I’ve just
had my first taste of place that I’ll be spending the next three months in:
Hagonoy. Hagonoy is about an hour and a half away from Manila – far enough to
escape the busy traffic, but not too far as to be disconnected (many people
commute from Hagonoy to Manila). It seems like a nice town, full of friendly
faces. There are approximately 130,000 inhabitants, with about 42% who live
below the official poverty line. Houses are crowded next to each other, forming
the various “barangays” (sub districts) that the town is made up of. All of the
barangays are named after the saints, so one can live in Santa Monica, San
Augustine, etc.
Travelling
around the town through the different barangays is easy, as there are plenty of
tricycles (motorbikes with large sidecars attached) around. Indeed, it is very
rare to see a private car around – the vast majority of people just rely on the
tricycles to get from A to B. Most tricycle drivers seem lovely, and if their
English is reasonable they feel confident enough to start up the usual
conversation of “where are you from?” and “what are you doing here?”. I use the
tricycle every day, and have already got used to the daily squidge of having to
cram myself into the small sidecar with another Filipino.
There are
many unemployed people here, so there always seem to be people just milling
around, taking in the air (which incidentally, is so much cleaner than
Manila!). We also got the ubiquitous fast food restaurants that Filipinos seem
to love, so “Jollibee” often makes an appearance to kids. Another noticeable
thing about Hagonoy is that it is very prone to flooding. Being close to the
sea, one has to carry a tidal calendar around at all times, so as to be able to
judge when certain areas will be easily accessible. I’ll write more on that
subject in a future blog post...
My host
family – Throughout my stay in Hagonoy I’ll be staying with the lovely
Villaflor family. Mama Angel is my Filipina mother, who will have to put up
with me over the coming weeks! I’ll also be living with her son Jess, her
daughter in law Jen, and their three children (who are all adorable). They have
all been very welcoming to me so far. I’ve been introduced to most of the
extended family, and we all had a welcome party last Sunday by a public
swimming pool. It was great to meet so many kind people, and the combination of
food, brandy (one of the main local spirits), karaoke and swimming was a lot of
fun!
The
volunteers have arrived – The British volunteers have arrived, so now all are
present and are undertaking their in country training. The volunteers will be
looking at a variety of topics, including cross-cultural working. Sensitivity
to other cultures will be key for the volunteers, as they’ll be working in
counterpart pairs (young Filipinos will work directly with young British
people). We stay together in Manila for a few days, and then begins the great
adventure...
That’s it
for this entry. I hope all is well with you, love and many best wishes,
Robert
