Sunday, August 26, 2007

The best part about Peace Corps

There are many reasons people join the Peace Corps. Some join for resume building, some to save the world and some for good ole-fashioned escapism. We all have different motivations for being here, but there is a certain feeling of understanding that we are all looking for deep down.

I recently went to an island; you may giggle because the Philippines is known for 7,104 of those but this island is special. It is called Rapu-Rapu and is within an exceptionally poor municipality in a down-trodden and typhoon-prone province (Albay)in a neglected and forgotten region (Bikol) of the Philippines. We are installing water filters there. 50 BioSand water filters will be donated to this rural, poor area.

Instead of having the trained artisans of the BioSand filter production facility install them, I thought that people would care about the filter more (treat it better, and be more likely to use it correctly) if they installed it themselves.

So I had a training. Training of trainers is the crux of being a Peace Corps volunteer. You impart the ability to teach skills and information to locals who will teach it when you are gone (sustainability).

Normally, when you give a training in the Peace Corps, it is likely that the people who attend do so more to listen to a tall white guy (Halangkaw na puti!) speak and be funny in public than actually learn what you are trying to say. There are usually one or two people who think that what you are doing is a good idea and only one of them isn't too shy to let you know how they feel.

This event had been postponed a number of times: Weather, Protest Rallies, Absent Attendees, Fiesta. All of these factors finally worked in my favor on this particular weekend and I travelled to the island with a smile on my face. The venue was prepared and the people showed up (REALLY; A BIG DEAL!!!). The weather was BEAUTIFUL. My training materials were completed and fully prepared!

Begin.

A woman whom I work with "Ate [ah-tay, meaning 'older sister'] Flo" and I gave a presentation on water and sanitation and how, if you drink contaminated water, you are most likely eating someone/something else's poop. That went well, people asked questions.

I presented the BioSand filter. They liked that.

We installed 5 filters and taught people how to do it themselves.

And then the smile on my face got big: one woman from the people's organization I was working with stood up and started answering people's questions. She had just learned all these good and bad ways to live and be healthy and now she was relating these to her fellow citizens. She understood me. She not only understood me, but she believed me enough to take the initiative and explain it to those around her after less than an hour!

In case my punctuation does not make this clear enough, this is a very good thing.

Given the number of times that people don't listen to what you say or really appreciate that you are trying to help them, having someone teach/do/listen/understand what you tell them of their own free will is amazing.

We are returning to this island soon with the rest of the 50 filters for the poor and down-trodden of that area, so the training these people recieved will be put to good use in the near future (ideally, they will take responsibility for the installation of the next 40). Pictures to follow soon.