Saturday, June 30, 2007

Just a Quick Message

I am on a big writing letters kick so if you would like a personal letter send me your address.

I want to thank everyone for my cards, e-mails and gifts for my birthday. Some I have recieved, some I haven't. It was a great birthday even if I was not at home. We had mid-training meet up with all the education and social work volunteers and my birthday happened to land during the training. After dinner we played cards and drank beer. It was chilled, relaxed and great!!! My host mom also had a dinner for me before I left for training. I feel so loved by you all from home and from my friends here.

The RSCC

My site is the RSCC is about 30 minutes walk or a 7 min trike ride from my new host family. It is also about a 25 min trike ride from my training site. It was started 30 years ago to help abandoned children from the ages of 0-6 years old. However children who are abused, neglected, and street children are also among the residence. They still try to support the 0-6 ages however it is a governmental organization and so they have some kids as old as 20. They also care for “special” children, those with physical or mental disabilities. Right now they have 4 children with cerabalpalsy and 2 of them are under 2 years old. Most of the children in this facility are boys (80%) and this seems to be the trend throughout the centers in the country.

The facility itself is beautiful and well cared for. It would put some of our group homes to shame. It also gets financial support though an organization in the Netherlands. They have build additions to the facility and even put in a pool for the “special” children. Right now they are funding a physical therapy building for these children. The agency has a capacity for 80 children however they are housing over 100.

There are about 50 staff members in total which is a heavy burden. The house parents work a 12 hour shifts, 7 days a week and handle between 8 and 14 kids. In one of the cottages they have 3 staff members because of the needs of the boys. Most of the children have behavior problems, which is expected and it does make it difficult. One of the house mothers said that her first few months were extremely difficult because she did not know how to care for these children however she is comfortable with her position. In her cottage there were girls from 6-14 years old.

The nurse I spoke with was there for 20 years and is not the oldest staff member which was incredible to hear. She has worked in most of the direct care positions except as the social worker throughout her career.

I played with the infants in the nursery yesterday and in this room they had all the 0-2 children which made up about 25 children and the other wing had the 2+ and numbered around 15. They also keep all the “special” children in this wing until they are 7 years old. I played with these boys (all of these children are boys) for about 2 hours and had them crawl all over and want to be cuddled at all times. They would even push each other out of the way to get cuddles.

In the culture a way to show respect is to take your hand and put it up to their forehead because it is a blessing. Most of the children do this to every adult they interact with. On my first day I was in the head social workers office when a group of elementary school children arrived home from school and almost every child did this to me.

Since the first day I have been working on my computer in the office. Children come in and out all day and want to listen to my earphones and tap on my keyboard. The coolest part is they are willing to share the experience with the child who comes in the door next. They also love looking at my photo’s on the computer. Right now I am a novelty. I am so excited to work here on a regular basis!!!! One more month.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Crazy Dreams, Crazy Malaria Pills

So we have to take Arelen (chloroquine phosphate) for malaria two pills once a week. One of the side effects however is really vivid dreams; this seems to affect me and it is tough. I take them on Monday mornings hoping it won’t affect me however that is not possible since someone or something is trying to kill me every Monday night.

For example a couple of weeks ago my dream involved me, my sister Courtney and a drug dealer. Courtney and I were surfing off some coast and I decided to come into shore early. There was a man on the beach who wanted me to go out to the boat just beyond the waves and get some drugs of his. But there are sharks out there and a good chance I could be lunch. He said I had to do it or he would kill me or Courtney. I am now freaking out and trying to shout to Courtney to swim away as fast as possible and stay with the other surfers. She kinda hears me and starts to swim towards me. I can’t remember exactly what happened after but I do know I was getting close to being murdered. It woke up in the middle of the night sweating just before my death. I was told this is common because if you were to die in a dream you would really die in real life
Who knows????

So last night (Monday) I dreamed I was in Las Vegas gambling (it did not appear to be L.V but in my dream it “was”). I was gambling at a high stakes table with some very large men. I needed to win to get some medical procedure for some friend. I walked away with $93,000. I was staying in a hotel that was dingy and dirty and I remember it having a red tint to it. My friend Kelly and a mutual male friend (nobody I knew but we will call him Bob) were also staying there.

I was in the lobby when Bob came up to me and said I was in serious trouble and I had to leave town A.S.A.P. He indicated I had won the $93,000 at a table with a bunch of Las Vegas Italian mafia enforcers and they needed to win to cover something up from the mob boss. Can you see my imagination working overtime here??? We run into Kelly as we are going to my room and we decide that it is safer if I leave my room and put my luggage in Kelly’s room and worry about it later. The current priority was to get me out of the hotel in one piece. I had the ticket for my winnings in my pocket however I did have $1000’s in my luggage. I am willing to give the mafia the money I won but I am concerned that if I hand it over they will kill me anyway.

Bob lets us use his car and we head to the airport. I have a ticket for a direct flight to New York in 6-8 hours. Kelly and I wait together; we are hiding in the airport. We have seen multiple mafia men around the airport and I realize that I need to get on an earlier flight and maybe not even to New York incase they figured out my flight or where I was going. Finally I decide I need to change my flight and after making sure none of the mafia men are around I go and change my ticket. The soonest flight to New York is in an hour and I would fly through Chicago; I book myself on this flight. After I did so I think that it is still not safe to go to New York but I can change my direction once I get to Chicago and hide. Kelly also has to be careful because they may have identified her. We part ways and I see her rush to the vehicle. I head towards the security check point and dodge the mafia men. One actually walks directly past me, looks at me and then decides I am not the one he is looking for. I am not sure if I have changed my appearance at this point in the dream but I do wonder. As I ride the escalator up 2 of them notice me and recognize me; the chase is on. I get through security and I don’t want to hide in any bathrooms because I don’t want to be murdered in it by one of the men who buys a ticket and gets into the take off area.

Really I want to give the money back but preserving my life intact is just as important. I think that if I go to some remote location I could send the winning ticket back to them and they would stop looking for me. I don’t want to use any credit cards, phone anyone or utilize a friend because I feared for their lives. I woke before I stepped onto the plane but I had decided I would rent a car in Chicago and head to some remote location, utilize a fake name, use a post office box and get the money back to them.
Doesn’t this read like a bad “B” movie??? The problem is it was so real. Usually if I wake up from a dream I will not continue dreaming about the previous dream however last night was an anomaly. I woke twice and returned to this dream!!!!! I wake up at 5:30am and during my groggy state my paranoia starts in and I feel the need to identify a place that nobody else knows I would go to if I was ever in any serious trouble. I would not want to go to somebody I know because “they (whoever “they” are) could trace me through my friends/family. I watch too many movies!!!!! I even decide on a couple of states: Idaho (but my uncle lives there), Iowa, Ohio or even Montana to drop of the radar. If I ever go “missing” you can start looking for me in some really dinky town in one of the three later states. I have to start taking this medicine on a Saturday night because my day off is on Sunday and I can sleep late if I sleep badly that night.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

New Friends, I Think Not!

Today I was at a session with my fellow PCV's from the area having a link session with our technical advisor. He had organized the Department of Social Welfare office for us so we could have some air conditioning for this full day session.

The Philippines has many wonderful qualities like beautiful scenery, people dedicated to social justice, wonderful and caring locals with heaps of unique cuisine. It also has bugs, spiders and snakes.

There was a bathroom attached to the DSWD office but it was in two pieces. You walked into this small room (which had no light) with the door open, made a left and walked 3 small paces because it is so dark. The light switch was on the right. I didn't really look into that area because I wanted to close the door; I didn't want anyone hearing me pee. As I turned to walk into the actual bathroom I saw multiple large bugs scurry towards a dark area in bathroom and as I looked a smidge closer I realized they were cockroaches and some were at least 1 – 1 ½ inches in length. I got totally freaked out and started screaming and running towards the door to get out. I thought I needed to push the door out to exit the area but after slamming into the door twice with my body I realized I needed to pull it. I was out and my technical advisor and another male worker were coming towards me. Our little link session was in shock and they were still in their seats. I was almost in tears for 2 reasons: being a big baby and from the shock. Thank god we were on a break because then I got to walk around for a few minutes to relax. Then everyone started poking fun at me and had a big laugh. Jerwin (my tech advisor) was also freaked because he thought I was being attacked or something.

I really don't like cockroaches. I have seen lots of water cockroaches in Havasu but these were the ones from movies; big, thick, ugly and dirty. Just thinking about the situation makes my skin crawl. Every time I think of my freak out Men in Black comes to mind and Vincent D'Onfreo's character who is the bug man and I shiver. So it was really yucky and yes even I still freak out. I heard the other cluster got a discussion on the expectation of seeing cockroaches and how common they are in the Philippines and not to freak out like I did.

Friday, June 1, 2007

Laundry

I have found my new form of exercise. It is a wonderful household chore, everyone does it but not necessarily the way I have to do it. It is an action I only want to participate in once a week because it is truly backbreaking work. I am talking of doing laundry by hand. First I had to sort my enormous stack of washing, separating it into whites, colors and darks (which we also do in the States so no biggy). I borrowed a big plastic baby bath , scrubber and washing board from the neighbor, situated it in the small bathroom and filled it with water (there are photo's of the bathroom in my pictures section). My host mom has given me a few simple instructions and told me how to do it. The process is pretty simple:

1. Soak all the clothes in the water starting with the whites, colors then darks. Wring them out and refill the bath and add the washing powder. At this point my host mom sees me struggling because I am sitting on the toilet and the bath is so low, and she hands me the little stool.

2. Put the whites in the soapy water swishing them around, pressing them a little. I take the scrubber and an article of clothing and scrub the areas that need the scrubbing i.e. under the arms area of the shirts. Wring the clothes again and try to get most of the water out. I repeat the process with all articles of clothing. Following the washing of all clothes I let out the water and draw a new bath full.

3. I then soaked and swished my clothes in the clean water repeating the process three times.

During the scrubbing part of the laundering I had at least all the children from the compound come behind me, look and laugh about what I was doing. I guess I was also just so funny because I was sweating profusely. It was disgusting! At times during the process I wanted to cut corners by only rinsing twice but Lisa kept popping into my head reminding me I will itch if all the soap is not out of the clothing. Periodically my hands would cramp which I did not think was possible however it did happen. I was discussing the washing of clothes with some other PCV's (Peace Corps Volunteers) and we have decided that doing laundry is a form of working out and it would be counted. My biceps got a great workout and my hands are definitely stronger for doing laundry.

I have a new appreciation for the washing machine. Once I get home I will never abuse this wonderful privilege (I would do a load and then forget about it having to rewash it because it stank). I think I would not wish washing laundry on a consistent basis on an enemy.