many contributions. At least 20 people from GK attended the wake; Tito Tony wanted there to be a strong GK presence to show how many people that Archie King has affected and are continuing to work towards a poverty free Philippines.
• We helped Fabian with Plush and Play since he has an order of 20,000 toys. We all helped attach tags to each individual toy. As of last week, we were about half way through!
• We helped the SEED students fill in a the road on the way to the Animal Farm. It is a gravel road and it has some holes in it. So we helped them one afternoon transporting travel. It didn’t seem like the most efficient way to do this, but they were able to finish it!
• And perhaps most importantly, we have made some great progress on our project! We have met with Frank, who is basically the manager of the farm, as well as Victor, who is head of accommodations to get some more information regarding the waste management system here. We finally have some more answers about where garbage goes and how it gets from one place to another. They are both very supportive of our project and what we would like to do. We identified some areas that could be improved by easy fixes such as adding additional garbage cans. They also are supportive of us relabeling all the garbage cans and adding new ones. We just need to make visuals before making any large changes. And Savannah is great at art, so it’s pretty convenient! Now, we need to go and find some price estimates for garbage bins for places that we feel could benefit from having bins placed there. With a month left, I know that we will be able to achieve this 🙂

Last night, we returned from our MAD (Make a Difference) Travel trip. That can be another post though.. because it was so amazing 🙂

A Day at GK

It’s been over a week since my last post; sorry everyone! The days just have been going by quickly! While the first week seemed to have dragged on a bit, I can’t believe we have been here for over 3 weeks now!

Anyway, over the past week or so, we have been continually getting increasingly familiarized with The Farm. During the days we usually help somebody, whether that be helping in the kitchen, at the farm, or helping in Plush and Play, one of the social enterprises here. We also have been working on our our project, which primarily is to help improve waste management here on the farm. So far, we have mainly met with various people to learn more about the current processes and situation of waste on the farm. As far as recycling goes, community members usually go throughout the farm and look for plastic bottles. They then sell these bottles to Tita Del. Once she collects a lot, she brings them to and sells them at a junk shop. We met with Tita Del (who is super funny) to ask her about this and to see if we could go to the junk shop with her one day, which she said would be fine. We also have gone throughout GK identifying where current receptacles are and where they could be added. We know that there is a big need to add a bin in the community area as that is where a lot of trash is just thrown on the ground. We’ve been told though that often times, interns will try to put a garbage can in the community but it is a failed project as it often gets stolen. Because of this, we need to find a way to secure it. Beyond that, we also need to make sure that there is a way of emptying the garbage can and the required accompanying infrastructure is there. While there is a truck that comes to GK about once a week, the community members are technically supposed to use it or put their own trash on it. Rather, they will need to have organize their own pickups and pay for it themselves. This is because the management really emphasizes accountability and not providing any “handouts”. While I understand and agree with this concept for fighting poverty while empowering the people, I feel that providing a trash bin in the community and also allowing the community to use the garbage truck that comes is not a handout. The environment is not a priority for the community members. Having water, food, and sending their children to school are priorities. While they may all have jobs and an income, they by no mean have extra money to spare. Many people don’t have savings or put their health as a priority either. GK often talks about the mindset of the poor and the Filipino mindset being one which doesn’t usually save money, rather they spend it all when they have it. Whether or not this be true, the fact that the community members still have very little spare money and by American standards are certainly poor, remains true. Therefore, I think that management needs to recognize this (which I know they do) and provide some “handouts”, at least when it comes to the environment because I feel otherwise nothing will get done. GK Enchanted Farm also markets itself as being an environmentally sustainable organization, so not having clearly labeled bins and very little noticeable recycling goes against there mission. While the recycling infrastructure is clearly different than in the U.S. and things may get collected and recycled regardless, they should improve at least for the image of the for-profit side of operations.

Sorry for the little rant.

Really though, I am certainly enjoying my time here! It was slightly difficult to adjust to the slower pace of life and we do have be very proactive about finding things to fill our days, we have been meeting so many great people and have been making great relationships along the way.

We also had a little 4th of July party here! A group of Filipino-Americans who were specially selected through an organization came here on the 4th to see The Farm. Us American interns got to help plan and decorate for the event. The kitchen cooked us an “American” dinner, complete with burgers, fries, and beer. It was all quite delicious! I’ve really been enjoying making new friends and also the big mix of culture that is here. There are a lot of French interns, 2 German interns that we hang with a lot, we have a new roommate who is from Taiwan, Americans of course, and of course Filipinos. It’s quite interesting to observe what I would call cultural differences between the different peoples.

While this doesn’t completely share everything that has happened in the past week plus, it would be way too long to share everything! I will try to post more often though! But I am certainly having a wonderful time even though I miss everyone back at home!

Best,

Becky

One Week In

We have now been at GK for over one full week! Over the past few days we have picked a million (or so it seemed) chili peppers from the farm, helped housekeeping, attended an info session on child dental health, and helped plant a whole bunch of citronella plants. We also started to work on our projects, kind of. We have at least figured out a bit better what it is that we want to work on. Savannah, Kirsten, and I all see the need to help organize waste disposal here. We have discovered by talking to some of the titas that a couple of the community members collect plastic bottles and them sell them to somewhere which I don’t have the answer to. But they get about 10 peso per kilo of plastic. We want to help by actually labeling the bins that are already present on the farm so that visitors know what the color of the bins actually mean (there are 3 bins next too each other, each a different, but people don’t know what goes where.) We also are trying to find out where trash goes and how often/who picks it up because this part is not clear.

An important part in making an environmental movement and mindset is also showing people who it is important to recycle and how it affects them. If people don’t know or don’t care, why would they change?

I also attended a meeting with Jazmyne, Joni, the community coordinator type figure, and a few other people. Some of the community needs were discussed. Joni mentioned some of the issues that the have been identified in the community, especially when it comes to health care. Something that was mentioned was how many mothers don’t necessarily have any aspirations of their own anymore, all of their energies and hopes lie within the children. Health is also not always seen as being very important either and education of their children and food/water comes first. Mental health and depression is also present among some of the women in the community. The Farm is going to be starting a weekly health hour to address some of these issues. These health hours will be once a week for one hour and will address different topics each week. Topics could include women’s health, mental health, dental hygiene, homeopathic remedies, etc.

Hopefully all goes well and we can get to the bottom of waste management and also help address community concerns in the short 2 months that we are here!

We are starting to get to know the titas and the children here better now 🙂 This weekend we helped the kids in the Agri-cool program, which teaches kids about agriculture (and that agriculture is indeed cool!). We helped clean up some leaf litter and also helped prepare some ornamental plants for planting. Afterwards, two of the girls showed us to the animal farm, where I met some very friendly goats! We were trying to learn some Tagalog too 🙂 We also made some new friends. Kirsten, Savannah and I were playing with a little boy named Marvic while we were looking for a nice few to watch the storm roll in. Later, he invited us back to his house where we met his parents, his 2 sisters, and his 2 brothers. The children range from 3 years old to about 11 years and they’re all really cute! We even went back to their house today for lunch and to play with the kids! RJ, the youngest boy, had Kirsten and I pretend that we were kabayos, or horses. We also all ran around and rode their bike. It was a lot of fun, especially coming from someone who has very little experience with kids!

We also went to Angat, which is the market, twice! Saturday we went just the four of us and I was pretty proud that we get there all by ourselves and didn’t look too terribly lost or confused. Today, Randy, an intern here, invited us along with him, which was nice of him. He shared with us some about his family and Filipino culture. He also said that he missed American accents since he was so used to French, which I thought was kind of funny.

This week, we will be shadowing the titos out on the farm, shadowing at the vermiculutre area, and also with housekeeping. I’m really excited to get out on the farm and help out. While little of our time so far has been what I was expecting (although I really wasn’t too sure what to expect), I was expecting to be out doing some more physical work and working more on the farm. So, I’m excited to do so. Hopefully it won’t be too hot though, or storm! I think we will also be figuring out and further defining what type of project we want to work on or accomplish. The possibilities are pretty open. We are thinking we will do something with either composting, rain water catchment, community gardening, or waste management.

I hope to update on my adventures soon!!

 

 

Welcome to the GK Enchanted Farms

We’re finally at GK! GK stands for Gawad Kalinga. The vision of GK is to

Gawad Kalinga is building a nation
empowered by people with faith and patriotism;
a nation made up of caring and sharing communities,
dedicated to eradicate poverty and restore human dignity.

To date, GK has built over 2,000 communities throughout the Philippines. The Enchanted Farm is connected with GK; it promotes social entrepreneurship and is the very first farm village university. It promotes Filipino pride and helps the poor. The farm gives social entrepreneurs and interns the chance to create a business and build it up. They employ the community members and help end poverty.

So that is a very very brief introduction to Gawad Kalinga and and the Enchanted Farm. So far, I have been here for 3 nights. It is a very beautiful place! While the 4 of us Wesleyan students are here for internships, we have not yet started our projects. Rather, we are becoming familiar with the different aspects of the community and the farm. For example, yesterday we spent the majority of the day helping out in the kitchen to prepare lunch. We got to meet several Titas, which translates to aunt, that work in the kitchen. Filipino culture is very warm and welcoming and everyone has been so kind. We also were able to attend a meeting with Tony Meloto, the father and founder of Gawad Kalinga. He is incredibly passionate about the mission and has done some pretty tremendous work over the years.

We have also encountered some other more troubling aspects. What I mean by this is that for the vast majority of its history, the Philippines has been colonized and controlled. Because of this, there is a colonial mentality and Filipino brands and products are sometimes seen as inferior. Skin whitening products are also very common is many products and soaps. The Enchanted Farm’s social entrepreneurs aim to improve morale and promote Filipino products and brands while also employing community members and helping the poor. The social entrepreneurs here pay nearly twice the minimum wage, providing moral wages. Some of the brands include:

Human Nature, a cosmetics and personal products which use natural, non-toxic ingredients.

Plush and Play, a toy brand started by a French intern, Fabian, almost 5 years ago. He employs about 50 women from the community here.

Golden Duck, which was also started by a French intern. Duck meat is seen as being cheap or inferior to many Filipinos. In France however, Duck is seen as being delicious. He decided to make a duck burger that even beat an angus beef burger in a competition. He also makes golden eggs, which are colored with turmeric and ginger instead of food dyes and has 50% less sodium.

Bayani Brew, a bottled ice tea that is preservative free and is made out of ingredients grown right here on the farm.

 

There are several other start up businesses here as well, but those are some of the main ones.

I hope to update more soon and share my experiences 🙂

My Day in Manila

We all made it! Safe and sound! Despite the nearly 2 I’ll days of traveling, the flights didn’t seem that long at all — probably because I slept the majority of them 🙂 Dubai was such an adventure, short and sweet. After figuring out where to go and what to do, the 10 of us  made it to our hotel, only to check in and hurry back out. One of the girls has a family member who owns a restaurant in the Dubai Mall and they had a 10pm reservation for us. We all took a taxi there and had the most amazing dinner ever! I even had fish, the first time in about 8 years! The food was unbelievable and the restaurant was so lush and swanky! We had a private table with an amazing view of the Dubai skyline. We were all stunned and amazed by the food, the restaurant, and the experience, as this was probably the most expensive food many of us have ever had, and it was all complementary.

The Dubai Mall was also just a complete sight in itself. It was huge! They had an ice rink, an aquarium, a movie theatre, and like 3 floors and hundreds of stores! It was quite overwhelming and very crowded, but I’m very glad we got to explore just a small part of Dubai in the very short amount of time we were there.

Our flight to Manila took off around 330 am  (local Dubai time). That flight also seemed rather fast as I slept the majority of it. We met Tito Mon, who is also Dr. Amoloza’s brother, at the airport. There is certainly some family semblance! He brought us and got us checked into our hotel in Manila. It’s a really nice hotel! Although honestly I did have a little guilt because driving form the airport, you see various shanty towns and squatters..

We were all rather tired from traveling and of course unfamiliar with the area and culture so we hung low for the evening, recovering from jet lag and preparing for the next day.

I hope to update more soon!

Hello world!

My very first blog post! I’m still trying to figure this site out and the blogging business out, so if you’re reading this, please, bear with me! It’s my last night at home before venturing on a long journey to Manila, with a layover in Dubai! So many emotions! Excitement, nerves, questions, worries… It all still feels a little bit surreal! As for now though, I should probably finish packing.. For whoever may be reading this, I look forward to sharing with you my experiences and thoughts thought my 9-week journey interning at the GK Enchanted Farms! While I have traveled and studied abroad before, this will be the first time I feel that I will be truly emerged in a different culture and world. I’m sure that the days and weeks will fly by and at the end, I will be a changed person with yet again, an altered outlook on life. 😀 😀 😀