Scholarship Graduate

Today at the worksite Ruby, a graduate who we supported through a Habitat scholarship, stopped by after traveling two hours to see us! These scholarships are given to children in Habitat communities whose families are keeping up with payments (about $6-7/mo.) but can't afford to send their children to school. We first met her when she was 9 in 1999. She is now a nursing graduate, married to a police man, with child, and applying for a nursing job in Canada. We are so pleased to see her and proud of what she's done!

Sunrise and the Kingdom of God

Beautiful sunrise today. Last photo shows the "boulevard" or why we'd call a boardwalk where many of us go walking each morning. It's the pride and joy of Dumaguete... We just have two more days here before heading back to Manila on Wednesday. Last night we talked about where we saw the Kingdom of God in our midst. Answers included the beauty of the land, the beauty of the people, the sacrifices they made for each other, working alongside and communing with the poor, seeing our hopes and dreams start to take fruition, harmony in the jail... We prayed we might have eyes to see the Kingdom of God when we return to Ann Arbor. - Evans

Rock Man

Voted as the number one photo so far this trip: Jeff Taggert giddin 'er done. There is now a 10x20x6 deep hole for the septic tank. Group Comments: We're not sure if it's a sign of great strength or great weakness. / The rock was photoshopped in there; originally it was a watermelon. / At least my daughter will be happy to see me on the blog!

Talay Mental Institution

Yesterday morning we visited the Talay Mental Institution where we support the breakfast feeding program. We were interested in seeing what they were actually serving, as we are paying for women to serve them protein. The meal was impressive and ample, with beans, fish and rice, among other things.

In the pictures you see that they do not have beds to sleep on, but rather folds of cardboard. The conditions were quite shocking and difficult to witness. There are plenty of work opportunities there, including a lot of painting.

There is also a center that we painted on the grounds on a previous trip, and it showed that they were using it, with pews there and the paint showing some wear.

Morning Fishing and Tai Chi

A group of us gets up at dawn (6am) to walk along the "boulevard," a very nice concrete boardwalk across the street. The ocean is much calmer in the morning, and many of the fishermen are out and about. The tide is also low, exposing the sand and rocks beneath. Some of us go down to the shore to do tai chi! This morning there was also a really cute gal playing in one of the fishing boats after the men returned to empty their nets of small fish. (You can see them coming to shore in the photo of Evans doing tai chi.)

Elementary School

Yesterday a few of us, Betsy, Ginny, and Alma, visited the local elementary school where books we had sent over had been distributed by the librarian, Lorna, at our partner institution, Silliman University.
It has been the best place to come for comraderie, the wealth, the joy, and all of the people. They were so happy and thrilled to receive the books! It was such a joy to see them so excited.

More Women's Sewing

Here are some pictures of the women in Cantil-e we are training to sew and be a part of a cooperative. As you can tell, they are super excited. The last photo shows one of the "star pupils" and the beautiful dress she made for her daughter!

More Prison Photos

Top: the chapel with "lanterns", beautiful piñata looking things made by the prisoners for the holidays.

Next: prisoners are allowed to sell certain goods to make a little extra income. Here was an unmanned shop right outside the men's dorm/cell.

Next: Even pastors pump iron! Or rather concrete, in this case.

Next: this broken down car serves as a model for prisoners to learn and practice on.

Final: the favorite game here seems to be a form of checkers. These creative prisoners collected white and red bottle caps as their pieces, flipping them upside down to "crown" them. Many watch silently on. (Ending that sentence fragment in a preposition is for you, Brennan.)

Dinner with Sulliman University

Tonight we had a very delectable dinner with various persons of Silliman University at the president's house. Unfortunately, the president was not able to join us, as he was not feeling well, but we had a nice time and brief yet productive meeting afterwards. PCUSA Missionary Cobbie Palm led the meeting, bringing the two entities together. We agreed by the end of March to draft a partnership document that would include an overall Memorandum of Understanding between Silliman and First Pres Ann Arbor, followed by a Memorandum of Agreement that outlined what specific projects we would work on over the next 2-3 years, which would include the next task force trip. Everyone seemed cautiously hopeful about what was discussed. We returned from dinner to meet with Chitty, an old friend from past trips/projects (last picture).

Trip outside Dumaguete

After visiting the prison, Hank, John and Evans all went out to lunch to Sibuland by the ocean. Later we went up into the mountains beyond Valencia, where many expats live. Up there is a nice retreat spot for bible study along the river, although it was damaged a year ago in the typhoon. There is also a geothermal plant that powers the entire island and surrounding ones. It was only supposed to last four years but has been operating for over 20! They are able to clean out the sulfur deposits from the steam; quite smelly and similar to Yellowstone, although we didn't see any geysers. We also saw a golf course but no golfers. The downside is that the three of us got sick the next day, but are doing ok now. You can see in one of the pictures the basketball hoop in the middle of the jungle! The last picture is of a funeral procession.

Plantasia Park

On the same property as Care Corners is a nursery and beautiful grounds also owned by Marietta's family. The whole place was flooded a few hours; most of the ten acres of land has recovered. They also have horses and a beautiful house. It's a little piece of paradise right off the main road between Dumaguete and Sibuland. You feel an entire world away... Until a truck blows its horn.

Care Corners

One of our partners is Care Corners, a book resource center run by a lovely couple, Riodel and Marietta Montebon. Unfortunately, there was a massive flood that destroyed one building, leaving only the foundation, and flooded nearly three feet of another building, destroying most of the books and furniture. They are slowly rebuilding and hope to continue their wonderful ministry, yet it was sad to see their huge setback.

Books Delivered!

One of our projects is sending children's books to Sulliman Church and University, who then distribute them to local, smaller churches. We visited this UCC Philippines church that had just received one of our five boxes we had sent (or about 1,000 or so books total). Across the street is a day care or preschool. The hope is that the kids in the neighborhood will make use of the books, in addition to the children of the church.