Community Projects in Olongapo City

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On a previous visit to Subic Bay, the mighty RICHARD E. BYRD Sailors had completed a community relations project to work on the women's center in Olongapo City. Money was raised, shoes and blankets were purchased, benches were built, repairs were made, and they painted a good amount of the place. I wasn't on the ship at the time, but heard many times the warm and fuzzy feelings that the crew had from their hard work. Upon confirmation of our Voyage Repair in the Philippines, the talks began again. What are we going to do this time?




I knew Jeremy would be coming for a visit and I had no knowledge of the area, since it was my first visit. I was not going to be the one making the arrangements, I didn't want to mess up a good thing, you know? My Master Chief is originally from Olongapo City, along with a multitude of other civilian mariners, so when the topic came up, he seemed to be a good choice for the job and he willingly offered himself up to the Officer in Charge as the lead. We had decided to give him leave there anyway, so it made sense for him to make the arrangements from the location. First thoughts aside (why am I surprised?), he immediately tried to get out of the work by offering it to me. "Oh, LT, you're so good with getting people together and it would be perfect for you. Can we count on you to take charge?" Great... yet another manipulation, or so he thought, I know his game by now and I am no longer in the mood to put up with it. "Master Chief, you can count on me being there to help paint and volunteer, but I will not be organizing it. That's your job, if you didn't want it, you shouldn't have taken it." Major back-peddling commences... man, some days I am so proud of this independent strength I've found. Okay, you're right. Most days... except when I don't let tact have a word in edgewise.





So, does he organize it? Well, yes and no. He holds one meeting before he leaves to get volunteers for each departmental representative and they brainstorm a little bit. He involves the Chaplain in Singapore for organization (the Chaplains are the volunteering gurus and can make any necessary diplomatic arrangements) and leaves the entire ship side of the equation to my food inspector Sergeant. As soon as I find that out, I'm a bit annoyed, but I'm not going to leave the Sergeant there to organize the whole thing by himself. I help him out with suggestions and focused questions. He's also from Olongapo, so after the plans are made and the money is collected, the list of volunteers know what needs to be done and all the logistics of the volunteer day.





Meet on the Gangway at 0800

Police in Philippines... a few things I'd like to say about that. Okay, well probably not the entirety of the country or even each district, but at least the ones I had contact with... power hungry, not very bright and they're ALWAYS right. Of course, there is some of that in the U.S. too. It does take a very forward, alpha personality to make a good cop. Unfortunately, it can also make for a terrible officer as well. Corruption runs rampant in much of the government services in general over there and the police are definitely no exception. Since there are 6 or so military volunteering, we were "required" to have a police escort. That seems a bit drastic for going to an orphanage, but okay, I'll track for a bit longer. Meeting at the gangway in the morning, we have armed escorts and 3 or so police vehicles. There are about 8 policemen. I felt like the prime minister or a convict, I couldn't decide which.





We took our lives in our hands and threw them out the window upon stepping inside the van. I've seen some crazy driving before in many parts of the world... this was suicide. The police escorts used their sirens and horns, announcing to everyone that we would pass them whether there was space or not to do so. I had to cover my eyes a few times... seriously, I'm not kidding. It was like a roller coaster ride over streets riddled with pits and rubble, people and more vehicles than I imagined could be purchased by the locals. I realized I was holding my breath as we pulled into the dirt parking lot and I finally relaxed enough to breathe.





In the little compound sits the Women's Center and the Youth Center. Don't let these names fool you, they are certainly much more than that. The Women's Center was the location of the last project, a place for girls and women to gather in an almost-refugee manner. They can sleep there, get away from any domestic violence, etc. With the patriarchal society, I don't know that the women are treated very well when they go there, but it's a start and it's better than being left to the alternative. The Youth Center is an orphanage, plain and simple, with dormitories and a handful of adults to try to care for these children who will most likely end up as part of a gang or in the streets peddling. They live in communal dormitories and there are only about 5 toilets and showers set off of those dorm rooms. The beds are old and rickety, some bunk beds that I'd be afraid to climb up on, and most of the beds have no mattresses. The building was little more than a large concrete structure (I think 3 floors), it had not ever been painted. With the money raised on the ship, one of our paint professionals on board had purchased primer and supplies. We were hopeful to paint all the dormitory spaces, one whole deck (besides the hallways). It was ambitious, but most of the volunteers (besides the military detachment) were professional deck workers, used to painting the ship. If anyone could do it, it would be them.





As we arrived, no one really knew where to start... we managed to pull everyone together and the painting commenced! Ready, set, GO! Walls, bathrooms, showers, we did it all... even the ceilings. We did have a bit of fun along the way, joking with one another and getting a handful of the boys to help us. There was even a little kitten that I fell in love with. She helped me paint a bit, kept me from getting grumpy as I began to get hungry. I am certain I would have whisked her away, had I the chance to get her back home somehow. As you can see, some of the kids warmed up to me too. They didn't speak much English, so I tried my limited Tagalog (Philippine language) to tell them how handsome they were, "pogi ka" (you're handsome). They were great kids, started calling me Big Mommy. I don't think they realized that it was kind of offensive, but whatever. You can tell they don't have a lot of strong, adult influence though... as soon as the workers left, they would sneakily ask us for money or trinkets. It was like being back with the street peddlers again, quite a shame, but it's all they know and I can't blame them for that. I just wish it would change.





And Let Them Eat Cake

Lunch break finally rolled around and the ship had set enough money aside to buy everyone there pizzas. All of a sudden, kids came out of the woodwork. Up until lunch, only about 5 kids were really around, helping us paint. Suddenly there are 50 kids and about 15 cops... I will admit, it was frustrating and disappointing to me. Maybe I'm too much of an idealist... I prefer to think that way though. The ship bought about 20 pizzas and loads of drinks, just in time to see the Captain and Mayor get together for PR photos. Mayor Bong Gordon, whose family has kept the mayorship for many years, is good with words. I hear though that for anyone wanting to open a business in his town, they must pay him every month a certain percentage of their earnings. I digress again, can you tell how much the thought of corruption irritates me? I don't want to accuse anyone wrongly or demean what we did and what was being done. The Captain and Mayor smiled for the camera, we ate and then I went back to work.





Jeremy came with us to this project, so you can see both of us painting... it takes until about 5pm to complete what we need to. I'm quite impressed with the amount of work we accomplished. I packed up some things and went outside to shoot hoops with some of the boys. The locals were a bit surprised to see a woman playing a "man's game", but I ignored them and continued on. One of the cops comes outside and watches us with an appraising eye. I didn't think anything of it until he started hitting on me. "Do you have a phone?" Yes, of course I do. "You should give me your phone number." Why is that? "So we can talk and become friends." Oh, it's not my phone, I don't think that's a good idea. "What's your name?" Crap. Are you kidding me? My husband is right inside, I'm wearing my wedding ring, seriously? I continue with the game, hoping he'll just go away. It worked after I didn't answer him.






Time to go... though once again we took our lives in our hands in the van. I was very glad to get back to the ship and get cleaned up. We were quite the mess, but I felt satisfied. We had given them food, shoes and worked on their home. Of course, we found out later that the kids sold the shoes for money. It's the thought that counts, right?

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Photos

Arrival
About 30 of us showed up

My little boys
They called me Big Mommy.

Helping Little Hands
I get by with a little help from my friends.

Sunglasses
This kid totally tried to steal my sunglasses... wish someone would teach them better.

Oh, my work is never done!
Bill gets the boys to help.

Furry Helper
She stayed up there a lot of the time.

Action shot
She shoots, she scores!

Comments

[Aries and Rinka]

If you were "frustrated and disappointed" with corruption. I was simply disgusted and crushed after working for three years for anti-poverty efforts in the Philippines. Solving poverty is hard enough, but when you are doing it in an atmosphere of corruption deeply woven in the fabric of the society, then the battle is a no win situation. That is why I just left my country. I thank and pray that there are people like you. I hope your passion will not be diminished as mine did.

[Parvati]

Thanks for your comments! I hope that my blog wasn't offensive to you or anyone else from the Philippines. I think the country is so beautiful and the culture/people is richly colorful as well, I just wish it could advance as it should without the restrictions of corruption. It's hard to understand how someone can "work for the people" yet not see that they are simply barring the way for their success and departure from deep poverty.

[Aries and Rinka]

You can only offend people who cant see things clearly or those people that benefit from this culture of corruption, which are less than human anyway. Keep blogging. I enjoy reading your blogs.

[Parvati]

Thank you for your support! It means a lot. Feel free to subscribe to my blog, I'm taking a much needed vacation and will be writing from the Caribbean next. Happy holidays!