First day in Dumaguete

We started our first full day in Dumaguete in the rain.  It just kept coming down.  I thought this was the dry season.  We visited Bloomington farm.  This is an agricultural livelihood program of LCP.  It was greatly affected by the flooding they had back late last year that killed a number of people and wiped out a few communities that lived near a large river just outside Dumaguete.  It destroyed crops and cropland.  We also visited the river bank and saw much of the damage.  It was disheartening to look at all this empty land that used to hold houses.


I saw a number of fruit trees that I haven't seen in years.  Tall trees full of mango and jackfruit.  The jackfruit tree looks like it's holding large watermelons.  I also saw trees holding guava and papaya.  I am looking forward to sampling more of the fruit.  The mangoes are so sweet.


We then visited the home where the older boys live.  I was with 2 of the teenage boys on the trip.  I guess someone thought I was mature enough to watch over them.  That was probably a mistake.  They decided to play full court basketball, in the rain ... barefoot.  I decided to join them.  It was fun but slippery with the ball many times making strange puddle depressing bounces.  I jogged up and down the court, having fun blocking shots, shooting and making at least one shot.  I was the tallest one out there.  All was great until I dribbled down the court one time, planted my feet to ready for a shot inside the key, and my feet did not plant.  They shot right out and I slammed to the ground hard on my back.  It was then that I decided, you know, this game is probably a mistake.  I threw my back out.  So I decided to join the boys inside playing ping pong.  It was a little painful, but fun, and safer.  We ended this stay with a visit to the clinic.  One of the teenage boys had nasty blisters on his feet and I needed disinfectant on my arm and a ice back for my back.  The rest of the day required tender movements.  Especially getting up and sitting down.


After lunch I and 4 others from our group spoke in front of about 30 sponsored kids who were now in college.  We stressed the importance of college and talked about career choices.  One thing you see in the Philippines that is a little different from the US is that many of the jobs that we look on as lower skilled labor, require a college degree.  Your store clerks, call center reps, restaurant & hotel staff will all have degrees.   There aren't enough jobs so you can be selective in choosing people who have shown that they have intelligence and drive.


We ended the evening with a dinner with the kids from each of the live in communities.  They all sang and danced for us.  Four of them also gave testimonies as to how LCP/LCW changed their lives. We also sang happy birthday to everyone who had a birthday in the last 3 months.  This included Tatay, my father, whose birthday was July 13, yesterday.  A few of us then called Tatay and sang to him over the phone. It was a touching evening.

Now to bed.  I'm exhausted with a few aches and pains to add to the day.