The Leadership Summit… or Not
Several of my projects last year were busts. It’s normal.
However, I was really confident about the Second Annual Youth Leadership
Summit. We had it last year, they created an ordinance mandating the summit. We
had a date picked out. The module was improved and revised to accommodate out
of school youth as well as students. We sent all the invites out.
The following day three Barangay Captains visited me to ask
me to postpone the summit. The students were still in school during those dates.
Having the privilege of knowing several volunteers who work at the school, I
was aware that there are many reasons students get taken out of class. Environmental/health/etc
week, for a marching band competition, for a song and dance routine, are just
some of the examples. I thought asking for a score of students from each school
was reasonable, but in the end I had to relent. It’s been pushed back to March,
though still working out the exact dates. My hope is to have it before
harvesting season which is usually the last week of March through April.
However, I had one more curveball thrown at me. That
afternoon, I wrote up a quick notice to inform everyone about the postponement
of the summit. A week later, one of the schools still arrived because they
never got the second notice. It was a frustrating moment. In a week’s time the
communication should have been received. The school that came is at the heart
of the mountain barangays, about an hour away from me, and one of my targeted places
for where I want to do a lot more work. My supervisor explained what had
happened, while I whipped up a few activities so that they didn’t leave empty
handed.
For about an hour we ran through some leadership tools and
strategies such as the tree model (trunk is the problem, roots are the causes,
branches are the effects, leaves are the people affected). I also promised them
that if they wanted I could come to their school specifically and do more.
Since I haven’t heard back it’s something to follow up on.
The first lesson to come out with it is to turn defeat into
victory. Make a bad situation and turn it into something even better than you
originally had planned. In this case, I attempted to build a stronger
relationship with Belance High School than I would have if the summit had gone
according to plan. I’ve found this strategy extremely useful at site. I make
mistakes, sometimes its legitimate cultural misunderstandings, sometimes it’s
just on me, but as often as not I’ve used the moments to try to get closer to
my community, to tell them “hey look I’m a crazy American, this is why I need
all of your help on this too.”
The second, and more important lesson came after I waved
goodbye the kids and their teacher. I was upset about the miscommunication in
the first place, and I was even more upset that I felt unsupported when they
came. My supervisor was an exception, and he bought me some valuable time, but
I also wish that another couple of people had assisted as well. However, I didn’t
make a big deal of it. I didn’t criticize anyone. Biggest of all, I didn’t try
to make a point. During my service thus far, I’ve reached the conclusion that
trying to prove a point isn’t really all that important. If I want my coworkers
to take a more active role in things I’m doing I’ll include them. Getting
frustrated when it doesn’t happen is more likely to push people away than have
them turn around. It hasn’t been always easy to let go of my pride like that
(and truth be told it doesn’t always work), but it has been rewarding when I do.
America
Having the chance to live in a developing country has made
me appreciate the things I had back home. Although the streets in America are certainly
not paved with gold, they are paved with tar, which is but one of the many,
many small things that I experienced again during my two week vacation back to
Colorado for the holidays.
Living in another culture is far from easy no matter where
you are from, and no matter where you are going. I hear Filipinos speak of
family and friends who struggle in America. The food, the customs, the
language, the expectations both professionally and personally are different.
One of the most noticeable things about my trip is that life felt very, very
easy because it all came natural. I didn’t have to consider whether my words
would be taken out of context or not, didn’t have to remember how to say a
certain word in Ilocano, I didn’t have anyone staring at my awkwardly or
thinking that trying to get my attention was funny simply cause I’m a foreigner.
And yes, having my favorite foods that aren’t around in the Philippines like alfredo,
Five Guys Burgers, and bacon was magical.
A term used in the Peace Corps is reverse cultural shock,
describing volunteers who go home for the first time and are surprised by how
different things are. I didn’t really feel any shock per se, and I don’t think
I saw everything as different. I certainly appreciated Colorado even more, and
I did find that people were really impatient. Like honestly Americans, you all
look silly with how rushed you are.
Christmas was great. I got a kindle (the original, black and
white one), a t-shirt, a CD of rock bands covering Muppets songs, a few other
things.
I’m really happy I had the chance to go back to America and
see my family. It’s a bit different in this day and age with the internet and
skype than it was for volunteers back in the day. However, I think I’ve said it
before, but I’ll say it again anyways, face to face trumps all still. Yes, phones,
e-mails, (blogs) are all still valuable and necessary, but I’ll still take face
to face when I can.
No big New Years parties. No big exciting things I did. Only
interesting thing I did was take cheese and butter making class. I’ll try to
make some at my site, but we’ll see if their milk works (it’s the kind that has
a year shelf life).
Updates on the Big Project
My comprehensive out of school youth project is still moving
slowly but surely. Some highlights…
The youth organization aspect: There’s a young man, former
intern of my office, who is primarily in charge of organizing the out of school
youth now. It takes a good chunk of the workload off my shoulders, and it’s
exactly what the project needs: Filipinos taking charge. We’re working on
getting the local youth government on board.
Health aspect: The Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill for
short) passed in the Philippines. It’s an extremely controversial bill here in
the Philippines, and I’m not going in depth here. However, part of the work I’m
trying to get started is to work on the problems of teenage pregnancy, and
family planning, particularly for households that cannot support several
children. I’ll be meeting with the Municipal Health Office again to see how the
bill’s passing may affect our own work in the community.
Job creation: We’re going to still need to find sources of
funding. However, before that we need to document and organize the kinds of
jobs we’re looking to create, the expenses to provide a job, and the breakdown
of those expenses from materials, to land, to training. There are currently
programs in the Philippines for job trainings, but it only covers a small percent
of the populace. I’m hoping to start a similar program in our municipality, and
making it as large or small as we have the resources to provide for.
Things to Come
I finally am going to take the FSOT on February 2nd.
For a while it looked like I wasn’t going to get in yet again, the spots filled
up in less than a day. However, more spots did open up. I don’t think taking
the test is usually that tricky, I think it’s just trying to take it in the Philippines
that made it harder. I’ll try to re-look over some world geography, make sure I
don’t mix up the amendments, take a closer look at US treaties, and continue to
keep up with the world news.
Hoping to grab a punching bag next time I’m in Baguio which
will probably be sometime next month during their Flower Festival. Yes, I just said
punching bag and Flower Festival in the same sentence. I was surprised when I
wasn’t able to find one in my own province since Manny Pacquiao is the biggest
sports celebrity here. It’s a great workout though, and I’m willing to spend my
living stipend on one.
I’m pretty sure at this point I’ll look for an extension to
my service. The work is still at the beginning stages, I’m happy here, I don’t
have a job lined up for me back home. If I’m able to beat the odds and get
accepted as a Foreign Service Officer, I’ll definitely accept, but it’s a long
process and I still need to pass the initial test.
Thanks for reading, and I’ll try to get an update in
February
