Blogs from Philippines, Asia - page 328

Second Bi-Weekly Overseas Volunteer Report Volunteer Name: Lisa White Departure Date: May 18, 2005 Partner Agency: DSWD Return Date: Sept. 2, 2005 Project Location: Iloilo City, Philippines Reporting Date: June 27, 2005 Lisa’s Special SCALA Questions Strengths and weaknesses of EWB Volunteers and SCALA Trainers / Center Managers as Volunteers 1. Describe the benefits of a Filipino setting up a center and the strengths and weaknesses specifically of your partner. Explain which weaknesses you will be able to help strengthen. What qualities/skills do you as a Canadian or an EWB volunteer or just as a different person with a different background, bring to setting up a center that your partner doesn’t? There are significant benefits to having a Filipino partner, so much so that I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to set up a ... read more

June 17, 2005, Friday at 10:00 AM, Val, Toby (Val's brother), Ninjo (Val's cousin) & I left Filinvest 1, Q.C, our home & headed to Subic, Olongapo via North Luzon Expressway. Everything was going along fine, cruising with our music but suddenly when we reached the bridge in NLEX(North Luzon Express way) the steering wheel started to shake. At first I thought it was just the road, but after the long stretch of the bridge it still continued to shake. We went down from the CRV van & found our wheel unevenly bloated. My Gosh! Good thing it did not explode! We changed the front left tire. We were back on track by 10:45AM, we just had a 20 minute delay. We arrived at Subic, All Hands Resort at around 12:30 PM. Check-in is actually at ... read more

The last installment of my training happened in Tacloban, a city of around 200000 people on the coast of the Visayan island, Leyte. This training was planned and facilitated by Ma’am Gemma, the focal person at the central office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Manila. One part ice breaker activities and get-to-know-you games, one part intense SCALA sessions, and one part amazing food, the week’s sessions were designed to prepare us volunteers - both Canadian and Filipino - for the upcoming set up of 7 new computer literacy training centers throughout the country. SCALA Volunteers Andrea. Ann is a mother of two who has been both the Center Manager and a trainer at the center in Bago City for the last year. With her experience in the process of setting ... read more

It was fun! Going to Boracay was a great experience. MV Navigation ferried us to the place, it was only an overnight trip with reasonable fare. The ship cannot go near Boracay beach because it has a shallow shore so another pumpboat will help transport visitors near the beach. Indeed, it has a very fine white sand, powder-like sand. Beautiful. We go island hopping, banana boat riding, barefoot walking to feel the sand massage our heel. The 4-day vacation was maximized at a very low cost with a pocket money of P5,000, good enough. ... read more

after a very exhausting yet enjoying company outing in batangas, a group of auditors invited us to join them in puerto galera... aboard the overloaded banca, we headed for puerto galera first boat trip in the morning from batangas... travelled for almost 45 mins and landed at white beach... t'was summer hot... after settling in an overnight accommodation, we savored the beach for a few hours and decided to go snorkeling at the other side of the island... it was fun, though i m quite tired and actually hesitated going, i still joined. the beach is as so with most of the Philippine's beaches - very beautiful in sight and in experience - ... so many colorful fishes which you can actually touch... one of us actually got a starfish which is the first time ... read more