Earthquakes and such

Well, yesterday sure was exciting! I’ve witnessed my first (mild) earthquake! It wasn’t half as bad as I thought it might be, based on what you see on TV (it was a magnitude 5.2 on the Richter scale, http://tsunami.geo.ed.ac.uk/local-bin/quakes/mapscript/demo_run.pl shows some more info, including location). I did feel it, but I wasn’t hurt and I haven’t seen any damage. I was a little worried at first, but after the shaking stopped, it was more excitement than fear. So, besides the natural disasters (I also witnessed the periphery of a Taifun a few weeks ago), things are going well! Thankfully, all of these events have remained inconsequential, at least to me and the area I’m in. I’m now almost four months into my pro-bono engagement to improve the living conditions in one of the least developed areas of the Philippines, and my work continues to gain focus and momentum.

Specifically, after lengthy networking and lots of late-night proposal-writing (I guess that’s the same everywhere in the world), I have managed to secure commitment from the DED (Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst) for a three-year full-time appointment of a development worker in the Lanuza Bay area to focus on coastal resource management! This is fantastic news, as the coastal area provides livelihoods to a large portion of the population, so if this resource is managed well, the people here will be served best in the long run.

Also, the team I lead for the € 330.000,– proposal to the European Commission for the regeneration of natural resources really did a fantastic job: we submitted the document almost a week before the deadline. The business case was a real challenge, but we got all of our numbers straight, and now we’re just keeping our fingers crossed.

Lastly, the alliance anti-corruption agreement was finally signed by the mayors! This is the first agreement of this kind ever to be signed in all of Mindanao. The document sends out a strong message to the community, but, equally important, to foreign investors. This agreement will be included in all future proposals, and should win us a lot of extra evaluation points for DFI (Direct Foreign Investment).

So, in summary:

Personal lowlights:

• Having missed the all-hands products community meeting back in Germany.
• Finding a cockroach in my apartment, and then another. And another.
• Being continuously cut off in international phone calls from back home, because connections just aren’t very good here.

Personal highlights:

• The continuing excitement of collaborating closely with mayors, national government representatives and funding agencies.
• Getting meetings to start on time by suggesting that whoever comes latest writes the meeting minutes.
• The feeling of relief when during a power failure I realize that my laptop’s battery has kicked in and I haven’t lost all of my work.

Take care, please keep in touch, and write soon!

Martin

Another presentation of local handicrafts.

These are some of the examples of the handicraft products made entirely of fern.

This was a presentation of traditional handicraft making. It's really fascinating what can be made out of fern!

This is me in the discussion with the mayor of one of the municipalities in the Development Alliance. Don't ask me why I have that strange look on my face, I honestly don't know!

And another view of Lanuza Bay. Gotta love it!

This shot was actually taken directly from my house, showing the street I live on, and proving the fact that there's always "space for one more" on a Jeepney!

A shot of Lanuza Bay. Somehow, I never get bored of the views here!

This is a mangrove reforestation project started within the Lanuza Bay Development Alliance. A lot of mangroves are cut down for firewood, so this is an attempt to counteract those adverse effects.

This was a local band on Camiguin, that played some traditional music. Very enjoyable!

This picture shows some of the things available at the local market.

This is how some of the fish are caught in and around Lanuza: Fishermen get into the river waters with their nets, and just simply lift the fish out of the water.

This is me sharing some of the celebration glory. The "queen" of the Manobo tribe is actually Joy, the mayor's wife, the person standing next to me is the Mayor of Lanuza, Geri.

Another shot of the winning - and celebrating - team.

Lanuza won the competition! After weeks of gruelling practice (lots of which I witnessed), Lanuza made first place with their presentation of the Manobo tribal dance! The celebrations were in full swing here - no body cared about the rain!

The Lanuza team! Surfing has been around Lanuza for hundreds of years, but if you don't know that (like me, until recently), it's easy to think that the surf board is slightly misplaced here.

This is the dance competition entry of St. Augustine, in action, showing the Manobo tribal dance.

And another entry.

One of the teams during the competition.

This is Tandag's entry team for the competition, if I remember correctly. I thought the imagery was really impressive.

At the competition in Tandag, this shows Lanuza's team gearing up for the competition. The costumes are traditional, and the props used represent the gratitude for the blessings the land has afforded the people (kind of like Thanksgiving).

Some of the dancers of Lanuza's tribal dance team.

For the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Providence of Surigao del Sur, of which Lanuza (and, actually, the entire Lanuza Bay Development Alliance) is a part, Tandag, the province capital had a huge celebration. One of the events was a dance competition of traditional tribal dances. This picture shows the Lanuza team, right before the dance starts.

This one is pretty awesome: it's a replica of Ferdinand Magellan's map of the world. It actually covers the entire (huge!) ceiling of the Waterfront Hotel. Again, it looks a bit skewed, because it's actually a composite image.

This is a picture of the drawing in the background of the stone marking the site where Ferdinand Magellan was killed. The reason the frame looks a bit funky is because, as you can see in the previous picture, the frame is actually fairly close to the big stone, meaning you can hardly get a single picture of the whole drawing, so I had to take multiple pictures and 'stitch' them together; so this picture is actually a composite of many individual pictures. It shows how Magellan met his match in Lapulapu.

This is the site where Ferdinand Magellan met his fate: while he managed to get most original inhabitants of the Philippines on his site, he bit off more than he could chew with the leader Lapulapu, whose men killed him at this spot. The plaque reads "Here, on 27 April 1521, Lapulapu and his men repulsed the Spanish invaders, killing their leader Ferdinand Magellan. Thus Lapulapu became the first Filipino to have repelled European Aggression.". A bigger version of the drawing in the back is in one of the next pictures.

The Taoist temple in Cebu - definitely worth a visit!

This is the Fort San Pedro, apparently the smallest Fort in the world.

Cebu, a city I visited to finalize my immigration procedures, is the site where Ferdinand Magellan landed first in the Philippines. As soon as he landed, he started spreading Catholicism across the island. Cebu, accordingly, is the first site in the Philippines to see a cross set up on April 21st, 1521. This picture shows Magellan�s cross: a replica, actually, but apparently it contains parts of the original one.

Finally, a panorama shot of all of volcanic Camiguin during sunset.

And another panorama shot - this scenery is just asking for panorama shots!

Another panorama shot, this time of the sandbank with Camiguin in the background.

This is a composite image of a sunset on the sandbank off Camiguin. This one is definitely worth checking out in full size!

When leaving Camiguin Island by boat, I took this shot, because it reminded me of some place Robinson Crusoe might have liked to move to!

A picture of the sunset on the sand bank off Camiguin Island.

This is me on the sand bank during sunset, with Camiguin in the background.

The sandbank, my footsteps again, and volcanic Camiguin Island in the background, during sunset.

A shot of the lagoon engulfed in this sand bank, with volcanic Camiguin Island in the background.

One of my favorite shots: those are my footsteps, leading down the sandbank off Camiguin. This sandbank I was on really isn�t much bigger than what you see on this picture!

A close-up of the sand on the sand dunes off Camiguin Island.

This picture marks the beginning of a series of pictures taken off the island of Camiguin, on a sand bank. It�s not inhabited, but boats go there every day. What you see on this picture is the volcanic island of Camiguin in the background.

This is me climbing a coconut tree! I�ll be the first to admit that it was made a bit easier for me, because the tree already had some holes chopped into it, but the people here can actually climb up these trees to get coconut!

This is me on a beach of Camiguin, right before we went snorkeling. We had the opportunity to witness first hand a giant clam farm, and went snorkeling there. It was truly amazing, I saw blue starfish, giant clams and all kinds of fascinating ocean life!

This is the group of volunteers that I was meeting with in Camiguin. It was a workshop series focused on education in the Third World. As you can see, we were a fun bunch!

This is the view I had from the cheapo room I got. Off to the left, you can just make out Camiguin Island, which is where I was headed in this trip.

This is the room I stayed in on my way to the Island of Camiguin. It was very simple: No electricity, made entirely of wood, with only a bed, a table and a chair. Oh, and tons of creatures that had more legs than me. The room also had a nice view of the ocean, though, which made up for a lot (see other photos). At any rate, I didn't mind, and it was a cheap place to crash: 150 Peso, which is about 2�.

This shot is another part of the procession through Lanuza on Independence day. It shows "Ms. Independence".

Independence day is huge in the Philippines. Celebrated on June 12th every year, the Philippines celebrates its independence from the USA. This picture shows part of the procession through Lanuza that day.