This is a sea star I saw when diving - beautiful critters!

Just a picture to show you how the electricity cables run in most major cities in the Philippines. This picture was taken in Cebu.

Siquijor is also rumored to be home to witches, which, after their rebranding, are now called "healers". This is a shot of me being "healed". The healer basically took a glass with water, put a magical stone in it and started blowing air into it through a straw. I had stumped my toe that morning, so I thought I'd let him have a shot at it. During the healing, the water turns dark and is then replaced by fresh water until it no longer changes its color.

...but of course there were more serious things going on, as well. I was asked to give a presentation on How to write a business case.

Ok, so I had to include some fun shots, also. This is me at the Annual Volunteer Conference, explaining our design for the "fastest fish in the world". :-)

Another shot of me underwater, fighting the current.

A crown of thorns - very spikey.

There are some pretty psychadelic creatures in Philippine waters. This one, I think, was a snail of some kind...

This is me with my dive instructor. We had a blast, and now I'm an officially certified Open Water Diver!

I found Nemo! Or some of his relatives, at least.

The diving sign for "ok". (Yes, that's me)

I took a few days off to learn how to dive - and this is the result. It was worlds of fun, although visibility at the surface was pretty bad.

This is a picture of all of the VSO volunteers in the Philippines! In case you can't spot me (yeah, right!), I'm on the left.

This is me (obviously) in front of a waterfall on Siquijor. And, yes, I did jump down it. And, yes, some strange virus got me and I had very odd red dots all over for about a week.

Some guy in the monestary with a guitar. We couldn't convince him to play for us!

The oldest monestary in the Philippines is on Siquijor, and when we visited it, I saw a tiny little school room - this is the picture of it.

One of the largest trees in Siquijor - and, at an estimated 400 years, one of the oldest, is shown in this picture. You can see by the size of the people in comparison how large this tree is. It is rumored to be holy or sacred.

During the opening ceremony of the Annual Volunteer Conference where all VSO volunteers in the Philippines come together, there was a cultural presentation which included a bunch of traditional dances and songs - this was one of them.

This is one of the more morbid sights I've seen in the Philippines, and not for the faint of heart. This shot was taken at a cemetary in San Juan on the island of Siquijor. At the end of the cemetary, there was a place with just a bunch of bones, skulls (and junk!) laying around. I never quite understood what was going on, but it sure is a strange sight!

Somehow I never get sick of these shots. This picture was taken at the port of Cebu, early in the morning on my way to the volunteer conference in Siquijor. I guess getting up early in the morning does have its advantages!

Flip-Flops and a tin can

Dear friends,

It’s hard to believe that I’m already close to five months into my pro-bono engagement to improve the living conditions in one of the least developed areas of the Philippines! It seems it was just yesterday that I arrived, shocked by the road conditions, the lack of hot water showers and stunned by the magnitude of cultural differences to the developed world. Well, I can tell you that the shock has definitely given way to a heart-felt appreciation for life and the people here. And also, Moskitoes have seem to have given up on me! My current theory is that it’s due to the fact that I’ve spent close to five months here eating only local food, so that my blood has lost that alluring “western tourist” quality. Who knows.

Of course, some things I could still do without. For example, I clearly feel that I will never again find a toilet anywhere in the world that I would consider too dirty or disgusting to use. And let me tell you, it was a sad day when my neighbor bought a used organ. He’s playing “here comes the bride” (“Hochzeitsmarsch”), for about 8 hours a day, starting at 5:30 am. Of course, most of his “practice” is concentrated on the weekends. He’s just learning, so he only knows the refrain so far. But that he plays over and over again for hours at end. Maybe he’s trying to tell me something? :-)

I’ve also easily survived my second, and some minor subsequent earthquakes. It’s scary how fast I’ve become accustomed to them, they hardly raise an eyebrow now. But don’t worry, I still think I’d recognize a major one and react appropriately.

On the work side, things are really going well. Here are some of the things we’ve accomplished just in the last few weeks:

• We’ve submitted a proposal for the improvement of water quality to the Toyota corporation. If it’s awarded, the entire Lanuza Bay area can expect grants to improve water quality for all citizens – a strongly needed resource.
• With this additional proposal, our overall proposal pipeline has now reached more than 31 million Peso (close to half a million Euro).
• The chairman of the Lanuza Bay Development Alliance, mayor Algerico Irizari, and I were invited all the way to East-Samar to share best practices and present our experience. It’s a great feeling not only for me to help here in Lanuza, but also to participate in the alliance, in turn, sharing its knowledge with others.
• We have secured funding for a two-year, full-time forestry expert from abroad to live and work in the Lanuza Bay area and focus exclusively on (re-) forestation issues. This is especially significant due to the fact that so many lives here depend entirely upon a healthy natural environment. I am also happy to say this commitment is in addition to the volunteer contributed by the German Development Fund (DED)!
• Last week also saw the first annual strategy planning workshop for the alliance. I facilitated the meeting, and although this was an entirely new experience for the participants, at the end I clearly felt the tingling sensation of new-found motivation and inspiration among the employees.

As you can see, things are moving along nicely! Best of all, the results will really impact the lives of the constituents here, and the benefits will hopefully be felt for a long, long time to come.

So, in summary:

Personal lowlights:

• Listening in pure horror to the radio station in Cantilan (my office location), to find out that all those pop-songs I thought I had successfully escaped have just arrived in the Philippines. It seems it’s “Dragostea din tei” all over again. Good thing there’s no radio in Lanuza.
• Making the shocking discovery that a cockroach lives in the air vent of my car (!). I’m not sure how it got there or how to get rid of it (short of killing it with chemicals and then inhaling them myself every time I’m in the car).
• Seeing what the most recent Taifun brought in: hundreds and hundreds of bugs – it looked like something out of an Indiana Jones movie!

Personal highlights:

• The feeling of really influencing lives for the better by ensuring long-term sustainability of the grants.
• Realizing again and again, that compared to some things here in the Philippines, we don’t have problems in the developed world. Really.
• Seeing the pure fun that local kids have playing intricate games with just some flip-flops and a tin can.

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

Martin

And another composite image: This one shows the shore of Leyte, East Samar.

This is a composite image, which explains the odd black corners. It's the amazing formation outside the cave, and there's no way you could get a complete shot of it without stitching together the pictures.

I was invited to the Rotary Club of Tandag - this shows the meeting.

The quality of this photo is pretty bad, but it shows me accepting the certificate of appreciation after judging in the contest.

I was invited to be a member of the jury for the Grand Champion Showdown in Cantilan. This regional dance competition was really impressive, the groups gave their all!

Some of the local housing in Guian. The stilts have two reasons: for one, it's a protection against floods, but apparently they hold up well in earthquakes, too!

Unfortunately there's nothing in this picture to show the size of the fossilization. It's diameter is actually about the length of my arm.

This picture shows me and some of the fossilized coral in the background. Amazing stuff!

One of the beaches we visited had all kinds of cool fossilized coral.

I never get sick of these shots! This is near Guian, and has 'postcard' written all over it!

The Americans left a lasting impression on the Philippines - and also some buildings and landmarks. This one here was the US Naval Supply Depot, more than half a century old. It's not used anymore, but I thought it would make a cool backdrop of the mayor and me.

On the last part of the motorcycle trip, I had to dodge a dog or a pig. I'm still not sure exactly what it was, it all happened too fast. To make a long story short, I ripped my pants and broke the rear light of the motorcycle, which are the things I'm pointing to in the picture.

I took this shot on our way back from visiting the cave. You can actually see me in the rear view mirror of the motorbike - or at least part of me :-)

Because the cave mentioned before can't be accessed through regular roads, Jamie and I took our motorbikes there. What a trip!

This shot shows the underwater structures right outside the cave. In the reflection of the water you can just make out either Jamie or me, not sure.

This shot was taken right outside the cave I just mentioned. The water is incredibly clear, and the fish in the water are as visible as in any aquarium. It's really amazing.

This shot was taken from within a cave on the beachfront. Most of it is flooded during high tide, but during low tide (like in this shot), you can go in and have a good look.

This is a traditional dance in McArthur and the Matarinao Bay area. Apparently it resembles the flirting ritual of chickens.

Another shot of me climbing a coconut tree. This one doesn't look all that high, thanks to the dubious photographic talent of my co-volunteer Jamie, but it was quite high up. At least it felt that way.

This is the group of people that went for lunch on the uninhabited island. A fun bunch!

This is one of the inhabitants of the island I mentioned before. Although initially I felt really sorry for the dogs, I'm now convinced that they are actually very, very well fed.

As you can see, we were really in for a feast on the island! There's rice, Asian noodles, and chicken. Really enjoyed that!

These are the mayors of McArthur (Matarinao Bay), Lanuza (Lanuza Bay) and myself on the island.

Another shot of the island, with the beautiful, but endangered, Matarinao bay in the background.

We just arrived at the island, which is only about as big as a city block - or even less. Very cool!

This is the island in Matarinao Bay that we visited. It isn't inhabited, unless you count some dogs... See the later picture about that.

This is a shot of us on our way to the island where we had lunch. It was a beautiful, but really hot day.

Another shot of the presentation in East Samar, explaining the geography of Lanuza Bay.

This is mayor Algerico "Geri" Irizari presenting our experiences from the Lanuza Bay Development Alliance to the audience in East Samar. My colleagues will recognize the design of the presentation! :-)