Balikbayan

After several weeks of operational and personal down-time, I returned to the Philippines on May 1st from Thailand and immediately made my way back to Baguio. I expected lone product of this return visit would be to reconnect with the Kristus-Phil team members, to provide encouragement, etc, in effect, nothing overly productive. Fortunately, thanks to the guidance of my most generous hosts, there was much more I was able to accomplish with my limited time.

The first full day back, May 2nd, I spent the first half of the day in the escort of one Mr. Salvador Waldo, President of the La Trinidad Vegetable Grower’s Cooperative (and uncle to Team Abatan’s own Jeruel Basalong). We first paid a visit to the La Trinidad Municipal Trading Post to observe the everyday activities local small farmers thereat. Watching from a balcony above the boiling mass of sellers, buyers and piles of loose or bundled vegetables being shifted around the trading floor, I had difficulty discerning any sort of order amidst the mayhem below. Uncle Salvador assured me though that there was indeed a time-tested system of exchanges that assured the lowland provinces would have fresh veg for their evening meals. What I easily comprehended, however, was the sheer volume of organic waste that amasses every trading day as sellers trim and package produce to meet individual buyer’s specifications.

If this wasn’t enough to inspire me to think about ways to better organize the small farmers and force reform to system which unfairly puts the majority power in the hands of the buyers, we then visited the model greenhouse program at Benguet State University. There we saw both high-tech industrial greenhouses provided by Israeli donors and more practical and affordable versions which utilize local construction materials and techniques. We also learned of various irrigation and planting techniques which, if accepted by the local farmers, would increase productivity and limit the use of harmful, costly pesticides.

Finally, we met with litigators at the Provincial Administrative Offices to explain Kristus’ concept and plans for Abatan and other potential projects in the area. The idea was purely to make it courtesy call, but I think the frank and open discussion we enjoyed merited the promises of future cooperation from one section of the legal arm of the local government.

Now, I know you are thinking this all has little to do with distance learning education programs for rural health workers, and you’re right. But as part of the charge I have accepted from Kristus is to assist under-developed rural communities served by said health workers in establishing sustainable, environmentally conscious economic programs. As such, and given that the communities around Abatan are primarily supported by the efforts of independent, small-scale vegetable farmers, it is entirely pertinent that I pursue these partnerships/sources.

Greenhouses and regulated irrigation allow for year-round, controlled production which empowers the farmers to manage demand, decrease waste and dependence on fertilizers and pesticides, and, ultimately the ability to stabilize selling prices. Providing options for the reprocessing of organic waste into compost fertilizer or animal feed further reduces the amount of waste and increases the small farmer’s bottom line. It’s kinda odd that I would only learn something about agricultural production only after leaving my home state of Illinois.

Later that evening I found myself involved with another culture that I thought I would never willingly experience; I attended and was entertained by some of the spirited activities at the 28th Annual Meeting of the NLAD-Lutheran Women’s League held at the United Lutheran Church in La Trinidad. Thereat, I arrived by chance in time to catch a sort of “Battle of the Babaes”, a songs of praise singing competition wherein vocal aptitude was neither a pre-requisite nor a barrier to participation. It was encouraging to see not only so many members from Benguet and the surrounding provinces participating, but also the various family members there lending their support.

The next morning, after a good hand laudering of pair #2 of my two pair of socks, I was treated to a guided tour of all the sights of Baguio by Joel, son-in-law of Pastor Lasegan. We visited several of the touristy spots like Mines View, the Tam-awan Tribal Village, and Camp John Hay. Some interesting sights for sure, but one really has to imagine how picturesque Baguio may have been 15 years ago, before the aftermath of a huge earthquake sparked a boom of housing construction, a population explosion and the subsequent increase in pollution.

With little schedule for the next few days, I accepted Pstr. Lasegan’s offer to accompany him and his wife to San Juan, La Union, some two hours west of Baguio, down out of the mountains to the seashore. There I was invited to stay at the Concordia Theological College, an ecumenical study center sponsored by the Lutheran Church. San Juan was exactly the ticket I needed: a sleepy, tiny little village right on the beach, with complimentary accommodations that were better than any I had experienced on the trip thus far, and, not a sole outside of school’s two caretaker family to disturb me. My few days there consisted of little more than sunning on the black sand beach, swimming in the surf, and deciding what traditional Filipino food I would like for my next meal. I can’t say enough about how wonderfully I was treated by Angie and Robert and family, Pstr David and family and my host Pstr. Lasegan. My meager attempts to reciprocate only amounted to solving a few minor computer problems and re-running a phone line to allow their office to connect to the Internet.

All play and no work make Steve a fun boy so, it was back to Baguio on a less-than-healthy local bus to meet up with Jeruel for the trip to Abatan. Fortunately, in the brief stopover I had in La Trinidad I had the opportunity to meet and share lunch with Jeruel's father, Mr. Basalong, recently returned from his mission work in Cambodia, and the rest of the family. Around 2pm, Jeruel and I piled into a fast minibus for a harrowing trip up the winding Halsema Highway to Abatan. My fortunes only continued with the opportunity to experience a rare Philippine hail storm in a blinding rain with a driver who seemed to be bent on qualifying for the Le Mans circuit. Almost three hours later the van slid to a stop in front of the Lutheran Mission Hospital and rested long enough for me to gain the confidence to reopen my eyes.

There I was pleasantly surprised by the sight of the newly redecorated Distance Learning Center (DLC). Some local volunteers had recently applied a coat of light blue-green paint to the inside walls, added some minor furniture and decorative items, and erected a functional and attractive divider/bulletin board to separate visitors to the DLC lab from the other activities in the Hospital Annex building. This positive aesthetic change, however, barely detracted from what we learned have been continual connectivity issues. Providing reliable, time and cost efficient Internet access to all four PCs access at the same time is still as distant goal as the DLC has of yet been unable to realized consistent access by any of the PCs.

We immediate set to troubleshooting the system, hoping to restore revive the system configuration that had only a month earlier temporarily allowed all four PCs network and have access. Overcast conditions and frequent power outages only frustrated out efforts until just after 10pm, when Jeruel finally threw in the towel. It wasn’t until the following morning that the computer imps, apparently scared off by the morn’s bright, clear skies, temporarily abandon their assault on our network and we were able to reconnect.

Our efforts don’t seem to have been for naught; we have significantly reduced the culpability of any technical components. Unfortunately, it looks more like the variables that we can’t change such as time of day and atmospherics appear to have a greatest effect on connectivity. We will, however, have not given up hope that a technical solutions can be found to overcome any natural barriers.

This will probably be my last blog on this trip. I’d like to thank those who responded either negatively or positively to my postings and hope that THIS use of technology came close to achieving the original goal of relating the process and progress of this trip.

I generally dislike blogs as they tend to be self-indulgent, superfluous and a huge time-waste, as is most of what people post on the web. This example has been perhaps no less a negative contributor to this trend. But then, where else would you have learned something about controlled irrigation techniques in the Philippines and alternate uses for zip-off pant leggings?

Find Your Peace.